Isaiah 52-56

New American Standard Bible

Cheer for Prostrate Zion

52 ^(A)Awake, awake,
Clothe yourself in your strength, Zion;
Clothe yourself with your ^(B)beautiful garments,
Jerusalem, the ^(C)holy city;
For the uncircumcised and the ^(D)unclean
Will no longer come into you.
²Shake yourself ^(E)from the dust, ^(F)rise up,
Captive Jerusalem;
^(G)Release yourself from the chains around your neck,
Captive daughter of Zion.

³For this is what the Lord says: “You were ^(H)sold for nothing, and you will be ^(I)redeemed ^(J)without money.” ⁴For this is what the Lord ^[a]God says: “My people ^(K)went down to Egypt first to reside there; then the Assyrian oppressed them without reason. ⁵And now, what do I have here,” declares the Lord, “seeing that My people have been taken away without reason?” Again the Lord declares, “Those who rule over them howl, and My ^(L)name is continually reviled all day long. ⁶Therefore, My people shall ^(M)know My name; therefore on that day I am the one who is speaking, ‘Here I am.’”

⁷How delightful on the mountains
Are the feet of one who brings ^(N)good news,
Who announces ^[b]peace
And brings good news of ^[c]happiness,
Who announces salvation,
And says to Zion, “Your ^(O)God ^[d]reigns!”
⁸Listen! Your watchmen raise their ^(P)voices,
They shout joyfully together;
For they will see ^[e]with their own eyes
When the Lord restores Zion.
⁹^(Q)Be cheerful, shout joyfully together,
You ^(R)ruins of Jerusalem;
For the Lord has comforted His people,
He has ^(S)redeemed Jerusalem.
¹⁰The Lord has bared His holy ^(T)arm
In the sight of all the nations,
^[f]So that ^(U)all the ends of the earth may see
The salvation of our God.

¹¹^(V)Depart, depart, go out from there,
^(W)Do not touch what is unclean;
Go out of the midst of her, ^(X)purify yourselves,
You who carry the vessels of the Lord.
¹²But you will not go out in ^(Y)a hurry,
Nor will you go ^[g]as fugitives;
For the ^(Z)Lord will go before you,
And ^(AA)the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

The Exalted Servant

¹³Behold, My ^(AB)Servant will prosper,
He will be high and lifted up and ^[h]greatly ^(AC)exalted.
¹⁴Just as many were appalled at you, My people,
So His ^(AD)appearance was marred beyond that of a man,
And His form beyond the sons of mankind.
¹⁵So ^[i]He will ^(AE)sprinkle many nations,
Kings will ^(AF)shut their mouths on account of Him;
For ^(AG)what they had not been told, they will see,
And what they had not heard, they will understand.

The Suffering Servant

53 ^(AH)Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
²For He grew up before Him like a ^(AI)tender ^[j]shoot,
And like a root out of dry ground;
He has ^(AJ)no stately form or majesty
That we would look at Him,
Nor an appearance that we would take pleasure in Him.
³He was ^(AK)despised and abandoned by men,
A man of ^[k]great pain and ^(AL)familiar with sickness;
And like one from whom people hide their faces,
He was ^(AM)despised, and we had no ^(AN)regard for Him.

⁴However, it was our sicknesses that He Himself ^(AO)bore,
And our pains that He carried;
Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted,
Struck down by ^(AP)God, and humiliated.
⁵But He was ^[l]pierced for ^(AQ)our offenses,
He was crushed for ^(AR)our wrongdoings;
The ^(AS)punishment for our ^[m]well-being was laid upon Him,
And by ^(AT)His wounds 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 wrongdoing of us all
To ^[n]fall on Him.

