Isaiah 51–53

Jerusalem Will Be Saved

51The Lord says, “Listen to me,

those of you who try to live right and follow the Lord.

Look at the rock from which you were cut;

look at the stone quarry from which you were dug.

²Look at Abraham, your ancestor,

and Sarah, who gave birth to your ancestors.

Abraham had no children when I called him,

but I blessed him and gave him many descendants.

³So the Lord will comfort Jerusalem;

he will show mercy to those who live in her ruins.

He will change her deserts into a garden like Eden;

he will make her empty lands like the garden of the Lord.

People there will be very happy;

they will give thanks and sing songs.

⁴“My people, listen to me;

my nation, pay attention to me.

I will give the people my teachings,

and my decisions will be like a light to all people.

⁵I will soon show that I do what is right.

I will soon save you.

I will use my power and judge all nations.

All the faraway places are waiting for me;

they wait for my power to help them.

⁶Look up to the heavens.

Look around you at the earth below.

The skies will disappear like clouds of smoke.

The earth will become useless like old clothes,

and its people will die like flies.

But my salvation will continue forever,

and my goodness will never end.

⁷“You people who know what is right should listen to me;

you people who follow my teachings should hear what I say.

Don’t be afraid of the evil things people say,

and don’t be upset by their insults.

⁸Moths will eat those people as if they were clothes,

and worms will eat them as if they were wool.

But my goodness will continue forever,

and my salvation will continue from now on.”

⁹Wake up, wake up, and use your strength,

powerful Lord.

Wake up as you did in the old times,

as you did a long time ago.

With your own power, you cut Rahab into pieces

and killed that sea monster.

¹⁰You dried up the sea

and the waters of the deep ocean.

You made the deepest parts of the sea into a road

for your people to cross over and be saved.

¹¹The people the Lord has freed will return

and enter Jerusalem with joy.

Their happiness will last forever.

They will have joy and gladness,

and all sadness and sorrow will be gone far away.

¹²The Lord says, “I am the one who comforts you.

So why should you be afraid of people, who die?

Why should you fear people who die like the grass?

¹³Have you forgotten the Lord who made you,

who stretched out the skies

and made the earth?

Why are you always afraid

of those angry people who trouble you

and who want to destroy?

But where are those angry people now?

¹⁴People in prison will soon be set free;

they will not die in prison,

and they will have enough food.

¹⁵I am the Lord your God,

who stirs the sea and makes the waves roar.

My name is the Lord All-Powerful.

¹⁶I will give you the words I want you to say.

I will cover you with my hands and protect you.

I made the heavens and the earth,

and I say to Jerusalem, ‘You are my people.’ ”

God Punished Israel

¹⁷Awake! Awake!

Get up, Jerusalem.

The Lord was very angry with you;

your punishment was like wine in a cup.

The Lord made you drink that wine;

you drank the whole cup until you stumbled.

¹⁸Jerusalem had many people,

but there was not one to lead her.

Of all the people who grew up there,

no one was there to guide her.

¹⁹Troubles came to you two by two,

but no one will feel sorry for you.

There was ruin and disaster, great hunger and fighting.

No one can comfort you.

²⁰Your people have become weak.

They fall down and lie on every street corner,

like animals caught in a net.

They have felt the full anger of the Lord

and have heard God’s angry shout.

²¹So listen to me, poor Jerusalem,

you who are drunk but not from wine.

²²Your God will defend his people.

This is what the Lord your God says:

“The punishment I gave you is like a cup of wine.

You drank it and could not walk straight.

But I am taking that cup of my anger away from you,

and you will never be punished by my anger again.

²³I will now give that cup of punishment to those who gave you pain,

who told you,

‘Bow down so we can walk over you.’

They made your back like dirt for them to walk on;

you were like a street for them to travel on.”

Jerusalem Will Be Saved

52Wake up, wake up, Jerusalem! Become strong!

Be beautiful again,

holy city of Jerusalem.

The people who do not worship God and who are not pure

will not enter you again.

²Jerusalem, you once were a prisoner.

Now shake off the dust and stand up.

Jerusalem, you once were a prisoner.

Now free yourself from the chains around your neck.

³This is what the Lord says:

“You were not sold for a price,

so you will be saved without cost.”

⁴This is what the Lord God says:

“First my people went down to Egypt to live.

Later Assyria made them slaves.

⁵“Now see what has happened,” says the Lord.

“Another nation has taken away my people for nothing.

This nation who rules them makes fun of me,” says the Lord.

“All day long they speak against me.

⁶This has happened so my people will know who I am,

and so, on that future day, they will know

that I am the one speaking to them.

It will really be me.”

⁷How beautiful is the person

who comes over the mountains to bring good news,

who announces peace

and brings good news,

who announces salvation

and says to Jerusalem,

“Your God is King.”

⁸Listen! Your guards are shouting.

They are all shouting for joy!

They all will see with their own eyes

when the Lord returns to Jerusalem.

⁹Jerusalem, your buildings are destroyed now,

but shout and rejoice together,

because the Lord has comforted his people.

He has saved Jerusalem.

¹⁰The Lord will show his holy power

to all the nations.

Then everyone on earth

will see the salvation of our God.

¹¹You people, leave, leave; get out of Babylon!

Touch nothing that is unclean.

You men who carry the Lord’s things used in worship,

leave there and make yourselves pure.

¹²You will not be forced to leave Babylon quickly;

you will not be forced to run away,

because the Lord will go before you,

and the God of Israel will guard you from behind.

The Lord’s Suffering Servant

¹³The Lord says, “See, my servant will act wisely.

People will greatly honor and respect him.

¹⁴Many people were shocked when they saw him.

His appearance was so damaged he did not look like a man;

his form was so changed they could barely tell he was human.

¹⁵But now he will surprise many nations.

Kings will be amazed and shut their mouths.

They will see things they had not been told about him,

and they will understand things they had not heard.”

53Who would have believed what we heard?

Who saw the Lord’s power in this?

²He grew up like a small plant before the Lord,

like a root growing in a dry land.

He had no special beauty or form to make us notice him;

there was nothing in his appearance to make us desire him.

³He was hated and rejected by people.

He had much pain and suffering.

People would not even look at him.

He was hated, and we didn’t even notice him.

⁴But he took our suffering on him

and felt our pain for us.

We saw his suffering

and thought God was punishing him.

⁵But he was wounded for the wrong we did;

he was crushed for the evil we did.

The punishment, which made us well, was given to him,

and we are healed because of his wounds.

⁶We all have wandered away like sheep;

each of us has gone his own way.

But the Lord has put on him the punishment

for all the evil we have done.

⁷He was beaten down and punished,

but he didn’t say a word.

He was like a lamb being led to be killed.

He was quiet, as a sheep is quiet while its wool is being cut;

he never opened his mouth.

⁸Men took him away roughly and unfairly.

He died without children to continue his family.

He was put to death;

he was punished for the sins of my people.

⁹He was buried with wicked men,

and he died with the rich.

He had done nothing wrong,

and he had never lied.

¹⁰But it was the Lord who decided

to crush him and make him suffer.

The Lord made his life a penalty offering,

but he will still see his descendants and live a long life.

He will complete the things the Lord wants him to do.

¹¹“After his soul suffers many things,

he will see life and be satisfied.

My good servant will make many people right with God;

he will carry away their sins.

¹²For this reason I will make him a great man among people,

and he will share in all things with those who are strong.

He willingly gave his life

and was treated like a criminal.

But he carried away the sins of many people

and asked forgiveness for those who sinned.”