The Servant of the Lord

49 Listen to me, (A)O coastlands,
    and give attention, you peoples (B)from afar.
(C)The Lord called me from the womb,
    from the body of my mother he named my name.
(D)He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
    (E)in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow;
    in his quiver he hid me away.
And he said to me, “You are my servant,
    Israel, (F)in whom I will be glorified.”[a]
(G)But I said, “I have labored in vain;
    I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my right is with the Lord,
    and my recompense with my God.”

(H)And now the Lord says,
    he (I)who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him;
    and that Israel might be gathered to him—
for (J)I am honored in the eyes of the Lord,
    and my God has become my strength—
he says:
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
    to raise up the tribes of Jacob
    and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
(K)I will make you (L)as a light for the nations,
    that (M)my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Thus says the Lord,
    (N)the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
(O)to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,
    the servant of rulers:
(P)“Kings shall see and arise;
    princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
    the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

The Restoration of Israel

Thus says the Lord:
(Q)“In a (R)time of favor I have answered you;
    in a day of salvation I have helped you;
I will keep you (S)and give you
    as a covenant to the people,
to establish the land,
    (T)to apportion the desolate heritages,
(U)saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’
    to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’
(V)They shall feed along the ways;
    on all bare heights shall be their pasture;
10 (W)they shall not hunger or thirst,
    neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them,
for he who has pity on them (X)will lead them,
    and by springs of water will guide them.
11 (Y)And I will make all my mountains a road,
    and my highways shall be raised up.
12 (Z)Behold, these shall come from afar,
    and behold, (AA)these from the north and from the west,[b]
    and these from the land of Syene.”[c]

13 (AB)Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;
    break forth, O mountains, into singing!
For the Lord (AC)has comforted his people
    and will have compassion on his afflicted.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 49:3 Or I will display my beauty
  2. Isaiah 49:12 Hebrew from the sea
  3. Isaiah 49:12 Dead Sea Scroll; Masoretic Text Sinim

He Was Pierced for Our Transgressions

13 Behold, (A)my servant shall act wisely;[a]
    he shall be high and lifted up,
    and shall be exalted.
14 As many were astonished at you—
    (B)his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
    and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
15 so (C)shall he sprinkle[b] many nations.
    (D)Kings shall shut their mouths because of him,
(E)for that which has not been told them they see,
    and that which they have not heard they understand.
53 (F)Who has believed what he has heard from us?[c]
    And to whom has (G)the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
    (H)and like a root out of dry ground;
(I)he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
    and no beauty that we should desire him.
(J)He was despised and rejected[d] by men,
    a man of sorrows[e] and acquainted with[f] grief;[g]
and as one from whom men hide their faces[h]
    he was despised, and (K)we esteemed him not.

(L)Surely he has borne our griefs
    and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
    (M)smitten by God, and afflicted.
(N)But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    (O)and with his wounds we are healed.
(P)All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his own way;
(Q)and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
    (R)yet he opened not his mouth;
(S)like a (T)lamb that is led to the slaughter,
    and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
    so he opened not his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
    and as for his generation, (U)who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
    stricken for the transgression of my people?
And they made his grave with the wicked
    (V)and with a rich man in his death,
although (W)he had done no violence,
    and there was no deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet (X)it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
    he has put him to grief;[i]
(Y)when his soul makes[j] an offering for guilt,
    he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
(Z)the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see[k] and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall (AA)the righteous one, my servant,
    (AB)make many to be accounted righteous,
    (AC)and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 (AD)Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,[l]
    (AE)and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,[m]
because he poured out his soul to death
    and was numbered with the transgressors;
(AF)yet he bore the sin of many,
    and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 52:13 Or shall prosper
  2. Isaiah 52:15 Or startle
  3. Isaiah 53:1 Or Who has believed what we have heard?
  4. Isaiah 53:3 Or forsaken
  5. Isaiah 53:3 Or pains; also verse 4
  6. Isaiah 53:3 Or and knowing
  7. Isaiah 53:3 Or sickness; also verse 4
  8. Isaiah 53:3 Or as one who hides his face from us
  9. Isaiah 53:10 Or he has made him sick
  10. Isaiah 53:10 Or when you make his soul
  11. Isaiah 53:11 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll he shall see light
  12. Isaiah 53:12 Or with the great
  13. Isaiah 53:12 Or with the numerous

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