Isaiah 52-56

New Life Version

God Saves Israel

52 Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion. Put on your beautiful clothes, O Jerusalem, the holy city. For those who have not gone through the religious act of becoming a Jew and those who are unclean will not come into you any more. ² Shake off the dust. Rise up, O Jerusalem, who has been taken into prison. Loose yourself from the chains around your neck, O chained people of Zion who are in prison. ³ For the Lord says, “You were sold for nothing, and you will be bought without money and made free.” ⁴ For the Lord God says, “My people went down at first to Egypt to live there. Then the Assyrian made it hard for them without a reason. ⁵ So now what do I have here,” says the Lord, “Seeing that My people have been taken away for no reason?” The Lord says, “Those who rule over them call out in a loud voice and My name is spoken against all day long. ⁶ So My people will know My name. In that day they will know that it is I Who says, ‘Here I am.’”

⁷ How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who tells of peace and brings good news of happiness, who tells of saving power, and says to Zion, “Your God rules!” ⁸ Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices. They call out together for joy, for they will see with their own eyes the return of the Lord to Zion. ⁹ Break out together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem. For the Lord has comforted His people. He has saved Jerusalem. ¹⁰ The Lord has shown His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, that all the ends of the earth may see that our God saves.

¹¹ Leave, leave, go from them. Touch nothing that is unclean. Leave and make yourselves pure, you who carry the holy objects of the Lord. ¹² But you will not go out in a hurry. You will not leave as if you were running for your lives. For the Lord will go before you. And the God of Israel will keep watch behind you.

The Suffering Servant

¹³ See, My Servant will do well. He will be high and lifted up and honored very much. ¹⁴ Just as many looked in wonder at you, My people, so His face was marked worse than any man, and His body more than the sons of men. ¹⁵ He will surprise many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of Him. What they had never been told about Him, they will see. And what they had never heard about Him, they will understand.

53 Who has believed what we told them? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been shown? ² He grew up before Him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground. He has no beautiful body and when we see Him there is no beauty that we should desire Him. ³ He was hated and men would have nothing to do with Him, a man of sorrows and suffering, knowing sadness well. We hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was hated, and we did not think well of Him.

⁴ For sure He took on Himself our troubles and carried our sorrows. Yet we thought of Him as being punished and hurt by God, and made to suffer. ⁵ But He was hurt for our wrong-doing. He was crushed for our sins. He was punished so we would have peace. He was beaten so we would be healed. ⁶ All of us like sheep have gone the wrong way. Each of us has turned to his own way. And the Lord has put on Him the sin of us all.

⁷ Men made it very hard for Him and caused Him to suffer, yet He did not open His mouth. He was taken like a lamb to be put to death. A sheep does not make a sound while its wool is cut and He did not open His mouth. ⁸ He was taken away as a prisoner and then judged. Who among the people of that day cared that His life was taken away from the earth? He was hurt because of the sin of the people who should have been punished. ⁹ They gave Him a grave with the sinful, but with the rich at His death, for He had done no wrong, and there was nothing false in His mouth.

¹⁰ But it was the will of the Lord to crush Him, causing Him to suffer. Because He gives His life as a gift on the altar for sin, He will see His children. Days will be added to His life, and the will of the Lord will do well in His hand. ¹¹ He will see what the suffering of His soul brings, and will be pleased. By what He knows, the One Who is right and good, My Servant, will carry the punishment of many and He will carry their sins. ¹² So I will give Him a share among the great. He will divide the riches with the strong, because He gave up His life. They thought of Him as One Who broke the Law. Yet He Himself carried the sin of many, and prayed for the sinners.

The Lord Loves Israel

54 “Woman, be happy, you who have had no children. Cry for joy, you who have never had the pains of having a child, for you will have many children. Yes, you will have more children than the one who has a husband,” says the Lord. ² “Make your tent bigger. Spread out the curtains of your home, and do not hold back. Make your ropes longer and your tie-downs stronger. ³ For you will spread out to the right and to the left. Your children will own nations, and they will fill the destroyed cities with people.

⁴ “Fear not, for you will not be ashamed. Do not be troubled, for you will not be put to shame. You will forget how you were ashamed when you were young. You will not remember the sorrow of being without a husband any more. ⁵ Your Maker is your husband. His name is the Lord of All. And the One Who saves you is the Holy One of Israel. He is called the God of All the earth. ⁶ For the Lord has called you like a wife left alone and filled with sorrow, like a wife who married when young and is left,” says your God. ⁷ “For a short time I left you, but with much loving-pity I will take you back. ⁸ When I was very angry I hid My face from you for a short time. But with loving-kindness that lasts forever I will have pity on you,” says the Lord Who bought you and saves you.

