Isaiah 51-53
New American Standard Bible
Israel Exhorted
51 “(A)Listen to Me, you who (B)pursue righteousness,
Who seek the Lord:
Look to the (C)rock from which you were cut,
And to the [a]quarry from which you were dug.
2 Look to (D)Abraham your father
And to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain;
When he (E)was only one I called him,
Then I blessed him and multiplied him.”
3 Indeed, (F)the Lord will comfort Zion;
He will comfort all her (G)ruins.
And He will make her (H)wilderness like (I)Eden,
And her desert like the (J)garden of the Lord.
(K)Joy and gladness will be found in her,
Thanksgiving and the sound of a melody.
4 “(L)Pay attention to Me, My people,
And listen to Me, My [b]nation;
For a (M)law will go out from Me,
And I will bring My (N)justice as a (O)light of the peoples.
5 My (P)righteousness is near, My salvation has gone forth,
And My (Q)arms will judge the peoples;
The (R)coastlands will wait for Me,
And they will wait expectantly for My (S)arm.
6 (T)Raise your eyes to the sky,
Then look to the earth beneath;
For the (U)sky will vanish like smoke,
And the (V)earth will wear out like a garment
And its inhabitants will die [c]in the same way.
But My (W)salvation will be forever,
And My righteousness will not fail.
7 (X)Listen to Me, you who know righteousness,
A people in whose (Y)heart is My Law;
Do not fear the (Z)taunting of [d]people,
Nor be terrified of their abuses.
8 For the (AA)moth will eat them like a garment;
Yes, the (AB)moth will eat them like wool.
But My (AC)righteousness will be forever,
And My salvation to all generations.”
9 (AD)Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord;
Awake as in the (AE)days of old, the generations of long ago.
(AF)Was it not You who cut [e]Rahab in pieces,
Who pierced the (AG)dragon?
10 Was it not You who (AH)dried up the sea,
The waters of the great deep;
Who made the depths of the sea a pathway
For the (AI)redeemed to cross over?
11 And the (AJ)redeemed of the Lord will return
And come to Zion with joyful shouting,
And (AK)everlasting joy will be on their heads.
They will obtain gladness and joy,
And (AL)sorrow and sighing will flee away.
12 “I, I Myself, am He who (AM)comforts you.
Who are you that you are afraid of [f](AN)mortal man,
And of a son of man who is made like (AO)grass,
13 That you have (AP)forgotten the Lord your Maker,
Who (AQ)stretched out the heavens
And laid the foundations of the earth,
That you (AR)fear continually all day long because of the fury of the oppressor,
As he makes ready to destroy?
And where is the rage of the (AS)oppressor?
14 The [g](AT)exile will soon be set free, and will not die in the [h]dungeon, (AU)nor will his bread be lacking. 15 For I am the Lord your God, who (AV)stirs up the sea so that its waves roar (the Lord of armies is His name). 16 And I have (AW)put My words in your mouth and have (AX)covered you with the shadow of My hand, to [i](AY)establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”
17 (AZ)Pull yourself up! Pull yourself up! Arise, Jerusalem!
You who have (BA)drunk from the Lord’s hand the cup of His anger;
The [j]chalice of staggering you have drunk to the dregs.
18 There is (BB)no one to guide her among all the sons to whom she has given birth,
Nor is there anyone to take her by the hand among all the sons she has raised.
19 These two things have happened to you;
Who will mourn for you?
The (BC)devastation and destruction, famine and sword;
How shall I comfort you?
20 Your sons have fainted,
They (BD)lie helpless at the head of every street,
Like an (BE)antelope in a net,
Full of the wrath of the Lord,
The (BF)rebuke of your God.
21 Therefore, listen to this, you (BG)afflicted,
Who are (BH)drunk, but not with wine:
22 This is what your Lord, the Lord, your God
Who (BI)contends for His people says:
“Behold, I have taken from your hand the (BJ)cup of staggering,
The [k]chalice of My anger;
You will never drink it again.
23 I will (BK)put it into the hand of your tormentors,
Who have said to [l]you, ‘(BL)Lie down so that we may walk over you.’
You have also made your back like the ground,
And like the street for those who walk over it.”
Cheer for Prostrate Zion
52 (BM)Awake, awake,
Clothe yourself in your strength, Zion;
Clothe yourself with your (BN)beautiful garments,
Jerusalem, the (BO)holy city;
For the uncircumcised and the (BP)unclean
Will no longer come into you.
2 Shake yourself (BQ)from the dust, (BR)rise up,
Captive Jerusalem;
(BS)Release yourself from the chains around your neck,
Captive daughter of Zion.
3 For this is what the Lord says: “You were (BT)sold for nothing, and you will be (BU)redeemed (BV)without money.” 4 For this is what the Lord [m]God says: “My people (BW)went down to Egypt first to reside there; then the Assyrian oppressed them without reason. 5 And 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 (BX)name is continually reviled all day long. 6 Therefore, My people shall (BY)know My name; therefore on that day I am the one who is speaking, ‘Here I am.’”
