The Sin-Bearing Messiah

53 Who (A)has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no [a]form or [b]comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no [c]beauty that we should desire Him.
(B)He is despised and [d]rejected by men,
A Man of [e]sorrows and (C)acquainted with [f]grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and (D)we did not esteem Him.

Surely (E)He has borne our [g]griefs
And carried our [h]sorrows;
Yet we [i]esteemed Him stricken,
[j]Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was (F)wounded[k] for our transgressions,
He was [l]bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His (G)stripes[m] we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord [n]has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet (H)He opened not His mouth;
(I)He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
He was (J)taken from [o]prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For (K)He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
(L)And [p]they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any (M)deceit in His mouth.

10 Yet it pleased the Lord to [q]bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul (N)an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
11 [r]He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge (O)My righteous (P)Servant shall (Q)justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
12 (R)Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
(S)And He shall divide the [s]spoil with the strong,
Because He (T)poured out His soul unto death,
And He was (U)numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And (V)made intercession for the transgressors.

A Perpetual Covenant of Peace

54 “Sing, O (W)barren,
You who have not borne!
Break forth into singing, and cry aloud,
You who have not labored with child!
For more are the children of the desolate
Than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord.
“Enlarge(X) the place of your tent,
And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings;
Do not spare;
Lengthen your cords,
And strengthen your stakes.
For you shall expand to the right and to the left,
And your descendants will (Y)inherit the nations,
And make the desolate cities inhabited.

“Do(Z) not fear, for you will not be ashamed;
Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame;
For you will forget the shame of your youth,
And will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore.
(AA)For your Maker is your husband,
The Lord of hosts is His name;
And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel;
He is called (AB)the God of the whole earth.
For the Lord (AC)has called you
Like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit,
Like a youthful wife when you were refused,”
Says your God.
“For(AD) a mere moment I have forsaken you,
But with great mercies (AE)I will gather you.
With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment;
(AF)But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,”
Says the Lord, your Redeemer.

“For this is like the waters of (AG)Noah to Me;
For as I have sworn
That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth,
So have I sworn
That I would not be angry with (AH)you, nor rebuke you.
10 For (AI)the mountains shall depart
And the hills be removed,
(AJ)But My kindness shall not depart from you,
Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,”
Says the Lord, who has mercy on you.

11 “O you afflicted one,
Tossed with tempest, and not comforted,
Behold, I will lay your stones with (AK)colorful gems,
And lay your foundations with sapphires.
12 I will make your pinnacles of rubies,
Your gates of crystal,
And all your walls of precious stones.
13 All your children shall be (AL)taught by the Lord,
And (AM)great shall be the peace of your children.
14 In righteousness you shall be established;
You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear;
And from terror, for it shall not come near you.
15 Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me.
Whoever assembles against you shall (AN)fall for your sake.

16 “Behold, I have created the blacksmith
Who blows the coals in the fire,
Who brings forth an [t]instrument for his work;
And I have created the [u]spoiler to destroy.
17 No weapon formed against you shall (AO)prosper,
And every tongue which rises against you in judgment
You shall condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
(AP)And their righteousness is from Me,”
Says the Lord.

An Invitation to Abundant Life

55 “Ho! (AQ)Everyone who thirsts,
Come to the waters;
And you who have no money,
(AR)Come, buy and eat.
Yes, come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without price.
Why do you [v]spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And let your soul delight itself in abundance.
Incline your ear, and (AS)come to Me.
Hear, and your soul shall live;
(AT)And I will make an everlasting covenant with you—
The (AU)sure mercies of David.
Indeed I have given him as (AV)a witness to the people,
(AW)A leader and commander for the people.
(AX)Surely you shall call a nation you do not know,
(AY)And nations who do not know you shall run to you,
Because of the Lord your God,
And the Holy One of Israel;
(AZ)For He has glorified you.”

(BA)Seek the Lord while He may be (BB)found,
Call upon Him while He is near.
(BC)Let the [w]wicked forsake his way,
And the unrighteous man (BD)his thoughts;
Let him return to the Lord,
(BE)And He will have mercy on him;
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.

“For(BF) My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
“For(BG) as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.

