Isaiah 51-55

New King James Version

³ For the Lord will ^(F)comfort Zion,
He will comfort all her waste places;
He will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert ^(G)like the garden of the Lord;
Joy and gladness will be found in it,
Thanksgiving and the voice of melody.

⁴ “Listen to Me, My people;
And give ear to Me, O My nation:
^(H)For law will proceed from Me,
And I will make My justice rest
^(I)As a light of the peoples.
^5 (J)My righteousness is near,
My salvation has gone forth,
^(K)And My arms will judge the peoples;
^(L)The coastlands will wait upon Me,
And ^(M)on My arm they will trust.
^6 (N)Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
And look on the earth beneath.
For ^(O)the heavens will vanish away like smoke,
^(P)The earth will grow old like a garment,
And those who dwell in it will die in like manner;
But My salvation will be ^(Q)forever,
And My righteousness will not be ^[b]abolished.

⁷ “Listen to Me, you who know righteousness,
You people ^(R)in whose heart is My law:
^(S)Do not fear the reproach of men,
Nor be afraid of their insults.
⁸ For ^(T)the moth will eat them up like a garment,
And the worm will eat them like wool;
But My righteousness will be forever,
And My salvation from generation to generation.”

^9 (U)Awake, awake, ^(V)put on strength,
O arm of the Lord!
Awake ^(W)as in the ancient days,
In the generations of old.
^(X)Are You not the arm that cut ^(Y)Rahab apart,
And wounded the ^(Z)serpent?

¹⁰ Are You not the One who ^(AA)dried up the sea,
The waters of the great deep;
That made the depths of the sea a road
For the redeemed to cross over?
¹¹ So ^(AB)the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
And come to Zion with singing,
With everlasting joy on their heads.
They shall obtain joy and gladness;
Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

¹² “I, even I, am He ^(AC)who comforts you.
Who are you that you should be afraid
^(AD)Of a man who will die,
And of the son of a man who will be made ^(AE)like grass?
¹³ And ^(AF)you forget the Lord your Maker,
^(AG)Who stretched out the heavens
And laid the foundations of the earth;
You have feared continually every day
Because of the fury of the oppressor,
When he has prepared to destroy.
^(AH)And where is the fury of the oppressor?
¹⁴ The captive exile hastens, that he may be loosed,
^(AI)That he should not die in the pit,
And that his bread should not fail.
¹⁵ But I am the Lord your God,
Who ^(AJ)divided the sea whose waves roared—
The Lord of hosts is His name.
¹⁶ And ^(AK)I have put My words in your mouth;
^(AL)I have covered you with the shadow of My hand,
^(AM)That I may ^[c]plant the heavens,
Lay the foundations of the earth,
And say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’ ”

²¹ Therefore please hear this, you afflicted,
And drunk ^(AS)but not with wine.
²² Thus says your Lord,
The Lord and your God,
Who ^(AT)pleads the cause of His people:
“See, I have taken out of your hand
The cup of trembling,
The dregs of the cup of My fury;
You shall no longer drink it.
^23 (AU)But I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you,
Who have said to ^[d]you,
‘Lie down, that we may walk over you.’
And you have laid your body like the ground,
And as the street, for those who walk over.”

^(AY)“You have sold yourselves for nothing,
And you shall be redeemed ^(AZ)without money.”

“My people went down at first
Into ^(BA)Egypt to ^[e]dwell there;
Then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
⁵ Now therefore, what have I here,” says the Lord,
“That My people are taken away for nothing?
Those who rule over them
^[f]Make them wail,” says the Lord,
“And My name is ^(BB)blasphemed continually every day.
⁶ Therefore My people shall know My name;
Therefore they shall know in that day
That I am He who speaks:
‘Behold, it is I.’ ”

^7 (BC)How beautiful upon the mountains
Are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who proclaims peace,
Who brings glad tidings of good things,
Who proclaims salvation,
Who says to Zion,
^(BD)“Your God reigns!”
⁸ Your watchmen shall lift up their voices,
With their voices they shall sing together;
For they shall see eye to eye
When the Lord brings back Zion.
⁹ Break forth into joy, sing together,
You waste places of Jerusalem!
For the Lord has comforted His people,
He has redeemed Jerusalem.
^10 (BE)The Lord has ^[g]made bare His holy arm
In the eyes of ^(BF)all the nations;
And all the ends of the earth shall see
The salvation of our God.

