Isaiah 52-54
Complete Jewish Bible
52 Awake! Awake, Tziyon!
Clothe yourself with your strength!
Dress in your splendid garments,
Yerushalayim, the holy city!
For the uncircumcised and the unclean
will enter you no more.
2 Shake off the dust! Arise!
Be enthroned, Yerushalayim!
Loosen the chains on your neck,
captive daughter of Tziyon!
3 For thus says Adonai:
“You were sold for nothing,
and you will be redeemed without money.”
4 For thus says Adonai Elohim:
“Long ago my people went down to Egypt
to live there as aliens,
and Ashur oppressed them for no reason.
5 So now, what should I do here,” asks Adonai,
“since my people were carried off for nothing?
Their oppressors are howling,” says Adonai,
“and my name is always being insulted, daily.
6 Therefore my people will know my name;
therefore on that day they will know
that I, the one speaking — here I am!”
7 How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of him who brings good news,
proclaiming shalom, bringing good news
of good things, announcing salvation
and saying to Tziyon, “Your God is King!”
8 Listen! Your watchmen are raising their voices,
shouting for joy together.
For they will see, before their own eyes,
Adonai returning to Tziyon.
9 Break out into joy! Sing together,
you ruins of Yerushalayim!
For Adonai has comforted his people,
he has redeemed Yerushalayim!
10 Adonai has bared his holy arm
in the sight of every nation,
and all the ends of the earth will see
the salvation of our God.
11 Leave! Leave! Get out of there!
Don’t touch anything unclean!
Get out from inside it, and be clean,
you who carry Adonai’s temple equipment.
12 You need not leave in haste,
you do not have to flee;
for Adonai will go ahead of you,
and the God of Isra’el will also be behind you.
13 “See how my servant will succeed!
He will be raised up, exalted, highly honored!
14 Just as many were appalled at him,
because he was so disfigured
that he didn’t even seem human
and simply no longer looked like a man,
15 so now he will startle many nations;
because of him, kings will be speechless.
For they will see what they had not been told,
they will ponder things they had never heard.”
53 Who believes our report?
To whom is the arm of Adonai revealed?
2 For before him he grew up like a young plant,
like a root out of dry ground.
He was not well-formed or especially handsome;
we saw him, but his appearance did not attract us.
3 People despised and avoided him,
a man of pains, well acquainted with illness.
Like someone from whom people turn their faces,
he was despised; we did not value him.
4 In fact, it was our diseases he bore,
our pains from which he suffered;
yet we regarded him as punished,
stricken and afflicted by God.
5 But he was wounded because of our crimes,
crushed because of our sins;
the disciplining that makes us whole fell on him,
and by his bruises* we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, went astray;
we turned, each one, to his own way;
yet Adonai laid on him
the guilt of all of us.
7 Though mistreated, he was submissive —
he did not open his mouth.
Like a lamb led to be slaughtered,
like a sheep silent before its shearers,
he did not open his mouth.
8 After forcible arrest and sentencing,
he was taken away;
and none of his generation protested
his being cut off from the land of the living
for the crimes of my people,
who deserved the punishment themselves.
9 He was given a grave among the wicked;
in his death he was with a rich man.
Although he had done no violence
and had said nothing deceptive,
10 yet it pleased Adonai to crush him with illness,
to see if he would present himself as a guilt offering.
If he does, he will see his offspring;
and he will prolong his days;
and at his hand Adonai’s desire
will be accomplished.
11 After this ordeal, he will see satisfaction.
“By his knowing [pain and sacrifice],
my righteous servant makes many righteous;
it is for their sins that he suffers.
12 Therefore I will assign him a share with the great,
he will divide the spoil with the mighty,
for having exposed himself to death
and being counted among the sinners,
while actually bearing the sin of many
and interceding for the offenders.”
54 “Sing, barren woman who has never had a child!
Burst into song, shout for joy,
you who have never been in labor!
For the deserted wife will have more children
than the woman who is living with her husband,” says Adonai.
