51 The Lord’s Comfort for Zion

51:1 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. ² Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him. ³ For the Lord comforts Zion; he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.

⁴“Give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation; for a law[1] will go out from me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples. ⁵My righteousness draws near, my salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples; the coastlands hope for me, and for my arm they wait. ⁶Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner;[2] but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed.

⁷“Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilings. ⁸For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool; but my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation to all generations.”

⁹Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in days of old, the generations of long ago. Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, that pierced the dragon? ¹⁰Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over? ¹¹And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

¹²“I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass, ¹³and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor, when he sets himself to destroy? And where is the wrath of the oppressor? ¹⁴He who is bowed down shall speedily be released; he shall not die and go down to the pit, neither shall his bread be lacking. ¹⁵I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the Lord of hosts is his name. ¹⁶And I have put my words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of my hand, establishing[3] the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”

¹⁷Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering. ¹⁸There is none to guide her among all the sons she has borne; there is none to take her by the hand among all the sons she has brought up. ¹⁹These two things have happened to you— who will console you?— devastation and destruction, famine and sword; who will comfort you?^[4]²⁰Your sons have fainted; they lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a net; they are full of the wrath of the Lord, the rebuke of your God.

²¹Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted, who are drunk, but not with wine: ²²Thus says your Lord, the Lord, your God who pleads the cause of his people: “Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering; the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more; ²³and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors, who have said to you, ‘Bow down, that we may pass over’; and you have made your back like the ground and like the street for them to pass over.”

[1] Or for teaching; also verse 7 [2] Or will die like gnats [3] Or planting [4] Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; Masoretic Text how shall I comfort you

52 The Lord’s Coming Salvation

52:1 Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. ² Shake yourself from the dust and arise; be seated, O Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion. ³For thus says the Lord: “You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.” ⁴For thus says the Lord God: “My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing. ⁵Now therefore what have I here,” declares the Lord, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail,” declares the Lord, “and continually all the day my name is despised. ⁶Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here am I.”

⁷ How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” ⁸ The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice; together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the Lord to Zion. ⁹ Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem. ¹⁰The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

¹¹Depart, depart, go out from there; touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the Lord. ¹²For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight, for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

He Was Wounded for Our Transgressions

¹³Behold, my servant shall act wisely;[5] he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. ¹⁴As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— ¹⁵so shall he sprinkle[6] many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.

[5] Or shall prosper [6] Or startle

53 53:1 Who has believed what they heard from us?[7] And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? ² For 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, and no beauty that we should desire him. ³ He was despised and rejected[8] by men; a man of sorrows,[9] and acquainted with[10] grief;[11] and as one from whom men hide their faces[12] he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

⁴ Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. ⁵ But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. ⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. ⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? ⁹ And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, 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; he has put him to grief;[13] when his soul makes[14] an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. ¹¹Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see[15] and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. ¹²Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,[16] and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,[17] because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

[7] Or Who has believed what we have heard? [8] Or forsaken [9] Or pains; also verse 4 [10] Or and knowing [11] Or sickness; also verse 4 [12] Or as one who hides his face from us [13] Or he has made him sick [14] Or when you make his soul [15] Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll he shall see light [16] Or with the great [17] Or with the numerous

54 The Eternal Covenant of Peace

54:1 “Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married,” says the Lord. ² “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. ³ For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities.

⁴ “Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. ⁵ For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. ⁶ For the Lord has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God. ⁷ For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. ⁸ In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord, your Redeemer.

⁹ “This is like the days of Noah[18] to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more 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.

¹¹“O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires.^[19]¹²I will make your pinnacles of agate,[20] your gates of carbuncles,[21] and all your wall of precious stones. ¹³All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children. ¹⁴In 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. ¹⁵If anyone stirs up strife, it is not from me; whoever stirs up strife with you shall fall because of you. ¹⁶Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its purpose. I have also created the ravager to destroy; ¹⁷ no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, 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[22] from me, declares the Lord.”

[18] Some manuscripts For this is as the waters of Noah [19] Or lapis lazuli [20] Or jasper, or ruby [21] Or crystal [22] Or righteousness