⁵ This is what God the Lord says—
the Creator of the heavens,^(P) who stretches them out,
    who spreads out the earth^(Q) with all that springs from it,^(R)
    who gives breath^(S) to its people,
    and life to those who walk on it:
⁶ “I, the Lord, have called^(T) you in righteousness;^(U)
    I will take hold of your hand.^(V)
I will keep^(W) you and will make you
    to be a covenant^(X) for the people
    and a light^(Y) for the Gentiles,^(Z)
7 to open eyes that are blind,^(AA)
    to free^(AB) captives from prison^(AC)
    and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.^(AD)

⁸ “I am the Lord;^(AE) that is my name!^(AF)
    I will not yield my glory to another^(AG)
    or my praise to idols.^(AH)
9 See, the former things^(AI) have taken place,
    and new things I declare;
before they spring into being
    I announce^(AJ) them to you.”

¹⁴ “For a long time I have kept silent,^(BC)
    I have been quiet and held myself back.^(BD)
But now, like a woman in childbirth,
    I cry out, I gasp and pant.^(BE)
15 I will lay waste^(BF) the mountains^(BG) and hills
    and dry up all their vegetation;
I will turn rivers into islands
    and dry up^(BH) the pools.
¹⁶ I will lead^(BI) the blind^(BJ) by ways they have not known,
    along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;
I will turn the darkness into light^(BK) before them
    and make the rough places smooth.^(BL)
These are the things I will do;
    I will not forsake^(BM) them.
¹⁷ But those who trust in idols,
    who say to images, ‘You are our gods,’^(BN)
    will be turned back in utter shame.^(BO)

²³ Which of you will listen to this
    or pay close attention^(CB) in time to come?
²⁴ Who handed Jacob over to become loot,
    and Israel to the plunderers?^(CC)
Was it not the Lord,^(CD)
    against whom we have sinned?
For they would not follow^(CE) his ways;
    they did not obey his law.^(CF)
25 So he poured out on them his burning anger,^(CG)
    the violence of war.
It enveloped them in flames,^(CH) yet they did not understand;^(CI)
    it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.^(CJ)

⁵ And now the Lord says—
    he who formed me in the womb^(P) to be his servant
to bring Jacob back to him
    and gather Israel^(Q) to himself,
for I am^[a] honored^(R) in the eyes of the Lord
    and my God has been my strength^(S)—
⁶ he says:
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant^(T)
    to restore the tribes of Jacob
    and bring back those of Israel I have kept.^(U)
I will also make you a light^(V) for the Gentiles,^(W)
    that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”^(X)

⁷ This is what the Lord says—
    the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel^(Y)—
to him who was despised^(Z) and abhorred by the nation,
    to the servant of rulers:
“Kings^(AA) will see you and stand up,
    princes will see and bow down,^(AB)
because of the Lord, who is faithful,^(AC)
    the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen^(AD) you.”

“In the time of my favor^(AE) I will answer you,
    and in the day of salvation I will help you;^(AF)
I will keep^(AG) you and will make you
    to be a covenant for the people,^(AH)
to restore the land^(AI)
    and to reassign its desolate inheritances,^(AJ)
9 to say to the captives,^(AK) ‘Come out,’
    and to those in darkness,^(AL) ‘Be free!’

“They will feed beside the roads
    and find pasture on every barren hill.^(AM)
10 They will neither hunger nor thirst,^(AN)
    nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them.^(AO)
He who has compassion^(AP) on them will guide^(AQ) them
    and lead them beside springs^(AR) of water.
¹¹ I will turn all my mountains into roads,
    and my highways^(AS) will be raised up.^(AT)
12 See, they will come from afar^(AU)—
    some from the north, some from the west,^(AV)
    some from the region of Aswan.^[b]”

¹³ Shout for joy,^(AW) you heavens;
    rejoice, you earth;^(AX)
    burst into song, you mountains!^(AY)
For the Lord comforts^(AZ) his people
    and will have compassion^(BA) on his afflicted ones.^(BB)

¹⁴ But Zion^(BC) said, “The Lord has forsaken^(BD) me,
    the Lord has forgotten me.”