7 How delightful on the mountains
Are the feet of one who brings (BZ)good news,
Who announces [n]peace
And brings good news of [o]happiness,
Who announces salvation,
And says to Zion, “Your (CA)God [p]reigns!”
8 Listen! Your watchmen raise their (CB)voices,
They shout joyfully together;
For they will see [q]with their own eyes
When the Lord restores Zion.
9 (CC)Be cheerful, shout joyfully together,
You (CD)ruins of Jerusalem;
For the Lord has comforted His people,
He has (CE)redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The Lord has bared His holy (CF)arm
In the sight of all the nations,
[r]So that (CG)all the ends of the earth may see
The salvation of our God.
11 (CH)Depart, depart, go out from there,
(CI)Do not touch what is unclean;
Go out of the midst of her, (CJ)purify yourselves,
You who carry the vessels of the Lord.
12 But you will not go out in (CK)a hurry,
Nor will you go [s]as fugitives;
For the (CL)Lord will go before you,
And (CM)the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
The Exalted Servant
13 Behold, My (CN)Servant will prosper,
He will be high and lifted up and [t]greatly (CO)exalted.
14 Just as many were appalled at you, My people,
So His (CP)appearance was marred beyond that of a man,
And His form beyond the sons of mankind.
15 So [u]He will (CQ)sprinkle many nations,
Kings will (CR)shut their mouths on account of Him;
For (CS)what they had not been told, they will see,
And what they had not heard, they will understand.
The Suffering Servant
53 (CT)Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For He grew up before Him like a (CU)tender [v]shoot,
And like a root out of dry ground;
He has (CV)no stately form or majesty
That we would look at Him,
Nor an appearance that we would take pleasure in Him.
3 He was (CW)despised and abandoned by men,
A man of [w]great pain and (CX)familiar with sickness;
And like one from whom people hide their faces,
He was (CY)despised, and we had no (CZ)regard for Him.
4 However, it was our sicknesses that He Himself (DA)bore,
And our pains that He carried;
Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted,
Struck down by (DB)God, and humiliated.
5 But He was [x]pierced for (DC)our offenses,
He was crushed for (DD)our wrongdoings;
The (DE)punishment for our [y]well-being was laid upon Him,
And by (DF)His wounds we are healed.
6 All 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 [z]fall on Him.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
Yet He did not (DG)open His mouth;
(DH)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.
8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off from the land of the [aa]living
(DI)For the wrongdoing of my people, to whom the blow was due?
9 And His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a (DJ)rich man in His death,
(DK)Because He had (DL)done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
10 But the Lord desired
To (DM)crush Him, [ab](DN)causing Him grief;
If He renders [ac]Himself as a guilt (DO)offering,
He will see (DP)His [ad]offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the [ae]good (DQ)pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.
11 As a result of the [af]anguish of His soul,
He will [ag](DR)see it and be satisfied;
By His (DS)knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
For He will (DT)bear their wrongdoings.
12 Therefore, I will allot Him a (DU)portion with the great,
And He will divide the plunder with the strong,
Because He poured out His [ah](DV)life unto death,
And was (DW)counted with wrongdoers;
Yet He Himself (DX)bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the wrongdoers.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 51:1 Lit excavation of a pit
- Isaiah 51:4 Or people
- Isaiah 51:6 Another reading is like gnats
- Isaiah 51:7 Or mankind
- Isaiah 51:9 I.e., a sea monster, not to be confused with Rahab in Joshua 2
- Isaiah 51:12 Lit man who dies
- Isaiah 51:14 Lit one in chains
- Isaiah 51:14 Lit pit
- Isaiah 51:16 Lit plant
- Isaiah 51:17 Lit bowl of the cup of reeling
- Isaiah 51:22 Lit bowl of the cup of
- Isaiah 51:23 Lit your soul
- Isaiah 52:4 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
- Isaiah 52:7 Or well-being
- Isaiah 52:7 Lit good
- Isaiah 52:7 Or is King
- Isaiah 52:8 Lit eye to eye
- Isaiah 52:10 Or And all...will see
- Isaiah 52:12 Lit in flight
- Isaiah 52:13 Or very high
- Isaiah 52:15 LXX many nations will wonder at Him
- Isaiah 53:2 Lit suckling
- Isaiah 53:3 Lit pains
- Isaiah 53:5 Or wounded
- Isaiah 53:5 Or peace
- Isaiah 53:6 Lit encounter Him
- Isaiah 53:8 Or life
- Isaiah 53:10 Lit He made Him sick
- Isaiah 53:10 Lit His soul
- Isaiah 53:10 Lit seed
- Isaiah 53:10 Or will of
- Isaiah 53:11 Or trouble
- Isaiah 53:11 DSS see light; LXX also has light
- Isaiah 53:12 Lit soul
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
Bible Gateway Recommends
