Everlasting Salvation for Zion

51 “Listen(A) to me, you who pursue righteousness(B)
    and who seek(C) the Lord:
Look to the rock(D) from which you were cut
    and to the quarry from which you were hewn;
look to Abraham,(E) your father,
    and to Sarah, who gave you birth.
When I called him he was only one man,
    and I blessed him and made him many.(F)
The Lord will surely comfort(G) Zion(H)
    and will look with compassion on all her ruins;(I)
he will make her deserts like Eden,(J)
    her wastelands(K) like the garden of the Lord.
Joy and gladness(L) will be found in her,
    thanksgiving(M) and the sound of singing.

“Listen to me, my people;(N)
    hear me,(O) my nation:
Instruction(P) will go out from me;
    my justice(Q) will become a light to the nations.(R)
My righteousness draws near speedily,
    my salvation(S) is on the way,(T)
    and my arm(U) will bring justice to the nations.
The islands(V) will look to me
    and wait in hope(W) for my arm.
Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
    look at the earth beneath;
the heavens will vanish like smoke,(X)
    the earth will wear out like a garment(Y)
    and its inhabitants die like flies.
But my salvation(Z) will last forever,(AA)
    my righteousness will never fail.(AB)

“Hear me, you who know what is right,(AC)
    you people who have taken my instruction to heart:(AD)
Do not fear the reproach of mere mortals
    or be terrified by their insults.(AE)
For the moth will eat them up like a garment;(AF)
    the worm(AG) will devour them like wool.
But my righteousness will last forever,(AH)
    my salvation through all generations.”

Awake, awake,(AI) arm(AJ) of the Lord,
    clothe yourself with strength!(AK)
Awake, as in days gone by,
    as in generations of old.(AL)
Was it not you who cut Rahab(AM) to pieces,
    who pierced that monster(AN) through?
10 Was it not you who dried up the sea,(AO)
    the waters of the great deep,(AP)
who made a road in the depths of the sea(AQ)
    so that the redeemed(AR) might cross over?
11 Those the Lord has rescued(AS) will return.
    They will enter Zion with singing;(AT)
    everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy(AU) will overtake them,
    and sorrow and sighing will flee away.(AV)

12 “I, even I, am he who comforts(AW) you.
    Who are you that you fear(AX) mere mortals,(AY)
    human beings who are but grass,(AZ)
13 that you forget(BA) the Lord your Maker,(BB)
    who stretches out the heavens(BC)
    and who lays the foundations of the earth,
that you live in constant terror(BD) every day
    because of the wrath of the oppressor,
    who is bent on destruction?
For where is the wrath of the oppressor?(BE)
14     The cowering prisoners will soon be set free;(BF)
they will not die in their dungeon,
    nor will they lack bread.(BG)
15 For I am the Lord your God,
    who stirs up the sea(BH) so that its waves roar(BI)
    the Lord Almighty(BJ) is his name.
16 I have put my words in your mouth(BK)
    and covered you with the shadow of my hand(BL)
I who set the heavens in place,
    who laid the foundations of the earth,(BM)
    and who say to Zion, ‘You are my people.(BN)’”

The Cup of the Lord’s Wrath

17 Awake, awake!(BO)
    Rise up, Jerusalem,
you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord
    the cup(BP) of his wrath,(BQ)
you who have drained to its dregs(BR)
    the goblet that makes people stagger.(BS)
18 Among all the children(BT) she bore
    there was none to guide her;(BU)
among all the children she reared
    there was none to take her by the hand.(BV)
19 These double calamities(BW) have come upon you—
    who can comfort you?(BX)
ruin and destruction,(BY) famine(BZ) and sword(CA)
    who can[a] console you?
20 Your children have fainted;
    they lie at every street corner,(CB)
    like antelope caught in a net.(CC)
They are filled with the wrath(CD) of the Lord,
    with the rebuke(CE) of your God.

21 Therefore hear this, you afflicted(CF) one,
    made drunk,(CG) but not with wine.
22 This is what your Sovereign Lord says,
    your God, who defends(CH) his people:
“See, I have taken out of your hand
    the cup(CI) that made you stagger;
from that cup, the goblet of my wrath,
    you will never drink again.
23 I will put it into the hands of your tormentors,(CJ)
    who said to you,
    ‘Fall prostrate(CK) that we may walk(CL) on you.’
And you made your back like the ground,
    like a street to be walked on.”(CM)

52 Awake, awake,(CN) Zion,
    clothe yourself with strength!(CO)
Put on your garments of splendor,(CP)
    Jerusalem, the holy city.(CQ)
The uncircumcised(CR) and defiled(CS)
    will not enter you again.(CT)
Shake off your dust;(CU)
    rise up,(CV) sit enthroned, Jerusalem.
Free yourself from the chains on your neck,(CW)
    Daughter Zion,(CX) now a captive.

For this is what the Lord says:

“You were sold for nothing,(CY)
    and without money(CZ) you will be redeemed.(DA)

For this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“At first my people went down to Egypt(DB) to live;
    lately, Assyria(DC) has oppressed them.

“And now what do I have here?” declares the Lord.

“For my people have been taken away for nothing,
    and those who rule them mock,[b]
declares the Lord.
“And all day long
    my name is constantly blasphemed.(DD)
Therefore my people will know(DE) my name;(DF)
    therefore in that day(DG) they will know
that it is I who foretold(DH) it.
    Yes, it is I.”