^11 (BG)Depart! Depart! Go out from there,
Touch no unclean thing;
Go out from the midst of her,
^(BH)Be clean,
You who bear the vessels of the Lord.
¹² For ^(BI)you shall not go out with haste,
Nor go by flight;
^(BJ)For the Lord will go before you,
^(BK)And the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

⁴ Surely ^(BU)He has borne our ^[r]griefs
And carried our ^[s]sorrows;
Yet we ^[t]esteemed Him stricken,
^[u]Smitten by God, and afflicted.
⁵ But He was ^(BV)wounded^[v] for our transgressions,
He was ^[w]bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His ^(BW)stripes^[x] we are healed.
⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord ^[y]has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet ^(BX)He opened not His mouth;
^(BY)He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
⁸ He was ^(BZ)taken from ^[z]prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For ^(CA)He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
^9 (CB)And ^[aa]they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any ^(CC)deceit in His mouth.

¹⁰ Yet it pleased the Lord to ^[ab]bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul ^(CD)an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
^11 [ac]He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge ^(CE)My righteous ^(CF)Servant shall ^(CG)justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
^12 (CH)Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
^(CI)And He shall divide the ^[ad]spoil with the strong,
Because He ^(CJ)poured out His soul unto death,
And He was ^(CK)numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And ^(CL)made intercession for the transgressors.

⁴ “Do^(CP) not fear, for you will not be ashamed;
Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame;
For you will forget the shame of your youth,
And will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore.
^5 (CQ)For your Maker is your husband,
The Lord of hosts is His name;
And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel;
He is called ^(CR)the God of the whole earth.
⁶ For the Lord ^(CS)has called you
Like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit,
Like a youthful wife when you were refused,”
Says your God.
⁷ “For^(CT) a mere moment I have forsaken you,
But with great mercies ^(CU)I will gather you.
⁸ With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment;
^(CV)But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,”
Says the Lord, your Redeemer.

⁹ “For this is like the waters of ^(CW)Noah to Me;
For as I have sworn
That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth,
So have I sworn
That I would not be angry with ^(CX)you, nor rebuke you.
¹⁰ For ^(CY)the mountains shall depart
And the hills be removed,
^(CZ)But My kindness shall not depart from you,
Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,”
Says the Lord, who has mercy on you.

¹¹ “O you afflicted one,
Tossed with tempest, and not comforted,
Behold, I will lay your stones with ^(DA)colorful gems,
And lay your foundations with sapphires.
¹² I will make your pinnacles of rubies,
Your gates of crystal,
And all your walls of precious stones.
¹³ All your children shall be ^(DB)taught by the Lord,
And ^(DC)great shall be the peace of your children.
¹⁴ In righteousness you shall be established;
You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear;
And from terror, for it shall not come near you.
¹⁵ Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me.
Whoever assembles against you shall ^(DD)fall for your sake.

¹⁶ “Behold, I have created the blacksmith
Who blows the coals in the fire,
Who brings forth an ^[ae]instrument for his work;
And I have created the ^[af]spoiler to destroy.
¹⁷ No weapon formed against you shall ^(DE)prosper,
And every tongue which rises against you in judgment
You shall condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
^(DF)And their righteousness is from Me,”
Says the Lord.

^6 (DQ)Seek the Lord while He may be ^(DR)found,
Call upon Him while He is near.
^7 (DS)Let the ^[ah]wicked forsake his way,
And the unrighteous man ^(DT)his thoughts;
Let him return to the Lord,
^(DU)And He will have mercy on him;
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.

⁸ “For^(DV) My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
⁹ “For^(DW) as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.

¹⁰ “For ^(DX)as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater,
^11 (DY)So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me ^[ai]void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall ^(DZ)prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

¹² “For^(EA) you shall go out with joy,
And be led out with peace;
The mountains and the hills
Shall ^(EB)break forth into singing before you,
And ^(EC)all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
^13 (ED)Instead of ^(EE)the thorn shall come up the cypress tree,
And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree;
And it shall be to the Lord ^(EF)for a name,
For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”