Isaiah 51–53

Yahweh Comforts Zion

51“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,

who seek Yahweh.

Look to the rock from which you were hewn,

and to the excavation of the pit from which you were quarried.

²Look to Abraham your father,

and to Sarah; she brought you forth.

For I called him alone,^a

but^b I blessed him and made him numerous.”

³For Yahweh will comfort Zion;

he will comfort all its sites of ruins.

And he will make^c its wilderness like Eden,

and its desert like the garden of Yahweh.

Joy and gladness will be found in it,

thanksgiving and the sound^d of song.

⁴“Listen attentively to me, my people,

and my nation, listen to me!

For a teaching will go out from me,

and I will cause my justice to rest for a light to the peoples.

⁵My righteousness is near; my salvation has gone out,

and my arms will judge the peoples.

The coastlands wait for me,

and for my arm they wait.

⁶Lift up your eyes to the heavens

and look to the earth beneath,

for the heavens will be torn to pieces like smoke,

and the earth will be worn out like a garment,

and those who inhabit her will die like gnats.

But^e my salvation will be forever,

and my righteousness will not be broken to pieces.

⁷Listen to me, you who know righteousness,

people who have my teaching in their heart;

you must not fear the reproach of men,

or be terrified because of their abuse.

⁸For a moth will eat them like garments;

a moth will devour^f them like wool,

but^g my righteousness will be forever,

and my salvation for generation after generation.^h”

⁹Awake! Awake; put on strength, O arm of Yahweh!

Awake as in days of long ago,

the generations of a long time back!

Are you not the one who cut Rahab in pieces,

the one who pierced the sea-dragon?

¹⁰Are you not the one who dried up the sea,

the waters of the great deep,

the one who madeⁱ the depths of the sea a way

for those who are redeemed to cross over?

¹¹So^j the redeemed ones of Yahweh shall return,

and they shall come to Zion with singing,

and everlasting joy shall be on their heads.^k

Joy and gladness shall appear;^l

sorrow and sighing shall flee away!

¹²“I, I am he who comforts you;

who are you that^m you are afraid of man? He dies!

And of the son of humankind? He is sacrificedⁿ as grass!

¹³And you have forgotten Yahweh, your maker,

who stretched out the heavens,

and founded the earth.

And you tremble continually, all day,

because of the wrath of the oppressor

when he takes aim^o to destroy.

But^p where is the wrath of the oppressor?

¹⁴The fettered one shall make haste to be freed.

And he shall not die in^q the pit,

and he shall not lack his bread.

¹⁵For^r I am Yahweh, your God,

who stirs up^s the sea, so that^t its waves roar;

Yahweh of hosts is his name.

¹⁶And I have put my words in your mouth,

and I have covered you in the shadow of my hand,

to plant the heavens

and to found the earth,

saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’ ”

¹⁷Rouse yourself! Rouse yourself!

Stand up, Jerusalem, who have drunk from the hand of Yahweh the cup of his wrath;

you have drunk the goblet, the cup of staggering;

you have drained it out.

¹⁸There is no one who guides her among^u all the children she has borne,

and there is no one who grasps her by the hand among^v all the children she raised.

¹⁹Two things here have happened to you—who will show sympathy^w for you?—

devastation and destruction, famine and sword—who will comfort you?

²⁰Your children have fainted;

they lie at the head of all the streets, like an antelope in^x a snare,

those who are full of the wrath of Yahweh,

the rebuke of your God.

²¹Therefore hear now this afflicted one

and drunken one but^y not from wine.

²²Thus says your Lord, Yahweh,

and your God pleads the cause of his people:

“Look! I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering.

You shall not continue^z to drink the goblet, the cup of my wrath, any longer.

²³And I will put it in the hand of your tormenters,

who have said to you,^a ‘Bow down that^b we may pass^c over you!’

And you have made^d your back like the ground,

and like the street for those who pass^e over you.”

