Isaiah 53-55

New American Standard Bible

The Suffering Servant

53 ^(A)Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
²For He grew up before Him like a ^(B)tender ^[a]shoot,
And like a root out of dry ground;
He has ^(C)no stately form or majesty
That we would look at Him,
Nor an appearance that we would take pleasure in Him.
³He was ^(D)despised and abandoned by men,
A man of ^[b]great pain and ^(E)familiar with sickness;
And like one from whom people hide their faces,
He was ^(F)despised, and we had no ^(G)regard for Him.

⁴However, it was our sicknesses that He Himself ^(H)bore,
And our pains that He carried;
Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted,
Struck down by ^(I)God, and humiliated.
⁵But He was ^[c]pierced for ^(J)our offenses,
He was crushed for ^(K)our wrongdoings;
The ^(L)punishment for our ^[d]well-being was laid upon Him,
And by ^(M)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 ^[e]fall on Him.

⁷He was oppressed and afflicted,
Yet He did not ^(N)open His mouth;
^(O)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 ^[f]living
^(P)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 ^(Q)rich man in His death,
^(R)Because He had ^(S)done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

¹⁰But the Lord desired
To ^(T)crush Him, ^[g]^(U)causing Him grief;
If He renders ^[h]Himself as a guilt ^(V)offering,
He will see ^(W)His ^[i]offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the ^[j]good ^(X)pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.
¹¹As a result of the ^[k]anguish of His soul,
He will ^[l]^(Y)see it and be satisfied;
By His ^(Z)knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
For He will ^(AA)bear their wrongdoings.
¹²Therefore, I will allot Him a ^(AB)portion with the great,
And He will divide the plunder with the strong,
Because He poured out His ^[m]^(AC)life unto death,
And was ^(AD)counted with wrongdoers;
Yet He Himself ^(AE)bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the wrongdoers.

The Fertility of Zion

54 “^(AF)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 ^(AG)desolate one will be ^(AH)more numerous
Than the sons of the married woman,” says the Lord.
²“^(AI)Enlarge the place of your tent;
^[n]Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, do not spare them;
Lengthen your ^(AJ)ropes
And strengthen your ^(AK)pegs.
³For you will ^(AL)spread out to the right and to the left.
And your ^[o]descendants will ^(AM)possess nations
And will ^(AN)resettle the desolate cities.

⁴“Fear not, for you will ^(AO)not be put to shame;
And do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced;
But you will forget the ^(AP)shame of your youth,
And no longer remember the ^(AQ)disgrace of your widowhood.
⁵For your ^(AR)husband is your Maker,
Whose name is the Lord of armies;
And your ^(AS)Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,
Who is called the ^(AT)God of all the earth.
⁶For the Lord has called you,
Like a wife ^(AU)forsaken and grieved in spirit,
Even like a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,”
Says your God.
⁷“^[p]For a ^(AV)brief moment I abandoned you,
But with great compassion I will ^(AW)gather you.
⁸In an ^[q]^(AX)outburst of anger
I hid My face from you for a moment,
But with everlasting ^(AY)favor I will ^(AZ)have compassion on you,”
Says the Lord your ^(BA)Redeemer.

⁹“For ^[r]this is like the days of Noah to Me,
When I swore that the waters of Noah
Would ^(BB)not ^[s]flood the earth again;
So I have sworn that I will ^(BC)not be angry with you
Nor rebuke you.
¹⁰For the ^(BD)mountains may be removed and the hills may shake,
But My ^[t]favor will not be removed from you,
Nor will My ^(BE)covenant of peace be shaken,”
Says ^(BF)the Lord who has compassion on you.

¹¹“^(BG)Afflicted one, storm-tossed, and ^(BH)not comforted,
Behold, I will set your stones in antimony,
And I will ^(BI)lay your foundations with ^[u]^(BJ)sapphires.
¹²Moreover, I will make your battlements of ^[v]rubies,
And your gates of ^[w]crystal,
And your entire ^[x]wall of precious stones.
¹³^(BK)All your sons will be ^[y]taught by the Lord;
And the well-being of your sons will be ^(BL)great.
¹⁴In ^(BM)righteousness you will be established;
You will be far from ^(BN)oppression, for you will ^(BO)not fear;
And from ^(BP)terror, for it will not come near you.
¹⁵If anyone fiercely attacks you, it will not be from Me.
^(BQ)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^(BR)No weapon that is formed against you will succeed;
And you will condemn ^(BS)every tongue that ^[z]accuses you in judgment.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
And their ^(BT)vindication is from Me,” declares the Lord.

The Free Offer of Mercy

55 “^[aa]You there! Everyone who ^(BU)thirsts, come to the waters;
And you who have ^(BV)no ^[ab]money come, buy and eat.
Come, buy ^(BW)wine and milk
^(BX)Without money and without cost.
²Why do you ^[ac]spend money for what is ^(BY)not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and ^(BZ)eat what is good,
And ^(CA)delight yourself in abundance.
³^(CB)Incline your ear and come to Me.
Listen, that ^[ad]you may ^(CC)live;
And I will make ^(CD)an everlasting covenant with you,
According to the ^(CE)faithful mercies ^[ae]shown to David.
⁴Behold, I have made ^(CF)him a witness to the peoples,
A ^(CG)leader and commander for the peoples.
⁵Behold, you will call a ^(CH)nation you do not know,
And a nation which does not know you will ^(CI)run to you,
Because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel;
For He has ^(CJ)glorified you.”

⁶^(CK)Seek the Lord while He may be found;
^(CL)Call upon Him while He is near.
⁷^(CM)Let the wicked abandon his way,
And the unrighteous person his ^(CN)thoughts;
And let him ^(CO)return to the Lord,
And He will have ^(CP)compassion on him,
And to our God,
For He will ^(CQ)abundantly pardon.
⁸“For My thoughts are not ^(CR)your thoughts,
Nor are ^(CS)your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
⁹“For ^(CT)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 ^(CU)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 ^(CV)seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
¹¹So will My ^(CW)word be which goes out of My mouth;
It will ^(CX)not return to Me empty,
Without ^(CY)accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the purpose for which I sent it.
¹²For you will go out with ^(CZ)joy
And be led in ^(DA)peace;
The ^(DB)mountains and the hills will break into shouts of joy before you,
And all the ^(DC)trees of the field will clap their hands.
¹³Instead of the ^(DD)thorn bush, the ^(DE)juniper will come up,
And instead of the ^(DF)stinging nettle, the myrtle will come up;
And ^[af]it will be a ^[ag]^(DG)memorial to the Lord,
An everlasting ^(DH)sign which ^(DI)will not be eliminated.”