2 Enlarge the space for your tent,
extend the curtains of your dwelling;
do not hold back, lengthen your cords,
make your tent pegs firm.
3 For you will spread out to the right and the left,
your descendants will possess the nations
and inhabit the desolated cities.
4 Don’t be afraid, for you won’t be ashamed;
don’t be discouraged, for you won’t be disgraced.
You will forget the shame of your youth,
no longer remember the dishonor of being widowed.
5 For your husband is your Maker,
Adonai-Tzva’ot is his name.
The Holy One of Isra’el is your Redeemer.
He will be called the God of all the earth.
6 For Adonai has called you back
like a wife abandoned and grief-stricken;
“A wife married in her youth
cannot be rejected,” says your God.
7 “Briefly I abandoned you,
but with great compassion I am taking you back.
8 I was angry for a moment
and hid my face from you;
but with everlasting grace
I will have compassion on you,”
says Adonai your Redeemer.
9 “For me this is like Noach’s flood.
Just as I swore that no flood like Noach’s
would ever again cover the earth,
so now I swear that never again
will I be angry with you or rebuke you.
10 For the mountains may leave and the hills be removed,
but my grace will never leave you,
and my covenant of peace will not be removed,”
says Adonai, who has compassion on you.
11 “Storm-ravaged [city], unconsoled,
I will set your stones in the finest way,
lay your foundations with sapphires,
12 make your windows shine with rubies,
your gates with garnet, your walls with gemstones.
13 All your children will be taught by Adonai;
your children will have great peace.
14 In righteousness you will be established,
far from oppression, with nothing to fear;
far from ruin, for it will not come near you.
15 Any alliance that forms against you
will not be my doing;
whoever tries to form such an alliance
will fall because of you.
16 It is I who created the craftsman
who blows on the coals and forges weapons
suited to their purpose;
I also created the destroyer to work havoc.
17 No weapon made will prevail against you.
In court you will refute every accusation.
The servants of Adonai inherit all this;
the reward for their righteousness is from me,”
says Adonai.
Yeshayah 52-54
Orthodox Jewish Bible
52 Awake, awake; clothe thyself with thy strength, O Tziyon; put on thy garments of splendor, O Yerushalayim, Ir HaKodesh; for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the arel (uncircumcised) and the tameh (unclean).
2 Shake thyself from the dust; arise, O captive Yerushalayim; free thyself from the chains around thy neck, O captive Bat Tziyon.
3 For thus saith Hashem, Ye have sold yourselves for nothing; and your geulah (redemption) shall be without kesef.
4 For thus saith Adonoi Hashem, My people went down at first into Mitzrayim to sojourn there; and lately the Assyrian oppressed them.
5 Now therefore, what have I here, saith Hashem, that My people is taken away for nothing? They that rule over them mock them, saith Hashem; and all day long Shemi (My Name) is continually blasphemed.
6 Therefore My people shall know Shemi; therefore they shall know in Yom Hahu that I am He that doth speak; hineni, (behold, it is I).
7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the Mevaser (bringer of Good Tidings, the Evangelist), that publisheth shalom; that bringeth good tidings of tov, that publisheth Yeshuah (Salvation); that saith unto Tziyon, Thy G-d reigneth!
8 Thy tzofim (watchmen) shall lift up the kol (voice); with the kol together shall they shout for joy; for they shall see it with their own eyes, when Hashem returns to Tziyon.
9 Break forth into joy, sing together, ye ruins of Yerushalayim; for Hashem hath comforted His people, He hath redeemed Yerushalayim.
10 Hashem hath made bare His zero’a kedoshah [see Yeshayah 53:1] in the eyes of Kol HaGoyim; and all the ends of ha’aretz shall see the Yeshuat Eloheinu.
11 Depart ye, depart ye; come ye out from there; touch not tameh (unclean thing); come ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that carry the k’lei Hashem.