Yahweh Redeems Zion

52Awake! Awake; put on your strength, Zion!

Put on the garments of your beauty, Jerusalem, holy city!^a

For the uncircumcised and the unclean shall not continue to^b enter you any longer.

²Shake yourself free from the dust! Rise up; sit, Jerusalem!

Free yourselves from the bonds of your neck, captive daughter of Zion!

³For thus says Yahweh:

“You were sold for nothing,

and you shall be redeemed without money.”

⁴For thus says the Lord Yahweh:

“My people went down to Egypt in the beginning, to dwell as aliens there, and Assyria oppressed him without cause.^{c 5}And now what do I have here?” declares^d Yahweh, “for my people is taken without cause. Its rulers howl,” declares^e Yahweh—“and my name is reviled continually, all day. ⁶Therefore my people shall know my name, therefore in that day, that I am the one who speaks. Here am I.”^f

⁷How delightful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news,

who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation,

who says to Zion, “Your God reigns as a king.”

⁸The voices^g of your watchmen! They lift up their voices;^h

together they sing for joy;

for they clearlyⁱ see Yahweh’s return to Zion.

⁹Break forth,

sing for joy together, ruins of Jerusalem,

for Yahweh has comforted his people;

he has redeemed Jerusalem.

¹⁰Yahweh has bared his holy arm^j to the eyes of all the nations,

and all the ends^k of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

¹¹Depart, depart, go out from there! You must not touch any unclean thing.

Go out from the midst of it, keep clean, you who carry the vessels of Yahweh.

¹²For you shall not go out in haste,

and you shall not go in flight,

for Yahweh is going before you,

and your rear guard is the God of Israel.

The Servant’s Suffering and Exaltation

¹³Look, my servant shall achieve success;

he shall be exalted,

and he shall be lifted up,

and he shall be very high.

¹⁴Just as many were appalled at you—

such was his appearance beyond human disfigurement,

and his form beyond the sons of mankind—

¹⁵so he shall sprinkle many nations;

because of him, kings shall shut their mouths.^l

For they shall see what has not been told them,

and they shall consider with full attention what they have not heard.

53Who has believed our message,

and to whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed?

²For^a he went^b up like a shoot before him,

and like a root from dry ground.

He had no form and no majesty that^c we should see him,

and no appearance that^d we should take pleasure in him.

³He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of suffering, and acquainted with^e sickness,

and like one from whom others hide their faces,^f he was despised,

and we did not hold him in high regard.

⁴However, he was the one who lifted up our sicknesses,

and he carried our pain,

yet^g we ourselves assumed him stricken,

struck down by God and afflicted.

⁵But^h he was piercedⁱ for our transgressions,

crushed because of our iniquities;

the chastisement for^j our peace^k was upon him,

and by his wounds^l we were healed.^m

⁶All of us have wandered about like sheep;

we each have turned to his own way;

and Yahweh let fall on him

the iniquity of us all.

⁷He was oppressed and afflicted,

yetⁿ he did not open his mouth;

he was brought like a lamb to the slaughter,

and like a sheep is dumb before its shearers,

so^o he did not open his mouth.

⁸He was taken by restraint of justice,

and who concerned himself with his generation?

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

he received a blow because of the transgression of my people.

⁹He made^p his grave with the wicked,

and with the rich in his death,

although he had done no violence,

and there was no deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰Yet^q Yahweh was pleased to crush him;

he made him sick.^r

If he^s places^t his life a guilt offering,^u

he will see offspring.

He will prolong days,

and the will of Yahweh will succeed in his hand.

¹¹From the trouble of his life^v he will see;^w

he will be satisfied.

In his knowledge, the righteous one, my servant, shall declare many righteous,^x

and he is the one who will bear their iniquities.

¹²Therefore, I will divide to him a portion among the many,^y

and with the strong ones he will divide bounty,

because^z he poured his life out to death

and was counted with the transgressors;

and^a he was the one who bore the sin of many

and will intercede for the transgressors.