Isaiah 51–53

51ST CHAPTER

The Lord Will Save His People

¹Listen to me, you people who pursue what is right and seek the Lord. 

Look to the rock from which you were cut 

and to the quarry from which you were dug. 

²Look to Abraham, your ancestor, 

and to Sarah, from whom you are descended. 

When I called Abraham, he was childless. 

I blessed him and gave him many descendants. 

³So the Lord will comfort Zion. 

He will comfort all those who live among its ruins. 

He will make its desert like Eden. 

He will make its wilderness like the garden of the Lord. 

Joy and gladness will be found in it, 

thanksgiving and the sound of singing. 

⁴Pay attention to me, my people. 

Open your ears to hear me, my nation. 

My teachings will go out from me. 

My justice will become a light for the people. 

⁵My righteousness is near. 

My salvation is on the way. 

I will bring justice to people. 

The coastlands put their hope in me, 

and they wait eagerly for me. 

⁶Look at the sky. 

Look at the earth below. 

The sky will vanish like smoke. 

The earth will wear out like clothing, 

and those who live there will die like flies. 

But my salvation will last forever, 

and my righteousness will never fail. 

⁷Listen to me, you people who know righteousness, 

you people who have my teachings in your hearts. 

Don’t be afraid of being insulted by people. 

Don’t be discouraged by their ridicule. 

⁸Moths will eat them like clothing. 

Worms will devour them like wool. 

But my righteousness will last forever, 

and my salvation will last throughout every generation. 

⁹Wake up! Wake up! Clothe yourself with strength, O Lord! 

Wake up as you did in days long past, as in generations long ago. 

Didn’t you cut Rahab^ainto pieces and stab the serpent? 

¹⁰Didn’t you dry up the sea, the water of the great ocean? 

You made a road in the depths of the sea 

so that the people reclaimed ⸤by the Lord⸥ 

might pass through it. 

¹¹The people ransomed by the Lord will return. 

They will come to Zion singing with joy. 

Everlasting happiness will be on their heads ⸤as a crown⸥. 

They will be glad and joyful. 

They will have no sorrow or grief. 

¹²I alone am the one who comforts you. 

Why, then, are you afraid of mortals, who must die, 

of humans, who are like grass? 

¹³Why have you forgotten the Lord, your Creator? 

He stretched out the heavens 

and laid the foundations of the earth. 

Why should you live in constant fear of the fury 

of those who oppress you, 

of those who are ready to destroy you? 

Where is the fury of those who oppress you? 

¹⁴Chained prisoners will be set free. 

They will not die in prison. 

They will not go without food. 

¹⁵I am the Lord your God who stirs up the sea 

and makes its waves roar. 

My name is the Lord of Armies. 

¹⁶I put my words in your mouth 

and sheltered you in the palm of my hand. 

I stretched out the heavens, 

laid the foundations of the earth, 

and said to Zion, “You are my people.” 

Wake Up, Jerusalem

¹⁷Wake up! Wake up! 

Stand up, Jerusalem! 

You drank from the cup in the Lord’s hand. 

That cup was filled with his anger. 

You drank from the bowl, the cup that makes people stagger, 

and you drained it! 

¹⁸From all the children she gave birth to, 

there was no one to guide her. 

From all the children she raised, 

there was no one to take her by the hand. 

¹⁹Twice as many disasters have happened to you. 

Who will feel sorry for you? 

Violence, destruction, famine, and war have happened to you. 

Who will comfort you? 

²⁰Your children have fainted. 

They lie sleeping at every street corner. 

They are like an antelope caught in a net. 

They experience the anger of the Lord, 

the fury of your God. 

²¹Listen to this, you humble people 

who are drunk but not from wine. 

²²The Lord your God defends his people. 

This is what your master says: 

I’m taking from your hand the cup that makes people stagger, 

the bowl, the cup of my fury. 

You will never drink from it again. 

²³I will put it in the hands of those who made you suffer. 

They said to you, “Lie down so that we can walk over you.” 

So you made your back like the ground 

and like a street for them to cross. 

