Isaiah 52–53

52Awake, awake,^s Zion,

clothe yourself with strength!^t

Put on your garments of splendor,^u

Jerusalem, the holy city.^v

The uncircumcised^w and defiled^x

will not enter you again.^y

²Shake off your dust;^z

rise up,^a sit enthroned, Jerusalem.

Free yourself from the chains on your neck,^b

Daughter Zion,^c now a captive.

³For this is what the Lord says:

“You were sold for nothing,^d

and without money^e you will be redeemed.^f”

⁴For this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“At first my people went down to Egypt^g to live;

lately, Assyria^h has oppressed them.

⁵“And now what do I have here?” declares the Lord.

“For my people have been taken away for nothing,

and those who rule them mock,^a”

declares the Lord.

“And all day long

my name is constantly blasphemed.ⁱ

⁶Therefore my people will know^j my name;^k

therefore in that day^l they will know

that it is I who foretold^m it.

Yes, it is I.”

⁷How beautiful on the mountainsⁿ

are the feet of those who bring good news,^o

who proclaim peace,^p

who bring good tidings,

who proclaim salvation,

who say to Zion,

“Your God reigns!”^q

⁸Listen! Your watchmen^r lift up their voices;^s

together they shout for joy.^t

When the Lord returns^u to Zion,^v

they will see it with their own eyes.

⁹Burst into songs of joy^w together,

you ruins^x of Jerusalem,

for the Lord has comforted^y his people,

he has redeemed Jerusalem.^z

¹⁰The Lord will lay bare his holy arm^a

in the sight of all the nations,^b

and all the ends of the earth^c will see

the salvation^d of our God.

¹¹Depart,^e depart, go out from there!

Touch no unclean thing!^f

Come out from it and be pure,^g

you who carry the articles^h of the Lord’s house.

¹²But you will not leave in hasteⁱ

or go in flight;

for the Lord will go before you,^j

the God of Israel will be your rear guard.^k

The Suffering and Glory of the Servant

¹³See, my servant^l will act wisely^b;

he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.^m

¹⁴Just as there were many who were appalledⁿ at him^c—

his appearance was so disfigured^o beyond that of any human being

and his form marred beyond human likeness^p—

¹⁵so he will sprinkle^q many nations,^d

and kings^r will shut their mouths^s because of him.

For what they were not told, they will see,

and what they have not heard, they will understand.^t

53Who has believed our message^u

and to whom has the arm^v of the Lord been revealed?^w

²He grew up before him like a tender shoot,^x

and like a root^y out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

nothing in his appearance^z that we should desire him.

³He was despised and rejected by mankind,

a man of suffering,^a and familiar with pain.^b

Like one from whom people hide^c their faces

he was despised,^d and we held him in low esteem.

⁴Surely he took up our pain

and bore our suffering,^e

yet we considered him punished by God,^f

stricken by him, and afflicted.^g

⁵But he was pierced^h for our transgressions,ⁱ

he was crushed^j for our iniquities;

the punishment^k that brought us peace^l was on him,

and by his wounds^m we are healed.ⁿ

⁶We all, like sheep, have gone astray,^o

each of us has turned to our own way;^p

and the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity^q of us all.

⁷He was oppressed^r and afflicted,

yet he did not open his mouth;^s

he was led like a lamb^t to the slaughter,^u

and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

⁸By oppression^a and judgment^v he was taken away.

Yet who of his generation protested?

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

for the transgression^x of my people he was punished.^b

⁹He was assigned a grave with the wicked,^y

and with the rich^z in his death,

though he had done no violence,^a

nor was any deceit in his mouth.^b

¹⁰Yet it was the Lord’s will^c to crush^d him and cause him to suffer,^e

and though the Lord makes^c his life an offering for sin,^f

he will see his offspring^g and prolong his days,

and the will of the Lord will prosper^h in his hand.

¹¹After he has suffered,ⁱ

he will see the light^j of life^d and be satisfied^e;

by his knowledge^f my righteous servant^k will justify^l many,

and he will bear their iniquities.^m

¹²Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,^gn

and he will divide the spoils^o with the strong,^h

because he poured out his life unto death,^p

and was numbered with the transgressors.^q

For he bore^r the sin of many,^s

and made intercession^t for the transgressors.