Isaiah 53–55

⁵³Who has believed what we have heard?

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

²For he grew up before him like a young plant

and like a root out of dry ground;

he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,

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

³He was despised and rejected by others;

a man of suffering^k and acquainted with infirmity,

and as one from whom others hide their faces^l

he was despised, and we held him of no account.^*

⁴Surely he has borne our infirmities

and carried our diseases,

yet we accounted him stricken,

struck down by God, and afflicted.^*

⁵But he was wounded for our transgressions,

crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the punishment that made us whole,

and by his bruises we are healed.^*

⁶All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have all turned to our own way,

and the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.^*

⁷He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he did not open his mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.^*

⁸By a perversion of justice he was taken away.

Who could have imagined his future?

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

stricken for the transgression of my people.^*

⁹They made his grave with the wicked

and his tomb^m with the rich,ⁿ

although he had done no violence,

and there was no deceit in his mouth.^*

¹⁰Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with affliction.

When you make his life an offering for sin,^o

he shall see his offspring and shall prolong his days;

through him the will of the Lord shall prosper.^*

¹¹Out of his anguish he shall see;

he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge.

The righteous one,^p my servant, shall make many righteous,

and he shall bear their iniquities.^*

¹²Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great,

and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,

because he poured out himself to death

and was numbered with the transgressors,

yet he bore the sin of many

and made intercession for the transgressors.^*

The Eternal Covenant of Peace

⁵⁴Shout for joy, O barren one who has borne no children;

burst into song and shout,

you who have not been in labor!

For the children of the desolate woman will be more

than the children of the one who is married, says the Lord.^*

²Enlarge the site of your tent,

and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out;

do not hold back; lengthen your cords

and strengthen your stakes.^*

³For you will spread out to the right and to the left,

and your descendants will possess nations

and will settle desolate towns.^*

⁴Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed;

do not be discouraged, for you will not suffer disgrace,

for you will forget the shame of your youth,

and the disgrace of your widowhood you will remember no more.^*

⁵For your Maker is your husband;

the Lord of hosts is his name;

the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;

the God of the whole earth he is called.^*

⁶For the Lord has called you

like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,

like the wife of a man’s youth when she is cast off,

says your God.^*

⁷For a brief moment I abandoned you,

but with great compassion I will gather you.^*

⁸In overflowing wrath for a moment

I hid my face from you,

but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,

says the Lord, your Redeemer.^*

⁹This is like the days of Noah to me:

Just as I swore that the waters of Noah

would never again go over the earth,

so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you

and will not rebuke you.^*

¹⁰For the mountains may depart

and the hills be removed,

but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,

and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,

says the Lord, who has compassion on you.^*

¹¹O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted,

I am about to set your stones in antimony

and lay your foundations with sapphires.^q*

¹²I will make your pinnacles of rubies,

your gates of jewels,

and all your wall of precious stones.

¹³All your children shall be taught by the Lord,

and great shall be the prosperity of your children.^*

¹⁴In righteousness you shall be established;

you shall be far from oppression; indeed, you shall not fear;

and from terror; indeed, it shall not come near you.^*

¹⁵If anyone stirs up strife,

it is not from me;

whoever stirs up strife with you

shall fall because of you.^*

¹⁶See, it is I who have created the smith

who blows the fire of coals

and produces a weapon fit for its purpose;

I have also created the ravager to destroy.

¹⁷No weapon that is fashioned against you shall prosper,

and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment.

This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord

and their vindication from me, says the Lord.^*

An Invitation to Abundant Life

⁵⁵Hear, everyone who thirsts;

come to the waters;

and you who have no money,

come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

without money and without price.^*

²Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread

and your earnings for that which does not satisfy?

Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,

and delight yourselves in rich food.^*

³Incline your ear, and come to me;

listen, so that you may live.

I will make with you an everlasting covenant,

my steadfast, sure love for David.^*

⁴See, I made him a witness to the peoples,

a leader and commander for the peoples.^*

⁵Now you shall call nations that you do not know,

and nations that do not know you shall run to you,

because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel,

for he has glorified you.^*

⁶Seek the Lord while he may be found;

call upon him while he is near;^*

⁷let the wicked forsake their way

and the unrighteous their thoughts;

let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them,

and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.^*

⁸For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.

⁹For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts.^*

¹⁰For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven

and do not return there until they have watered the earth,

making it bring forth and sprout,

giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,^*

¹¹so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;

it shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which I purpose

and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.^*

¹²For you shall go out in joy

and be led back in peace;

the mountains and the hills before you

shall burst into song,

and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.^*

¹³Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;

instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle,

and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial,

for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.^*