⁷He was oppressed and afflicted,
Yet He did not ^(AU)open His mouth;
^(AV)Like 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 from the land of the ^[o]living
^(AW)For the wrongdoing of my people, to whom the blow was due?
⁹And His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a ^(AX)rich man in His death,
^(AY)Because He had ^(AZ)done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

¹⁰But the Lord desired
To ^(BA)crush Him, ^[p]^(BB)causing Him grief;
If He renders ^[q]Himself as a guilt ^(BC)offering,
He will see ^(BD)His ^[r]offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the ^[s]good ^(BE)pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.
¹¹As a result of the ^[t]anguish of His soul,
He will ^[u]^(BF)see it and be satisfied;
By His ^(BG)knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
For He will ^(BH)bear their wrongdoings.
¹²Therefore, I will allot Him a ^(BI)portion with the great,
And He will divide the plunder with the strong,
Because He poured out His ^[v]^(BJ)life unto death,
And was ^(BK)counted with wrongdoers;
Yet He Himself ^(BL)bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the wrongdoers.

The Fertility of Zion

54 “^(BM)Shout for joy, infertile one, you who have not given birth to any child;
Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor;
For the sons of the ^(BN)desolate one will be ^(BO)more numerous
Than the sons of the married woman,” says the Lord.
²“^(BP)Enlarge the place of your tent;
^[w]Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, do not spare them;
Lengthen your ^(BQ)ropes
And strengthen your ^(BR)pegs.
³For you will ^(BS)spread out to the right and to the left.
And your ^[x]descendants will ^(BT)possess nations
And will ^(BU)resettle the desolate cities.

⁴“Fear not, for you will ^(BV)not be put to shame;
And do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced;
But you will forget the ^(BW)shame of your youth,
And no longer remember the ^(BX)disgrace of your widowhood.
⁵For your ^(BY)husband is your Maker,
Whose name is the Lord of armies;
And your ^(BZ)Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,
Who is called the ^(CA)God of all the earth.
⁶For the Lord has called you,
Like a wife ^(CB)forsaken and grieved in spirit,
Even like a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,”
Says your God.
⁷“^[y]For a ^(CC)brief moment I abandoned you,
But with great compassion I will ^(CD)gather you.
⁸In an ^[z]^(CE)outburst of anger
I hid My face from you for a moment,
But with everlasting ^(CF)favor I will ^(CG)have compassion on you,”
Says the Lord your ^(CH)Redeemer.

⁹“For ^[aa]this is like the days of Noah to Me,
When I swore that the waters of Noah
Would ^(CI)not ^[ab]flood the earth again;
So I have sworn that I will ^(CJ)not be angry with you
Nor rebuke you.
¹⁰For the ^(CK)mountains may be removed and the hills may shake,
But My ^[ac]favor will not be removed from you,
Nor will My ^(CL)covenant of peace be shaken,”
Says ^(CM)the Lord who has compassion on you.

¹¹“^(CN)Afflicted one, storm-tossed, and ^(CO)not comforted,
Behold, I will set your stones in antimony,
And I will ^(CP)lay your foundations with ^[ad]^(CQ)sapphires.
¹²Moreover, I will make your battlements of ^[ae]rubies,
And your gates of ^[af]crystal,
And your entire ^[ag]wall of precious stones.
¹³^(CR)All your sons will be ^[ah]taught by the Lord;
And the well-being of your sons will be ^(CS)great.
¹⁴In ^(CT)righteousness you will be established;
You will be far from ^(CU)oppression, for you will ^(CV)not fear;
And from ^(CW)terror, for it will not come near you.
¹⁵If anyone fiercely attacks you, it will not be from Me.
^(CX)Whoever attacks you will fall because of you.
¹⁶Behold, I Myself have created the smith who blows on the fire of coals
And produces a weapon for its work;
And I have created the destroyer to inflict ruin.
¹⁷^(CY)No weapon that is formed against you will succeed;
And you will condemn ^(CZ)every tongue that ^[ai]accuses you in judgment.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
And their ^(DA)vindication is from Me,” declares the Lord.