¹⁵ “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
    and have no compassion on the child^(BE) she has borne?
Though she may forget,
    I will not forget you!^(BF)
16 See, I have engraved^(BG) you on the palms of my hands;
    your walls^(BH) are ever before me.
¹⁷ Your children hasten back,
    and those who laid you waste^(BI) depart from you.
¹⁸ Lift up your eyes and look around;
    all your children gather^(BJ) and come to you.
As surely as I live,^(BK)” declares the Lord,
    “you will wear^(BL) them all as ornaments;
    you will put them on, like a bride.

¹⁹ “Though you were ruined and made desolate^(BM)
    and your land laid waste,^(BN)
now you will be too small for your people,^(BO)
    and those who devoured^(BP) you will be far away.
²⁰ The children born during your bereavement
    will yet say in your hearing,
‘This place is too small for us;
    give us more space to live in.’^(BQ)
21 Then you will say in your heart,
    ‘Who bore me these?^(BR)
I was bereaved^(BS) and barren;
    I was exiled and rejected.^(BT)
    Who brought these^(BU) up?
I was left^(BV) all alone,^(BW)
    but these—where have they come from?’”

“See, I will beckon to the nations,
    I will lift up my banner^(BY) to the peoples;
they will bring^(BZ) your sons in their arms
    and carry your daughters on their hips.^(CA)
23 Kings^(CB) will be your foster fathers,
    and their queens your nursing mothers.^(CC)
They will bow down^(CD) before you with their faces to the ground;
    they will lick the dust^(CE) at your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord;^(CF)
    those who hope^(CG) in me will not be disappointed.^(CH)”

²⁴ Can plunder be taken from warriors,^(CI)
    or captives be rescued from the fierce^[c]?

“Yes, captives^(CJ) will be taken from warriors,^(CK)
    and plunder retrieved from the fierce;^(CL)
I will contend with those who contend with you,^(CM)
    and your children I will save.^(CN)
26 I will make your oppressors^(CO) eat^(CP) their own flesh;
    they will be drunk on their own blood,^(CQ) as with wine.
Then all mankind will know^(CR)
    that I, the Lord, am your Savior,^(CS)
    your Redeemer,^(CT) the Mighty One of Jacob.^(CU)”

52 Awake, awake,^(A) Zion,
    clothe yourself with strength!^(B)
Put on your garments of splendor,^(C)
    Jerusalem, the holy city.^(D)
The uncircumcised^(E) and defiled^(F)
    will not enter you again.^(G)
2 Shake off your dust;^(H)
    rise up,^(I) sit enthroned, Jerusalem.
Free yourself from the chains on your neck,^(J)
    Daughter Zion,^(K) now a captive.

“You were sold for nothing,^(L)
    and without money^(M) you will be redeemed.^(N)”

“At first my people went down to Egypt^(O) to live;
    lately, Assyria^(P) has oppressed them.

“For my people have been taken away for nothing,
    and those who rule them mock,^[a]”
declares the Lord.
“And all day long
    my name is constantly blasphemed.^(Q)
6 Therefore my people will know^(R) my name;^(S)
    therefore in that day^(T) they will know
that it is I who foretold^(U) it.
    Yes, it is I.”

⁷ How beautiful on the mountains^(V)
    are the feet of those who bring good news,^(W)
who proclaim peace,^(X)
    who bring good tidings,
    who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
    “Your God reigns!”^(Y)
8 Listen! Your watchmen^(Z) lift up their voices;^(AA)
    together they shout for joy.^(AB)
When the Lord returns^(AC) to Zion,^(AD)
    they will see it with their own eyes.
⁹ Burst into songs of joy^(AE) together,
    you ruins^(AF) of Jerusalem,
for the Lord has comforted^(AG) his people,
    he has redeemed Jerusalem.^(AH)
10 The Lord will lay bare his holy arm^(AI)
    in the sight of all the nations,^(AJ)
and all the ends of the earth^(AK) will see
    the salvation^(AL) of our God.