⁹ “For this is like the days of Noah to Me. As I promised that the waters of Noah should not flood the earth again, so I have promised that I will not be angry with you or speak sharp words to you. ¹⁰ The mountains may be taken away and the hills may shake, but My loving-kindness will not be taken from you. And My agreement of peace will not be shaken,” says the Lord who has loving-pity on you.

¹¹ “O suffering one, shaken by the storm and not comforted, see, I will set your stones in beautiful colors. You will stand upon blue stones of much worth. ¹² I will make your towers of bright red stones. Your gates will be made of shining stones, and all your walls will be made of stones of great worth. ¹³ All your sons will be taught by the Lord, and the well-being of your children will be great. ¹⁴ All will be right and good for you. No one over you will make it hard for you, and you will not be afraid. You will be far from trouble, for it will not come near you. ¹⁵ If anyone brings trouble against you, it will not be from Me. Whoever comes against you will fall because of you. ¹⁶ See, I Myself have made the workman who blows on the fire to give it more heat and makes a sword for its work. I have made the destroyer to destroy. ¹⁷ No tool that is made to fight against you will do well. And you will prove wrong every tongue that says you are guilty. This is the gift given to the servants of the Lord. I take away their guilt and make them right,” says the Lord.

A Great Full Life

55 “Listen! Every one who is thirsty, come to the waters. And you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. ² Why do you spend money for what is not bread? Why spend your pay for what you do not enjoy? Listen well to Me, and eat what is good. Find joy in the best food. ³ Listen and come to Me. Hear, so you may live. And I will make an agreement with you that lasts forever, because of the faithful love promised to David. ⁴ See, I made him one who told of what he had seen and heard to the nations, a leader and ruler of the people. ⁵ See, you will call nations that you do not know. And nations that did not know you will run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel. For He has given shining-greatness to you.”

⁶ Look for the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. ⁷ Let the sinful turn from his way, and the one who does not know God turn from his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and He will have loving-pity on him. Let him turn to our God, for He will for sure forgive all his sins. ⁸ “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and My ways are not your ways,” says the Lord. ⁹ “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. ¹⁰ The rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return there without giving water to the earth. This makes plants grow on the earth, and gives seeds to the planter and bread to the eater. ¹¹ So My Word which goes from My mouth will not return to Me empty. It will do what I want it to do, and will carry out My plan well. ¹² You will go out with joy, and be led out in peace. The mountains and the hills will break out into sounds of joy before you. And all the trees of the field will clap their hands. ¹³ Instead of the thorn bush, the cypress tree will come up. Instead of the thistle, the myrtle tree will come up. It will cause you to remember the Lord, something special to see that will last forever.”

All Nations Can Be Saved

56 The Lord says, “Hold on to what is right and fair. Do what is right and good. My saving power will soon come, and I will show what is right. ² How happy is the man who does this, and the son of man who takes hold of it! How happy is he who keeps the Day of Rest holy, and keeps his hand from doing wrong.” ³ Let not the man from a strange land who has joined the Lord say, “For sure the Lord will keep me away from His people.” Let not the man who had been made so that he could not have children say, “See, I am a dry tree.” ⁴ To these the Lord says, “If these servants keep My Days of Rest and choose what pleases Me, and hold on to My agreement, ⁵ I will give them something in My house and within My walls to be remembered. I will give them a name better than that of sons and daughters, a name that will be forever and never be cut off.

⁶ “And those from a strange land who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him and to love His name, to be His servants, and keep the Day of Rest holy, and keep My agreement, ⁷ even those I will bring to My holy mountain and give them joy in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and gifts will be received on My altar. For My house will be called a house of prayer for all people.” ⁸ The Lord God Who gathers the people of Israel from other lands says, “I will gather yet others to them, besides those already gathered.”

Israel’s Sinful Leaders

⁹ All you animals of the field, all you animals among the trees, come to eat. ¹⁰ The men of Israel who keep watch are blind to trouble. They know very little. They are all dogs that cannot make noise. They dream and lie down, and love to sleep. ¹¹ The dogs are hungry and never have enough. The shepherds have no understanding. They have all turned to their own way, each one wanting to get things for himself that are not his. ¹² “Come,” they say, “let us get wine. Let us drink much strong drink. And tomorrow will be even better than today.”