Isaiah 51–53

Salvation for Zion

51Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness,

you who 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 father,

and to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain.

When I called him, he was only one;

I blessed him and made him many. ^e

³For the Lord will comfort Zion; ^f

He will comfort all her waste places,

and He will make her wilderness like Eden, ^g

and her desert like the garden of the Lord. ^h

Joy and gladness will be found in her,

thanksgiving and melodious song.

⁴Pay attention to Me, My people,

and listen to Me, My nation;

for instruction will come from Me,

and My justice for a light to the nations. ⁱ

I will bring it about quickly.

⁵My righteousness is near, ^j

My salvation appears,

and My arms will bring justice to the nations. ^k

The coastlands ^lwill put their hope in Me,

and they will look to My strength. ^m

⁶Look up to the heavens,

and look at the earth beneath;

for the heavens will vanish like smoke,

the earth will wear out like a garment,

and its inhabitants will die like gnats. ^no

But My salvation will last forever, ^p

and My righteousness will never be shattered.

⁷Listen to Me, you who know righteousness,

the people in whose heart is My instruction: ^q

do not fear disgrace by men,

and do not be shattered by their taunts.

⁸For the moth will devour them like a garment, ^r

and the worm will eat them like wool. ^s

But My righteousness will last forever,

and My salvation for all generations.

⁹Wake up, wake up!

Put on the strength of the Lord’s power.

Wake up as in days past,

as in generations of long ago.

Wasn’t it You who hacked Rahab to pieces, ^t

who pierced the sea monster? ^u

¹⁰Wasn’t it You who dried up the sea, ^v

the waters of the great deep,

who made the sea-bed into a road

for the redeemed to pass over? ^w

¹¹And the redeemed of the Lord will return ^x

and come to Zion with singing,

crowned with unending joy.

Joy and gladness will overtake them,

and sorrow and sighing will flee.

¹²I—I am the One who comforts you.

Who are you that you should fear man who dies, ^y

or a son of man who is given up like grass? ^z

¹³But you have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,

who stretched out the heavens

and laid the foundations of the earth. ^a

You are in constant dread all day long

because of the fury of the oppressor,

who has set himself to destroy.

But where is the fury of the oppressor? ^b

¹⁴The prisoner ^cis soon to be set free;

he will not die and go to the Pit,

and his food will not be lacking.

¹⁵For I am Yahweh your God

who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar ^d—

His name is Yahweh of Hosts.

¹⁶I have put My words in your mouth, ^e

and covered you in the shadow of My hand, ^f

in order to plant ^gthe heavens,

to found the earth,

and to say to Zion, “You are My people.”

¹⁷Wake yourself, wake yourself up!

Stand up, Jerusalem,

you who have drunk the cup of His fury ^h

from the hand of the Lord;

you who have drunk the goblet to the dregs—

the cup that causes people to stagger.

¹⁸There is no one to guide her

among all the children she has raised;

there is no one to take hold of her hand

among all the offspring she has brought up.

¹⁹These two things have happened to you: ⁱ

devastation and destruction,

famine and sword.

Who will grieve for you?

How can I ^jcomfort you?

²⁰Your children have fainted;

they lie at the head of every street

like an antelope in a net.

They are full of the Lord’s fury,

the rebuke of your God.

²¹So listen to this, afflicted

and drunken one—but not with wine. ^k

²²This is what your Lord says—

Yahweh, even your God,

who defends His people ^l—

“Look, I have removed

the cup of staggering from your hand;

that goblet, the cup of My fury.

You will never drink it again.

²³I will put it into the hands of your tormentors,

who said to you: ^m

Lie down, so we can walk over you.

You made your back like the ground,

and like a street for those who walk on it.

52“Wake up, wake up;

put on your strength, Zion!

Put on your beautiful garments, ⁿ

Jerusalem, the Holy City! ^o

For the uncircumcised and the unclean

will no longer enter you. ^p

²Stand up, shake the dust off yourself!

Take your seat, Jerusalem.