The Free Offer of Mercy

55 “^[aj]You there! Everyone who ^(DB)thirsts, come to the waters;
And you who have ^(DC)no ^[ak]money come, buy and eat.
Come, buy ^(DD)wine and milk
^(DE)Without money and without cost.
²Why do you ^[al]spend money for what is ^(DF)not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and ^(DG)eat what is good,
And ^(DH)delight yourself in abundance.
³^(DI)Incline your ear and come to Me.
Listen, that ^[am]you may ^(DJ)live;
And I will make ^(DK)an everlasting covenant with you,
According to the ^(DL)faithful mercies ^[an]shown to David.
⁴Behold, I have made ^(DM)him a witness to the peoples,
A ^(DN)leader and commander for the peoples.
⁵Behold, you will call a ^(DO)nation you do not know,
And a nation which does not know you will ^(DP)run to you,
Because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel;
For He has ^(DQ)glorified you.”

⁶^(DR)Seek the Lord while He may be found;
^(DS)Call upon Him while He is near.
⁷^(DT)Let the wicked abandon his way,
And the unrighteous person his ^(DU)thoughts;
And let him ^(DV)return to the Lord,
And He will have ^(DW)compassion on him,
And to our God,
For He will ^(DX)abundantly pardon.
⁸“For My thoughts are not ^(DY)your thoughts,
Nor are ^(DZ)your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
⁹“For ^(EA)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 ^(EB)rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there without watering the earth
And making it produce and sprout,
And providing ^(EC)seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
¹¹So will My ^(ED)word be which goes out of My mouth;
It will ^(EE)not return to Me empty,
Without ^(EF)accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the purpose for which I sent it.
¹²For you will go out with ^(EG)joy
And be led in ^(EH)peace;
The ^(EI)mountains and the hills will break into shouts of joy before you,
And all the ^(EJ)trees of the field will clap their hands.
¹³Instead of the ^(EK)thorn bush, the ^(EL)juniper will come up,
And instead of the ^(EM)stinging nettle, the myrtle will come up;
And ^[ao]it will be a ^[ap]^(EN)memorial to the Lord,
An everlasting ^(EO)sign which ^(EP)will not be eliminated.”

Rewards for Obedience to God

56 This is what the Lord says:
“^(EQ)Guard justice and do righteousness,
For My ^(ER)salvation is about to come
And My righteousness to be revealed.
²^(ES)Blessed is a man who does this,
And a son of man who ^(ET)takes hold of it;
Who ^(EU)keeps from profaning the Sabbath,
And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”
³Let not the ^(EV)foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say,
“The Lord will certainly separate me from His people.”
Nor let the ^(EW)eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”
⁴For this is what the Lord says:
“To the eunuchs who ^(EX)keep My Sabbaths,
And choose what pleases Me,
And ^(EY)hold firmly to My covenant,
⁵To them I will give in My ^(EZ)house and within My ^(FA)walls a memorial,
And a name better than that of sons and daughters;
I will give ^[aq]them an everlasting ^(FB)name which ^(FC)will not be eliminated.

⁶“Also the ^(FD)foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
To attend to His service and to love the name of the Lord,
To be His servants, every one who ^(FE)keeps the Sabbath so as not to profane it,
And holds firmly to My covenant;
⁷Even ^(FF)those I will bring to My ^(FG)holy mountain,
And ^(FH)make them joyful in My house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on ^(FI)My altar;
For ^(FJ)My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”
⁸The Lord ^[ar]God, who ^(FK)gathers the dispersed of Israel, declares,
“I will yet gather ^(FL)others to ^[as]them, to those already gathered.”

⁹All you ^[at]^(FM)wild animals,
All you animals in the forest,
Come to eat.
¹⁰His ^(FN)watchmen are ^(FO)blind,
All of them know nothing.
All of them are mute dogs unable to bark,
Dreamers lying down, who love to slumber;
¹¹And the dogs are ^[au]^(FP)greedy, they ^[av]are never satisfied.
And they are shepherds who have ^(FQ)no understanding;
They have all ^(FR)turned to their own way,
Each one to his unjust gain, ^[aw]without exception.
¹²“Come,” they say, “^[ax]let’s get ^(FS)wine, and let’s drink heavily of intoxicating drink;
And ^(FT)tomorrow will be like today, only more so.”