10 “For (BH)as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater,
11 (BI)So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me [x]void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall (BJ)prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

12 “For(BK) you shall go out with joy,
And be led out with peace;
The mountains and the hills
Shall (BL)break forth into singing before you,
And (BM)all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 (BN)Instead of (BO)the thorn shall come up the cypress tree,
And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree;
And it shall be to the Lord (BP)for a name,
For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

Salvation for the Gentiles

56 Thus says the Lord:

“Keep justice, and do righteousness,
(BQ)For My salvation is about to come,
And My righteousness to be revealed.
Blessed is the man who does this,
And the son of man who lays hold on it;
(BR)Who keeps from defiling the Sabbath,
And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

Do not let (BS)the son of the foreigner
Who has joined himself to the Lord
Speak, saying,
“The Lord has utterly separated me from His people”;
Nor let the (BT)eunuch say,
“Here I am, a dry tree.”
For thus says the Lord:
“To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths,
And choose what pleases Me,
And hold fast My covenant,
Even to them I will give in (BU)My house
And within My walls a place (BV)and a name
Better than that of sons and daughters;
I will give [y]them an everlasting name
That shall not be cut off.

“Also the sons of the foreigner
Who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him,
And to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants—
Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath,
And holds fast My covenant—
Even them I will (BW)bring to My holy mountain,
And make them joyful in My (BX)house of prayer.
(BY)Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
Will be (BZ)accepted on My altar;
For (CA)My house shall be called a house of prayer (CB)for all nations.”
The Lord God, (CC)who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says,
(CD)“Yet I will gather to him
Others besides those who are gathered to him.”

Israel’s Irresponsible Leaders

(CE)All you beasts of the field, come to devour,
All you beasts in the forest.
10 His watchmen are (CF)blind,
They are all ignorant;
(CG)They are all dumb dogs,
They cannot bark;
[z]Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
11 Yes, they are (CH)greedy[aa] dogs
Which (CI)never[ab] have enough.
And they are shepherds
Who cannot understand;
They all look to their own way,
Every one for his own gain,
From his own territory.
12 “Come,” one says, “I will bring wine,
And we will fill ourselves with intoxicating (CJ)drink;
(CK)Tomorrow will be (CL)as today,
And much more abundant.”

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 53:2 Stately form
  2. Isaiah 53:2 splendor
  3. Isaiah 53:2 Lit. appearance
  4. Isaiah 53:3 Or forsaken
  5. Isaiah 53:3 Lit. pains
  6. Isaiah 53:3 Lit. sickness
  7. Isaiah 53:4 Lit. sicknesses
  8. Isaiah 53:4 Lit. pains
  9. Isaiah 53:4 reckoned
  10. Isaiah 53:4 Struck down
  11. Isaiah 53:5 Or pierced through
  12. Isaiah 53:5 crushed
  13. Isaiah 53:5 Blows that cut in
  14. Isaiah 53:6 Lit. has caused to land on Him
  15. Isaiah 53:8 confinement
  16. Isaiah 53:9 Lit. he or He
  17. Isaiah 53:10 crush
  18. Isaiah 53:11 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; DSS, LXX From the labor of His soul He shall see light
  19. Isaiah 53:12 plunder
  20. Isaiah 54:16 Or weapon
  21. Isaiah 54:16 destroyer
  22. Isaiah 55:2 Lit. weigh out silver
  23. Isaiah 55:7 Lit. man of iniquity
  24. Isaiah 55:11 empty, without fruit
  25. Isaiah 56:5 Lit. him
  26. Isaiah 56:10 Or Dreaming
  27. Isaiah 56:11 Lit. strong of soul
  28. Isaiah 56:11 Lit. do not know satisfaction

Destructive Doctrines

But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be (A)false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction [a]does not slumber.

Doom of False Teachers

For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to [b]hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of (B)Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; and (C)delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, (D)tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)— then (E)the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 and especially (F)those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. (G)They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of [c]dignitaries, 11 whereas (H)angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord.

Depravity of False Teachers

12 But these, (I)like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, 13 (J)and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure (K)to [d]carouse in the daytime. (L)They are spots and blemishes, [e]carousing in their own deceptions while (M)they feast with you, 14 having eyes full of [f]adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. (N)They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. 15 They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of (O)Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 16 but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.

17 (P)These are wells without water, [g]clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness [h]forever.

Deceptions of False Teachers

18 For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who [i]have actually escaped from those who live in error. 19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of [j]corruption; (Q)for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into [k]bondage. 20 For if, after they (R)have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are (S)again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. 21 For (T)it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: (U)“A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”

Footnotes

  1. 2 Peter 2:3 M will not
  2. 2 Peter 2:4 Lit. Tartarus
  3. 2 Peter 2:10 glorious ones, lit. glories
  4. 2 Peter 2:13 revel
  5. 2 Peter 2:13 reveling
  6. 2 Peter 2:14 Lit. an adulteress
  7. 2 Peter 2:17 NU and mists
  8. 2 Peter 2:17 NU omits forever
  9. 2 Peter 2:18 NU are barely escaping
  10. 2 Peter 2:19 depravity
  11. 2 Peter 2:19 slavery

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