Isaiah 52–53

¹Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion, Put on the garments of thy beauty, Jerusalem—the Holy City; For enter no more into thee again, Do the uncircumcised and unclean. ²Shake thyself from dust, arise, sit, O Jerusalem, Bands of thy neck have loosed themselves, O captive, daughter of Zion. ³For thus said Jehovah: ‘For nought ye have been sold, And not by money are ye redeemed.’ ⁴For thus said the Lord Jehovah: ‘To Egypt My people went down at first to sojourn there, And Asshur—for nought he hath oppressed it. ⁵And now, what—to Me here, An affirmation of Jehovah, That taken is My people for nought? Its rulers cause howling,—an affirmation of Jehovah, And continually all the day My name is despised. ⁶Therefore doth My people know My name, Therefore, in that day, Surely I am He who is speaking, behold Me.’

⁷How comely on the mountains, Have been the feet of one proclaiming tidings, Sounding peace, proclaiming good tidings, Sounding salvation, Saying to Zion, ‘Reigned hath thy God.’ ⁸The voice of thy watchmen! They have lifted up the voice, together they cry aloud, Because eye to eye they see, in Jehovah’s turning back to Zion. ⁹Break forth, sing together, O wastes of Jerusalem, For Jehovah hath comforted His people, He hath redeemed Jerusalem. ¹⁰Jehovah hath made bare His holy arm Before the eyes of all the nations, And seen have all the ends of the earth, The salvation of our God. ¹¹Turn aside, turn aside, go out thence, The unclean touch not, go out from her midst, Be ye pure, who are bearing the weapons of Jehovah. ¹²For not in haste do ye go out, Yea, with flight ye go not on, For going before you is Jehovah, And gathering you is the God of Israel!

¹³Lo, My servant doth act wisely, He is high, and hath been lifted up, And hath been very high. ¹⁴As astonished at thee have been many, (So marred by man his appearance, And his form by sons of men.) ¹⁵So doth he sprinkle many nations. Concerning him kings shut their mouth, For that which was not recounted to them they have seen, And that which they had not heard they have understood!

Chapter 53

¹Who hath given credence to that which we heard? And the arm of Jehovah, On whom hath it been revealed? ²Yea, he cometh up as a tender plant before Him, And as a root out of a dry land, He hath no form, nor honour, when we observe him, Nor appearance, when we desire him. ³He is despised, and left of men, A man of pains, and acquainted with sickness, And as one hiding the face from us, He is despised, and we esteemed him not.

⁴Surely our sicknesses he hath borne, And our pains—he hath carried them, And we—we have esteemed him plagued, Smitten of God, and afflicted. ⁵And he is pierced for our transgressions, Bruised for our iniquities, The chastisement of our peace is on him, And by his bruise there is healing to us. ⁶All of us like sheep have wandered, Each to his own way we have turned, And Jehovah hath caused to meet on him, The punishment of us all. ⁷It hath been exacted, and he hath answered, And he openeth not his mouth, As a lamb to the slaughter he is brought, And as a sheep before its shearers is dumb, And he openeth not his mouth. ⁸By restraint and by judgment he hath been taken, And of his generation who doth meditate, That he hath been cut off from the land of the living? By the transgression of My people he is plagued, ⁹And it appointeth with the wicked his grave, And with the rich are his high places, Because he hath done no violence, Nor is deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰And Jehovah hath delighted to bruise him, He hath made him sick, If his soul doth make an offering for guilt, He seeth seed—he prolongeth days, And the pleasure of Jehovah in his hand doth prosper. ¹¹Of the labour of his soul he seeth—he is satisfied, Through his knowledge give righteousness Doth the righteous one, My servant, to many, And their iniquities he doth bear. ¹²Therefore I give a portion to him among the many, And with the mighty he apportioneth spoil, Because that he exposed to death his soul, And with transgressors he was numbered, And he the sin of many hath borne, And for transgressors he intercedeth.

Chapter 54