12 For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight; for Hashem will go before you; and Elohei Yisroel will be your rearguard. T.N. Avdi Tzemach Moshiach [Zecharyah 3:8] will be exalted; but He must do the work of a kohen [Tehillim 110:4] regarding the nations, sprinkling them (see Vayikra 4:16-17; 16:14); so yazzeh ("He [Moshiach] will sprinkle,") many goyim; note: hiphil of "naza," "splatter", meaning "sprinkle"); see Zecharyah 9:9-11 where Moshiach comes with the dahm and the Brit (Covenant)! Here in Yeshayah 52:15, the covenant dahm (blood) is sprinkled upon the nations of the world; the King of Kings shall shut the mouths of the kings of all the earth.
13 Hinei, Avdi [Moshiach, see Zecharyah 3:8] shall act wisely, he shall be raised and be lifted up, and be highly exalted.
14 As rabbim (many) were appalled at thee [Moshiach]; his appearance was so disfigured more than any man, and his form more than the bnei adam;
15 So yazzeh Goyim rabbim (he [Moshiach] will sprinkle many nations); the melachim (kings) shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which had not been told them shall they see; and of that which they had not heard shall they have binah (understanding).
53 Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the Zero’a Hashem [Yeshayah 52:10] revealed?
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a Shoresh (Root, Shoresh Yishai, Moshiach, Yeshayah 11:10, Sanhedrin93b) out of a dry ground; he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire [Chaggai 2:7] him.
3 He is despised and chadal ishim (rejected by men); a man of sorrows, and acquainted with suffering; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he hath borne our sufferings, and nasah (carried [Vayikra 16:22; Yeshayah 53:12)] our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, [i.e., like a leper is stricken] smitten of G-d, and afflicted [see verse 8 below].
5 But he was pierced [Yeshayah 51:9; Zecharyah 12:10 Sukkah 52a, Tehillim 22:17 Targum Hashivim] for our transgressions, he was bruised mei’avonoteinu (for our iniquities); the musar (chastisement) (that brought us shalom [Yeshayah 54:10] was upon him [Moshiach]; and at the cost of his (Moshiach’s) chaburah (stripes, lacerations) we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own derech (way; see Prov 16:25); and Hashem hath laid on him [Moshiach] the avon (iniquity, the guilt that separates from G-d) of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a seh (lamb; see Shemot 12:3) to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment; and who of his generation declared? For he was cut off [Daniel 9:26; Vayikra 17:10] out of Eretz Chayyim [this refers to the mot of Moshiach Ben Dovid, see v.12] mipesha ami (for the transgression of my people [Yisroel]) nega (plague cf Ps 91:10) lamo ([fell] on him [i.e., Moshiach; in light of Ps 11:7 and Job 22:2 we are warranted in saying the suffix is a singular, "him," not "them". Cf Gen 9:26-27; Deut 33:2; Isa 44:15; also compare Divrey Hayamim Alef 21:17]).
9 And he made his kever (grave) with the resha’im, and with the oisher (rich man; see Mt 27:57-60) bemotayv (in his deaths, intensive plural should be translated singular, death); because he had done no chamas (violence), neither was any mirmah (deceit) in his mouth. T.N. We stray as sheep; we return in Moshiach as children (zera); the Techiyas HaMoshiach (Resurrection of Moshiach) predicted in v. 10 [Dead Sea Scrolls Isaiah Scroll says Moshiach "will see the light [of life];" see also the Targum HaShivim]
10 Yet it pleased Hashem to bruise him; He hath put him to suffering; when Thou shalt make his nefesh an asham offering for sin, he (Moshiach) shall see zera [see Psalm 16 and Yn 1:12 OJBC], He shall prolong his yamim (days) and the chefetz Hashem (pleasure, will of Hashem) shall prosper in his [Moshiach’s] hand.
11 He [Hashem] shall see of the travail of his [Moshiach’s] nefesh, and shall be satisfied; by knowledge of him [Moshiach] shall Tzadik Avdi ["My Righteous Servant," Moshiach, Zecharyah 3:8, Yirmeyah 23:5; Zecharyah 6:11-12, Ezra 3:8 Yehoshua, Yeshua shmo] justify many (Ro 5:1); for he [Moshiach] shall bear their avon (iniquities).
