Isaiah 52–53

Chapter 52

Cheer for Prostrate Zion

^1aAwake, awake,

Clothe yourself in your strength, O Zion;

Clothe yourself in your ^bbeautiful garments,

O Jerusalem, the ^choly city;

For the uncircumcised and the ^dunclean

Will no longer come into you.

²Shake yourself ^afrom the dust, ^brise up,

O captive Jerusalem;

^cLoose yourself from the chains around your neck,

O captive daughter of Zion.

³For thus says the Lord, “You were ^asold for nothing and you will be ^bredeemed ^cwithout money.”

⁴For thus says the Lord ¹God, “My people ^awent down at the first into Egypt to reside there; then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.

⁵“Now therefore, what do I have here,” declares the Lord, “seeing that My people have been taken away without cause?” Again the Lord declares, “Those who rule over them howl, and My ^aname is continually blasphemed all day long.

⁶“Therefore My people shall ^aknow My name; therefore in that day I am the one who is speaking, ‘Here I am.’ ”

⁷How lovely on the mountains

Are the feet of him who brings ^agood news,

Who announces ¹peace

And brings good news of ²happiness,

Who announces salvation,

And says to Zion, “Your ^bGod ³reigns!”

⁸Listen! Your watchmen lift up their ^avoices,

They shout joyfully together;

For they will see ¹with their own eyes

When the Lord restores Zion.

^9aBreak forth, shout joyfully together,

You ^bwaste places of Jerusalem;

For the Lord has comforted His people,

He has ^credeemed Jerusalem.

¹⁰The Lord has bared His holy ^aarm

In the sight of all the nations,

¹That ^ball the ends of the earth may see

The salvation of our God.

^11aDepart, depart, go out from there,

^bTouch nothing unclean;

Go out of the midst of her, ^cpurify yourselves,

You who carry the vessels of the Lord.

¹²But you will not go out in ^ahaste,

Nor will you go ¹as fugitives;

For the ^bLord will go before you,

And ^cthe God of Israel will be your rear guard.

The Exalted Servant

¹³Behold, My ^aservant will prosper,

He will be high and lifted up and ¹greatly ^bexalted.

¹⁴Just as many were astonished at you, My people,

So His ^aappearance was marred more than any man

And His form more than the sons of men.

¹⁵Thus He will ^asprinkle many nations,

Kings will ^bshut their mouths on account of Him;

For ^cwhat had not been told them they will see,

And what they had not heard they will understand.

Chapter 53

The Suffering Servant

^1aWho has believed our message?

And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

²For He grew up before Him like a ^atender ¹shoot,

And like a root out of parched ground;

He has ^bno stately form or majesty

That we should look upon Him,

Nor appearance that we should ²be attracted to Him.

³He was ^adespised and forsaken of men,

A man of ¹sorrows and ^bacquainted with ²grief;

And like one from whom men hide their face

He was ^cdespised, and we did not ^desteem Him.

⁴Surely our ¹griefs He Himself ^abore,

And our ²sorrows He carried;

Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,

³Smitten of ^bGod, and afflicted.

⁵But He was ¹pierced through for ^aour transgressions,

He was crushed for ^bour iniquities;

The ^cchastening for our ²well-being fell upon Him,

And by ^dHis scourging we are healed.

⁶All of us like sheep have gone astray,

Each of us has turned to his own way;

But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all

To ¹fall on Him.

⁷He was oppressed and He was afflicted,

Yet He did not ^aopen His mouth;

^bLike a lamb that is led to slaughter,

And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,

So He did not open His mouth.

⁸By oppression and judgment He was taken away;

And as for His generation, who considered

That He was cut off out of the land of the ¹living

^aFor the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?

⁹His grave was assigned with wicked men,

Yet He was with a ^arich man in His death,

^bBecause He had ^cdone no violence,

Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

¹⁰But the Lord was pleased

To ^acrush Him, ^1bputting Him to grief;

If ²He would render Himself as a guilt ^coffering,

He will see ^dHis ³offspring,

He will prolong His days,

And the ⁴good ^epleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.

¹¹As a result of the ¹anguish of His soul,

He will ^asee ²it and be satisfied;

By His ^bknowledge the Righteous One,

My Servant, will justify the many,

As He will ^cbear their iniquities.

¹²Therefore, I will allot Him a ^aportion with the great,

And He will divide the booty with the strong;

Because He poured out ^1bHimself to death,

And was ^cnumbered with the transgressors;

Yet He Himself ^dbore the sin of many,

And interceded for the transgressors.