Read Isaiah 49 and 50 at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraph divisions:
Isa 49:1-4 {s} Israel called to be YHVH’s servant from the womb: YHVH will be glorified in him
Isa 49:5-6 {s} Messiah, His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him + to be a light to the Gentiles for salvation
Isa 49:7 {s} YHVH says to His Servant, despised of men: Kings + princes shall worship because YHVH is faithful
Isa 49:8-13 {s} YHVH’s Servant a covenant to the people to cause them to be set free + restored from afar
Isa 49:14-21 {p} YHVH has not forgotten Zion, but the children of her who was bereaved will again be a multitude
Isa 49:22-23 {s} The nations shall bring you your sons in their arms/ they shall not be ashamed who wait for YHVH
Isa 49:24 {s} Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives of the righteous be delivered?
Isa 49:25-26 {s} I shall take away the prey + captives/contend with those who contend with you + save your children
Isa 50:1-3 {p} For her iniquities, YHVH divorced Israel/ when He called there was none to answer: He is able to save
Isa 50:4-9 {s}YHVH caused Him to hear + speak/ He obeyed + He will not be ashamed, for YHVH is His help
Isa 50:10 {s} Who fears YHVH? Who walks in darkness? Let him trust in the name of YHVH
Isa 50:11 {s} All who kindle a fire: walk in its light; I will cause you to lie down in sorrow
The strong themes:
Isa 49:1-21 {sx4+p} YHVH’s Servant will restore Jacob to Him/ bring salvation to the Gentiles
Isa 49:22-50:3 {sx3+p} YHVH will save from prey + captivity, she who was divorced shall not be ashamed
I suspect that the two strong themes together make a chiastic structure, but I am not wise enough to finish it. But these are the patterns I did notice:
1a) Isa 49:1a Listen, O coastlands, to me, and take heed, you peoples from afar!
1b) Isa 49:1b, The Lord has called me from the womb; from the matrix of my mother He has made mention of my name;
1c) Isa 49:2, He has made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand He has hidden me, and made me a polished shaft; in His quiver He has hidden me;
central axis) Isa 49:3, He said to me, ‘You are My servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified;’
2c) Isa 49:4 {s} Then I said, ‘I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain; yet surely my just reward is with the Lord, and my work with my God;
2b) Isa 49:5-6b, The LORD formed me from the womb to be His servant, to restore Israel + Gentles to Him;
1a.1) Isa 49:5a, And now the Lord says, who formed me from the womb to be His servant;
1a.2) Isa 49:5b, To bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel is gathered to Him;
central axis) Isa 49:5c, For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength;
2a.1) Isa 49:6a, Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that you should be My servant;
2a.2) Isa 49:6b, To raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
2a) Isa 49:6c {s} I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles, that My salvation may be unto the ends of the earth.
The message is, the LORD’s servant, whom He formed from the womb of his mother, will restore Jacob to Him, and be the light to bring salvation to the Gentles. We understand from the teaching of the apostles that this passage refers to Messiah Yeshua. This is the front bookend of the structure.
The back bookend repeats these same themes:
Isa 50:1, Thus says the Lord: “Where is the certificate of your mother’s divorce, whom I have put away? Or which of My creditors is it to whom I have sold you? For your iniquities you have sold yourselves, and for your transgressions your mother has been put away.
The theme returns to the mother, whom YHVH will divorce for her transgressions.
Isa 50:2a “Why, when I came, was there no man? Why, when I called, was there none to answer?”
YHVH looked for someone to answer His call. His call to what? I believe, to restore Jacob to Him. He found no man to answer, so what did He do? He formed Messiah from the matrix of his mother, Israel, His wife, to answer the call.
Isa 50:2b, “Is My hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver?”
The theme of salvation repeated.
Isa 50:2c-3 {p} “Indeed with My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish stink because there is no water, and die of thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.”
I believe this verse might be a matching pair to:
Isa 49:7 {s} YHVH says to His Servant, despised of men: Kings + princes shall worship because YHVH is faithful
Isa 49:8-13 {s} YHVH’s Servant a covenant to the people to cause them to be set free + restored from afar
For in this section, YHVH is restoring those whom the Servant has set free. Their pastures will be on the desolate heights, painting the picture that what was once desert or deserted, will now flourish, in direct contrast to that which was once green and watered, now dried up because of the rebuke of YHVH.
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