52ND CHAPTER

Wake Up, Zion

¹Wake up! Wake up! Clothe yourself with strength, Zion! 

Put on your beautiful clothes, holy city of Jerusalem. 

Godless and evil people will no longer come to you. 

²Shake the dust from yourselves. 

Get up, captive Jerusalem. 

Free yourself from the chains around your neck, captive people of Zion. 

³This is what the Lord says: You were sold, but no price was paid. You will be bought back, but without money. 

⁴This is what the Almighty Lord says: In the beginning my people went to Egypt to live there as foreigners. Later the Assyrians oppressed them for no reason. ⁵So what do I find here? asks the Lord. My people are taken away for no reason. Their rulers are screaming, declares the Lord. And my name is cursed all day long. ⁶Now my people will know my name. When that day comes, ⸤they will know⸥ that I am the one who says, “Here I am!” 

⁷How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger 

who announces the good news, “All is well.” 

He brings the good news, 

announces salvation, 

and tells Zion that its God rules as king. 

⁸Listen! Your watchmen raise their voices 

and shout together joyfully. 

When the Lord brings Zion back, 

they will see it with their own eyes. 

⁹Break out into shouts of joy, ruins of Jerusalem. 

The Lord will comfort his people. 

He will reclaim Jerusalem. 

¹⁰The Lord will show his holy power to all the nations. 

All the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God. 

¹¹Run away! Run away! 

Get away from there! 

Do not touch anything unclean.^a

Get away from it! 

Make yourselves pure, 

you Levites who carry the utensils for the Lord’s temple. 

¹²You will not go away in a hurry, 

nor will you go away quickly. 

The Lord will go ahead of you. 

The God of Israel will guard you from behind. 

The Suffering Servant

¹³My servant will be successful. 

He will be respected, praised, and highly honored. 

¹⁴Many will be shocked by him.^b

His appearance will be so disfigured 

that he won’t look like any other man. 

His looks will be so disfigured 

that he will hardly look like a human. 

¹⁵He will cleanse many nations ⸤with his blood⸥. 

Kings will shut their mouths because of him. 

They will see things that they had never been told. 

They will understand things that they had never heard. 

53RD CHAPTER

¹Who has believed our message? 

To whom has the Lord’s power been revealed? 

²He grew up in his presence like a young tree, 

like a root out of dry ground. 

He had no form or majesty that would make us look at him. 

He had nothing in his appearance that would make us desire him. 

³He was despised and rejected by people. 

He was a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering. 

He was despised like one from whom people turn their faces, 

and we didn’t consider him to be worth anything. 

⁴He certainly has taken upon himself our suffering 

and carried our sorrows, 

but we thought that God had wounded him, 

beat him, and punished him. 

⁵He was wounded for our rebellious acts. 

He was crushed for our sins. 

He was punished so that we could have peace, 

and we received healing from his wounds. 

⁶We have all strayed like sheep. 

Each one of us has turned to go his own way, 

and the Lord has laid all our sins on him. 

⁷He was abused and punished, 

but he didn’t open his mouth. 

He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. 

He was like a sheep that is silent 

when its wool is cut off. 

He didn’t open his mouth. 

⁸He was arrested, taken away, and judged. 

Who would have thought that he would be removed 

from the world? 

He was killed because of my people’s rebellion. 

⁹He was placed in a tomb with the wicked. 

He was put there with the rich when he died, 

although he had done nothing violent 

and had never spoken a lie. 

¹⁰Yet, it was the Lord’s will to crush him with suffering. 

When the Lord has made his life a sacrifice for our wrongdoings, 

he will see his descendants for many days. 

The will of the Lord will succeed through him. 

¹¹He will see and be satisfied 

because of his suffering. 

My righteous servant will acquit many people 

because of what he has learned ⸤through suffering⸥. 

He will carry their sins as a burden. 

¹²So I will give him a share among the mighty, 

and he will divide the prize with the strong, 

because he poured out his life in death 

and he was counted with sinners. 

He carried the sins of many. 

He intercedes for those who are rebellious.