¹¹ Depart,^(AM) depart, go out from there!
    Touch no unclean thing!^(AN)
Come out from it and be pure,^(AO)
    you who carry the articles^(AP) of the Lord’s house.
¹² But you will not leave in haste^(AQ)
    or go in flight;
for the Lord will go before you,^(AR)
    the God of Israel will be your rear guard.^(AS)

53 Who has believed our message^(A)
    and to whom has the arm^(B) of the Lord been revealed?^(C)
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,^(D)
    and like a root^(E) out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
    nothing in his appearance^(F) that we should desire him.
³ He was despised and rejected by mankind,
    a man of suffering,^(G) and familiar with pain.^(H)
Like one from whom people hide^(I) their faces
    he was despised,^(J) and we held him in low esteem.

⁴ Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,^(K)
yet we considered him punished by God,^(L)
    stricken by him, and afflicted.^(M)
5 But he was pierced^(N) for our transgressions,^(O)
    he was crushed^(P) for our iniquities;
the punishment^(Q) that brought us peace^(R) was on him,
    and by his wounds^(S) we are healed.^(T)
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,^(U)
    each of us has turned to our own way;^(V)
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity^(W) of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed^(X) and afflicted,
    yet he did not open his mouth;^(Y)
he was led like a lamb^(Z) to the slaughter,^(AA)
    and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
⁸ By oppression^[a] and judgment^(AB) he was taken away.
    Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;^(AC)
    for the transgression^(AD) of my people he was punished.^[b]
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,^(AE)
    and with the rich^(AF) in his death,
though he had done no violence,^(AG)
    nor was any deceit in his mouth.^(AH)

¹⁰ Yet it was the Lord’s will^(AI) to crush^(AJ) him and cause him to suffer,^(AK)
    and though the Lord makes^[c] his life an offering for sin,^(AL)
he will see his offspring^(AM) and prolong his days,
    and the will of the Lord will prosper^(AN) in his hand.
¹¹ After he has suffered,^(AO)
    he will see the light^(AP) of life^[d] and be satisfied^[e];
by his knowledge^[f] my righteous servant^(AQ) will justify^(AR) many,
    and he will bear their iniquities.^(AS)
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,^[g](AT)
    and he will divide the spoils^(AU) with the strong,^[h]
because he poured out his life unto death,^(AV)
    and was numbered with the transgressors.^(AW)
For he bore^(AX) the sin of many,^(AY)
    and made intercession^(AZ) for the transgressors.

⁴ They will rebuild the ancient ruins^(S)
    and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
    that have been devastated for generations.
⁵ Strangers^(T) will shepherd your flocks;
    foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.
⁶ And you will be called priests^(U) of the Lord,
    you will be named ministers of our God.
You will feed on the wealth^(V) of nations,
    and in their riches you will boast.

⁷ Instead of your shame^(W)
    you will receive a double^(X) portion,
and instead of disgrace
    you will rejoice in your inheritance.
And so you will inherit^(Y) a double portion in your land,
    and everlasting joy^(Z) will be yours.

⁸ “For I, the Lord, love justice;^(AA)
    I hate robbery and wrongdoing.
In my faithfulness I will reward my people
    and make an everlasting covenant^(AB) with them.
⁹ Their descendants^(AC) will be known among the nations
    and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will acknowledge
    that they are a people the Lord has blessed.”^(AD)

¹⁰ I delight greatly in the Lord;
    my soul rejoices^(AE) in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
    and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,^(AF)
as a bridegroom adorns his head^(AG) like a priest,
    and as a bride^(AH) adorns herself with her jewels.
¹¹ For as the soil makes the sprout come up
    and a garden^(AI) causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness^(AJ)
    and praise spring up before all nations.