Isaiah 51-55

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.
²Look 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.”
³Indeed, ^(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.
⁵My ^(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.
⁸For 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?
¹⁰Was 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?
¹¹And 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,
¹³That 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?

¹⁴The ^[g]^(AT)exile will soon be set free, and will not die in the ^[h]dungeon, ^(AU)nor will his bread be lacking. ¹⁵For I am the Lord your God, who ^(AV)stirs up the sea so that its waves roar (the Lord of armies is His name). ¹⁶And 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.
¹⁸There 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.
¹⁹These two things have happened to you;
Who will mourn for you?
The ^(BC)devastation and destruction, famine and sword;
How shall I comfort you?
²⁰Your 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.

²¹Therefore, listen to this, you ^(BG)afflicted,
Who are ^(BH)drunk, but not with wine:
²²This 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.
²³I 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.
²Shake yourself ^(BQ)from the dust, ^(BR)rise up,
Captive Jerusalem;
^(BS)Release yourself from the chains around your neck,
Captive daughter of Zion.

³For this is what the Lord says: “You were ^(BT)sold for nothing, and you will be ^(BU)redeemed ^(BV)without money.” ⁴For 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. ⁵And 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. ⁶Therefore, My people shall ^(BY)know My name; therefore on that day I am the one who is speaking, ‘Here I am.’”

⁷How 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!”
⁸Listen! 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.
¹⁰The 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.
¹²But 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

¹³Behold, My ^(CN)Servant will prosper,
He will be high and lifted up and ^[t]greatly ^(CO)exalted.
¹⁴Just 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.
¹⁵So ^[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?
²For 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.
³He 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.

⁴However, 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.
⁵But 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.
⁶All 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.

⁷He 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.
⁸By 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?
⁹And 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.

¹⁰But 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.
¹¹As 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.
¹²Therefore, 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.

The Fertility of Zion

54 “^(DY)Shout for joy, infertile one, you who have not given birth to any child;
Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor;
For the sons of the ^(DZ)desolate one will be ^(EA)more numerous
Than the sons of the married woman,” says the Lord.
²“^(EB)Enlarge the place of your tent;
^[ai]Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, do not spare them;
Lengthen your ^(EC)ropes
And strengthen your ^(ED)pegs.
³For you will ^(EE)spread out to the right and to the left.
And your ^[aj]descendants will ^(EF)possess nations
And will ^(EG)resettle the desolate cities.

⁴“Fear not, for you will ^(EH)not be put to shame;
And do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced;
But you will forget the ^(EI)shame of your youth,
And no longer remember the ^(EJ)disgrace of your widowhood.
⁵For your ^(EK)husband is your Maker,
Whose name is the Lord of armies;
And your ^(EL)Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,
Who is called the ^(EM)God of all the earth.
⁶For the Lord has called you,
Like a wife ^(EN)forsaken and grieved in spirit,
Even like a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,”
Says your God.
⁷“^[ak]For a ^(EO)brief moment I abandoned you,
But with great compassion I will ^(EP)gather you.
⁸In an ^[al]^(EQ)outburst of anger
I hid My face from you for a moment,
But with everlasting ^(ER)favor I will ^(ES)have compassion on you,”
Says the Lord your ^(ET)Redeemer.

⁹“For ^[am]this is like the days of Noah to Me,
When I swore that the waters of Noah
Would ^(EU)not ^[an]flood the earth again;
So I have sworn that I will ^(EV)not be angry with you
Nor rebuke you.
¹⁰For the ^(EW)mountains may be removed and the hills may shake,
But My ^[ao]favor will not be removed from you,
Nor will My ^(EX)covenant of peace be shaken,”
Says ^(EY)the Lord who has compassion on you.

¹¹“^(EZ)Afflicted one, storm-tossed, and ^(FA)not comforted,
Behold, I will set your stones in antimony,
And I will ^(FB)lay your foundations with ^[ap]^(FC)sapphires.
¹²Moreover, I will make your battlements of ^[aq]rubies,
And your gates of ^[ar]crystal,
And your entire ^[as]wall of precious stones.
¹³^(FD)All your sons will be ^[at]taught by the Lord;
And the well-being of your sons will be ^(FE)great.
¹⁴In ^(FF)righteousness you will be established;
You will be far from ^(FG)oppression, for you will ^(FH)not fear;
And from ^(FI)terror, for it will not come near you.
¹⁵If anyone fiercely attacks you, it will not be from Me.
^(FJ)Whoever attacks you will fall because of you.
¹⁶Behold, I Myself have created the smith who blows on the fire of coals
And produces a weapon for its work;
And I have created the destroyer to inflict ruin.
¹⁷^(FK)No weapon that is formed against you will succeed;
And you will condemn ^(FL)every tongue that ^[au]accuses you in judgment.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
And their ^(FM)vindication is from Me,” declares the Lord.

The Free Offer of Mercy

55 “^[av]You there! Everyone who ^(FN)thirsts, come to the waters;
And you who have ^(FO)no ^[aw]money come, buy and eat.
Come, buy ^(FP)wine and milk
^(FQ)Without money and without cost.
²Why do you ^[ax]spend money for what is ^(FR)not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and ^(FS)eat what is good,
And ^(FT)delight yourself in abundance.
³^(FU)Incline your ear and come to Me.
Listen, that ^[ay]you may ^(FV)live;
And I will make ^(FW)an everlasting covenant with you,
According to the ^(FX)faithful mercies ^[az]shown to David.
⁴Behold, I have made ^(FY)him a witness to the peoples,
A ^(FZ)leader and commander for the peoples.
⁵Behold, you will call a ^(GA)nation you do not know,
And a nation which does not know you will ^(GB)run to you,
Because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel;
For He has ^(GC)glorified you.”

⁶^(GD)Seek the Lord while He may be found;
^(GE)Call upon Him while He is near.
⁷^(GF)Let the wicked abandon his way,
And the unrighteous person his ^(GG)thoughts;
And let him ^(GH)return to the Lord,
And He will have ^(GI)compassion on him,
And to our God,
For He will ^(GJ)abundantly pardon.
⁸“For My thoughts are not ^(GK)your thoughts,
Nor are ^(GL)your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
⁹“For ^(GM)as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
¹⁰For as the ^(GN)rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there without watering the earth
And making it produce and sprout,
And providing ^(GO)seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
¹¹So will My ^(GP)word be which goes out of My mouth;
It will ^(GQ)not return to Me empty,
Without ^(GR)accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the purpose for which I sent it.
¹²For you will go out with ^(GS)joy
And be led in ^(GT)peace;
The ^(GU)mountains and the hills will break into shouts of joy before you,
And all the ^(GV)trees of the field will clap their hands.
¹³Instead of the ^(GW)thorn bush, the ^(GX)juniper will come up,
And instead of the ^(GY)stinging nettle, the myrtle will come up;
And ^[ba]it will be a ^[bb]^(GZ)memorial to the Lord,
An everlasting ^(HA)sign which ^(HB)will not be eliminated.”