Remove the bonds ^qfrom your neck,

captive Daughter Zion.”

³For this is what the Lord says:

“You were sold for nothing,

and you will be redeemed without silver.” ^r

⁴For this is what the Lord God says:

“At first My people went down to Egypt to live there, ^s

then Assyria oppressed them without cause. ^t

⁵So now what have I here”—

this is the Lord’s declaration—

“that My people are taken away for nothing?

Its rulers wail”—

this is the Lord’s declaration—

“and My name is continually blasphemed all day long. ^u

⁶Therefore My people will know My name; ^v

therefore they will know on that day

that I am He who says:

Here I am.”

⁷How beautiful on the mountains

are the feet of the herald,

who proclaims peace,

who brings news of good things, ^w

who proclaims salvation,

who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” ^x

⁸The voices of your watchmen ^y—

they lift up their voices,

shouting for joy together;

for every eye will see

when the Lord returns to Zion.

⁹Be joyful, rejoice together,

you ruins of Jerusalem! ^z

For the Lord has comforted His people; ^a

He has redeemed Jerusalem.

¹⁰The Lord has displayed His holy arm

in the sight of all the nations; ^b

all the ends of the earth will see

the salvation of our God. ^c

¹¹Leave, leave, go out from there! ^d

Do not touch anything unclean;

go out from her, purify yourselves, ^e

you who carry the vessels of the Lord.

¹²For you will not leave in a hurry, ^f

and you will not have to take flight;

because the Lord is going before you, ^g

and the God of Israel is your rear guard. ^h

The Servant’s Suffering and Exaltation

¹³See, My Servant ^ijwill act wisely; ^k

He will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted. ^l

¹⁴Just as many were appalled at You ^m—

His appearance was so disfigured

that He did not look like a man,

and His form did not resemble a human being—

¹⁵so He will sprinkle ^nomany nations. ^pq

Kings will shut their mouths because of Him,

For they will see what had not been told them,

and they will understand what they had not heard. ^r

53Who has believed what we have heard? ^s

And who has the arm of the Lord ^tbeen revealed to? ^u

²He grew up before Him like a young plant ^v

and like a root out of dry ground.

He didn’t have an impressive form

or majesty that we should look at Him,

no appearance that we should desire Him. ^w

³He was despised and rejected by men, ^x

a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. ^y

He was like someone people turned away from; ^z

He was despised, and we didn’t value Him.

⁴Yet He Himself bore our sicknesses,

and He carried our pains; ^a

but we in turn regarded Him stricken,

struck down by God, ^band afflicted.

⁵But He was pierced because of our transgressions, ^c

crushed because of our iniquities; ^d

punishment ^efor our peace was on Him,

and we are healed by His wounds. ^f

⁶We all went astray like sheep; ^g

we all have turned to our own way;

and the Lord has punished Him

for ^hthe iniquity ⁱof us all. ^j

⁷He was oppressed and afflicted,

yet He did not open His mouth.

Like a lamb led to the slaughter

and like a sheep silent before her shearers,

He did not open His mouth. ^k

⁸He was taken away because of oppression and judgment;

and who considered His fate? ^l

For He was cut off from the land of the living;

He was struck because of my people’s rebellion.

⁹They ^mmade His grave with the wicked

and with a rich man at His death, ⁿ

although He had done no violence

and had not spoken deceitfully. ^o

¹⁰Yet the Lord was pleased ^pto crush Him severely. ^qr

When ^sYou make Him a restitution offering, ^t

He will see His seed, He will prolong His days,

and by His hand, the Lord’s pleasure will be accomplished. ^u

¹¹He will see it ^vout of His anguish,

and He will be satisfied with His knowledge.

My righteous ^wServant ^xwill justify many, ^y

and He will carry their iniquities.

¹²Therefore I will give Him ^zthe many as a portion,

and He will receive ^athe mighty as spoil,

because He submitted Himself to death, ^b

and was counted among the rebels; ^c

yet He bore the sin of many ^d

and interceded for the rebels. ^e