How beautiful on the mountains(DI)
    are the feet of those who bring good news,(DJ)
who proclaim peace,(DK)
    who bring good tidings,
    who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
    “Your God reigns!”(DL)
Listen! Your watchmen(DM) lift up their voices;(DN)
    together they shout for joy.(DO)
When the Lord returns(DP) to Zion,(DQ)
    they will see it with their own eyes.
Burst into songs of joy(DR) together,
    you ruins(DS) of Jerusalem,
for the Lord has comforted(DT) his people,
    he has redeemed Jerusalem.(DU)
10 The Lord will lay bare his holy arm(DV)
    in the sight of all the nations,(DW)
and all the ends of the earth(DX) will see
    the salvation(DY) of our God.

11 Depart,(DZ) depart, go out from there!
    Touch no unclean thing!(EA)
Come out from it and be pure,(EB)
    you who carry the articles(EC) of the Lord’s house.
12 But you will not leave in haste(ED)
    or go in flight;
for the Lord will go before you,(EE)
    the God of Israel will be your rear guard.(EF)

The Suffering and Glory of the Servant

13 See, my servant(EG) will act wisely[c];
    he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.(EH)
14 Just as there were many who were appalled(EI) at him[d]
    his appearance was so disfigured(EJ) beyond that of any human being
    and his form marred beyond human likeness(EK)
15 so he will sprinkle(EL) many nations,[e]
    and kings(EM) will shut their mouths(EN) because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
    and what they have not heard, they will understand.(EO)

53 Who has believed our message(EP)
    and to whom has the arm(EQ) of the Lord been revealed?(ER)
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,(ES)
    and like a root(ET) out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
    nothing in his appearance(EU) that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
    a man of suffering,(EV) and familiar with pain.(EW)
Like one from whom people hide(EX) their faces
    he was despised,(EY) and we held him in low esteem.

Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,(EZ)
yet we considered him punished by God,(FA)
    stricken by him, and afflicted.(FB)
But he was pierced(FC) for our transgressions,(FD)
    he was crushed(FE) for our iniquities;
the punishment(FF) that brought us peace(FG) was on him,
    and by his wounds(FH) we are healed.(FI)
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,(FJ)
    each of us has turned to our own way;(FK)
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity(FL) of us all.

He was oppressed(FM) and afflicted,
    yet he did not open his mouth;(FN)
he was led like a lamb(FO) to the slaughter,(FP)
    and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression[f] and judgment(FQ) he was taken away.
    Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;(FR)
    for the transgression(FS) of my people he was punished.[g]
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,(FT)
    and with the rich(FU) in his death,
though he had done no violence,(FV)
    nor was any deceit in his mouth.(FW)

10 Yet it was the Lord’s will(FX) to crush(FY) him and cause him to suffer,(FZ)
    and though the Lord makes[h] his life an offering for sin,(GA)
he will see his offspring(GB) and prolong his days,
    and the will of the Lord will prosper(GC) in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,(GD)
    he will see the light(GE) of life[i] and be satisfied[j];
by his knowledge[k] my righteous servant(GF) will justify(GG) many,
    and he will bear their iniquities.(GH)
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,[l](GI)
    and he will divide the spoils(GJ) with the strong,[m]
because he poured out his life unto death,(GK)
    and was numbered with the transgressors.(GL)
For he bore(GM) the sin of many,(GN)
    and made intercession(GO) for the transgressors.

The Future Glory of Zion

54 “Sing, barren woman,(GP)
    you who never bore a child;
burst into song, shout for joy,(GQ)
    you who were never in labor;(GR)
because more are the children(GS) of the desolate(GT) woman
    than of her who has a husband,(GU)
says the Lord.
“Enlarge the place of your tent,(GV)
    stretch your tent curtains wide,
    do not hold back;
lengthen your cords,
    strengthen your stakes.(GW)
For you will spread out to the right and to the left;
    your descendants(GX) will dispossess nations(GY)
    and settle in their desolate(GZ) cities.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 51:19 Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; Masoretic Text / how can I
  2. Isaiah 52:5 Dead Sea Scrolls and Vulgate; Masoretic Text wail
  3. Isaiah 52:13 Or will prosper
  4. Isaiah 52:14 Hebrew you
  5. Isaiah 52:15 Or so will many nations be amazed at him (see also Septuagint)
  6. Isaiah 53:8 Or From arrest
  7. Isaiah 53:8 Or generation considered / that he was cut off from the land of the living, / that he was punished for the transgression of my people?
  8. Isaiah 53:10 Hebrew though you make
  9. Isaiah 53:11 Dead Sea Scrolls (see also Septuagint); Masoretic Text does not have the light of life.
  10. Isaiah 53:11 Or (with Masoretic Text) 11 He will see the fruit of his suffering / and will be satisfied
  11. Isaiah 53:11 Or by knowledge of him
  12. Isaiah 53:12 Or many
  13. Isaiah 53:12 Or numerous

51 Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.

Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.

For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.

Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.

My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust.

Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.

Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.

For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.

Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?

10 Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?

11 Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

12 I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass;

13 And forgettest the Lord thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?

14 The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.

15 But I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The Lord of hosts is his name.

16 And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.

17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.

18 There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up.

19 These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee?

20 Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God.

21 Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:

22 Thus saith thy Lord the Lord, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again:

23 But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.

52 Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.

Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.

For thus saith the Lord, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.

For thus saith the Lord God, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.

Now therefore, what have I here, saith the Lord, that my people is taken away for nought? they that rule over them make them to howl, saith the Lord; and my name continually every day is blasphemed.

Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I.

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!

Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.

Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.

10 The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

11 Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.

12 For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your reward.

13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.

14 As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:

15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

53 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

54 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord.

Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;

For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.