12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his nefesh unto mavet (death); and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he nasah (Lv 16:22, carried) (like the Yom Kippur scapegoat) the sin of many, and made intercession [did the work of a mafgi’a, intercessor] for the transgressors [see Lk 23:34 OJBC].
54 Sing, O akarah (barren woman [i.e., Yerushalayim emptied out by the Golus that Isaiah sees coming]), thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and shout for joy, thou that didst not travail with child; for rabbim bnei shome’mah (more are the children of the desolate woman [i.e. referring to those of Jerusalem making aliyah from the Golus so that Moshiach’s Kehilah can come forth at Jerusalem-Ac 2:41]) than the bnei be’ulah (children of the married woman; i.e., Jerusalem as the Sarah at first barren then greatly fruitful; see Gn17:16), saith Hashem [see Ga.4:27 OJBC].
2 Enlarge the makom (place, living area) of thy ohel, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine mishkenot (tents); spare not, lengthen thy cords, and thy stakes make chizzuk (stronger);
3 For thou shalt spread out on the yamin (right hand) and on the smol (left); and thy zera shall inherit the Goyim, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
4 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed; neither be thou discouraged; for thou shalt not suffer disgrace; for thou shalt forget the boshet alumayich (the shame of thy youth), and shalt not remember any more thy cherpat almenut (reproach of widowhood).
5 For thy Oseh (Maker) is thine ba’al (husband); Hashem Tzva’os Shmo; and thy Go’el is Kadosh Yisroel; The Elohei Kol HaAretz He is called.
6 For Hashem hath called thee back, thou who art like an isha forsaken and atzuvat ruach (grieved in spirit) as a cast off eshet ne’urim (wife of one’s youth), saith thy G-d.
7 For a rega katon (small moment) have I abandoned thee; but with rachamim gedolim will I gather thee back.
8 With a little wrath I hid My face from thee for a rega (moment); but with chesed olam will I have rachamim on thee, saith thy Go’el, Hashem.
9 For this is as the waters of Noach unto Me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noach should no more cover ha’aretz; so have I sworn that with thee I would not be in wrath nor rebuke thee.
10 For the harim (mountains) shall depart, and the geva’ot (hills) be removed; but My chesed shall not depart from thee, neither shall the Brit of My Shalom be removed, saith Merachamech Hashem (Hashem the One having rachamim on thee).
11 O thou afflicted one, tempest-tossed and unconsoled, hinei, I will lay thy stones of glistening colors, and lay thy yesod (foundation, i.e., figuratively of post-Exilic Jerusalem’s foundation) with sapphires.
12 And I will make thy battlements of rubies, and thy she’arim (gates) of carbuncles, and all thy walls of avnei chefetz (precious stones).
13 And all thy banim shall be taught of Hashem; and the shalom of thy banim shall be rav (great).
14 In tzedakah (righteousness) shalt thou be established; thou shalt be far from oshek (oppression, tyranny); for thou shalt not fear; and thou shalt be far from mechitah (terror); for it shall not come near thee.
15 Indeed, if attacking they stir up strife, it is not from Me; whosoever shall gather together against thee, yipol (he shall fall) for thy sake.
16 See, I have created the charash (ironsmith, blacksmith) that fanneth the red-hot coals in the eish (fire), the one forging a keli (an instrument) for his ma’aseh (work); and I have created the mashchit (destroyer, waster, spoiler) to destroy.
17 No keli (weapon, instrument) that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every leshon (tongue) that shall rise against thee in mishpat (judgment, accusation) tarshi’i (thou shalt condemn, prove false, refute, prove wrong). This is the nachalat avdei Hashem (the heritage of the servants of Hashem), and their tzedakah (righteousness, vindication) is from Me, saith Hashem.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International