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Isaiah 51:17-53:12
The Message
Isaiah 51:17-53:12
The Message
17-20 So wake up! Rub the sleep from your eyes!
Up on your feet, Jerusalem!
You’ve drunk the cup God handed you,
the strong drink of his anger.
You drank it down to the last drop,
staggered and collapsed, dead-drunk.
And nobody to help you home,
no one among your friends or children
to take you by the hand and put you in bed.
You’ve been hit with a double dose of trouble
—does anyone care?
Assault and battery, hunger and death
—will anyone comfort?
Your sons and daughters have passed out,
strewn in the streets like stunned rabbits,
Sleeping off the strong drink of God’s anger,
the rage of your God.
21-23 Therefore listen, please,
you with your splitting headaches,
You who are nursing the hangovers
that didn’t come from drinking wine.
Your Master, your God, has something to say,
your God has taken up his people’s case:
“Look, I’ve taken back the drink that sent you reeling.
No more drinking from that jug of my anger!
I’ve passed it over to your abusers to drink, those who ordered you,
‘Down on the ground so we can walk all over you!’
And you had to do it. Flat on the ground,
you were the dirt under their feet.”
God Is Leading You Out of Here
52 1-2 Wake up, wake up! Pull on your boots, Zion!
Dress up in your Sunday best, Jerusalem, holy city!
Those who want no part of God have been culled out.
They won’t be coming along.
Brush off the dust and get to your feet, captive Jerusalem!
Throw off your chains, captive daughter of Zion!
3 God says, “You were sold for nothing. You’re being bought back for nothing.”
4-6 Again, the Master, God, says, “Early on, my people went to Egypt and lived, strangers in the land. At the other end, Assyria oppressed them. And now, what have I here?” God’s Decree. “My people are hauled off again for no reason at all. Tyrants on the warpath, whooping it up, and day after day, incessantly, my reputation blackened. Now it’s time that my people know who I am, what I’m made of—yes, that I have something to say. Here I am!”
7-10 How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of the messenger bringing good news,
Breaking the news that all’s well,
proclaiming good times, announcing salvation,
telling Zion, “Your God reigns!”
Voices! Listen! Your scouts are shouting, thunderclap shouts,
shouting in joyful unison.
They see with their own eyes
God coming back to Zion.
Break into song! Boom it out, ruins of Jerusalem:
“God has comforted his people!
He’s redeemed Jerusalem!”
God has rolled up his sleeves.
All the nations can see his holy, muscled arm.
Everyone, from one end of the earth to the other,
sees him at work, doing his salvation work.
11-12 Out of here! Out of here! Leave this place!
Don’t look back. Don’t contaminate yourselves with plunder.
Just leave, but leave clean. Purify yourselves
in the process of worship, carrying the holy vessels of God.
But you don’t have to be in a hurry.
You’re not running from anybody!
God is leading you out of here,
and the God of Israel is also your rear guard.
It Was Our Pains He Carried
13-15 “Just watch my servant blossom!
Exalted, tall, head and shoulders above the crowd!
But he didn’t begin that way.
At first everyone was appalled.
He didn’t even look human—
a ruined face, disfigured past recognition.
Nations all over the world will be in awe, taken aback,
kings shocked into silence when they see him.
For what was unheard of they’ll see with their own eyes,
what was unthinkable they’ll have right before them.”
53 Who believes what we’ve heard and seen?
Who would have thought God’s saving power would look like this?
2-6 The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling,
a scrubby plant in a parched field.
There was nothing attractive about him,
nothing to cause us to take a second look.
He was looked down on and passed over,
a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—
our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself,
that God was punishing him for his own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him,
that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
Through his bruises we get healed.
We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost.
We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong,
on him, on him.
7-9 He was beaten, he was tortured,
but he didn’t say a word.
Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered
and like a sheep being sheared,
he took it all in silence.
Justice miscarried, and he was led off—
and did anyone really know what was happening?
He died without a thought for his own welfare,
beaten bloody for the sins of my people.
They buried him with the wicked,
threw him in a grave with a rich man,
Even though he’d never hurt a soul
or said one word that wasn’t true.
10 Still, it’s what God had in mind all along,
to crush him with pain.
The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin
so that he’d see life come from it—life, life, and more life.
And God’s plan will deeply prosper through him.
11-12 Out of that terrible travail of soul,
he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it.
Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,
will make many “righteous ones,”
as he himself carries the burden of their sins.
Therefore I’ll reward him extravagantly—
the best of everything, the highest honors—
Because he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch,
because he embraced the company of the lowest.
He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many,
he took up the cause of all the black sheep.
Isaiah 51:17-53:12
New International Version
Isaiah 51:17-53:12
New International Version
The Cup of the Lord’s Wrath
17 Awake, awake!(A)
Rise up, Jerusalem,
you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord
the cup(B) of his wrath,(C)
you who have drained to its dregs(D)
the goblet that makes people stagger.(E)
18 Among all the children(F) she bore
there was none to guide her;(G)
among all the children she reared
there was none to take her by the hand.(H)
19 These double calamities(I) have come upon you—
who can comfort you?(J)—
ruin and destruction,(K) famine(L) and sword(M)—
who can[a] console you?
20 Your children have fainted;
they lie at every street corner,(N)
like antelope caught in a net.(O)
They are filled with the wrath(P) of the Lord,
with the rebuke(Q) of your God.
21 Therefore hear this, you afflicted(R) one,
made drunk,(S) but not with wine.
22 This is what your Sovereign Lord says,
your God, who defends(T) his people:
“See, I have taken out of your hand
the cup(U) that made you stagger;
from that cup, the goblet of my wrath,
you will never drink again.
23 I will put it into the hands of your tormentors,(V)
who said to you,
‘Fall prostrate(W) that we may walk(X) on you.’
And you made your back like the ground,
like a street to be walked on.”(Y)
52 Awake, awake,(Z) Zion,
clothe yourself with strength!(AA)
Put on your garments of splendor,(AB)
Jerusalem, the holy city.(AC)
The uncircumcised(AD) and defiled(AE)
will not enter you again.(AF)
2 Shake off your dust;(AG)
rise up,(AH) sit enthroned, Jerusalem.
Free yourself from the chains on your neck,(AI)
Daughter Zion,(AJ) now a captive.
3 For this is what the Lord says:
4 For this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
5 “And now what do I have here?” declares the Lord.
“For my people have been taken away for nothing,
and those who rule them mock,[b]”
declares the Lord.
“And all day long
my name is constantly blasphemed.(AP)
6 Therefore my people will know(AQ) my name;(AR)
therefore in that day(AS) they will know
that it is I who foretold(AT) it.
Yes, it is I.”
7 How beautiful on the mountains(AU)
are the feet of those who bring good news,(AV)
who proclaim peace,(AW)
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
“Your God reigns!”(AX)
8 Listen! Your watchmen(AY) lift up their voices;(AZ)
together they shout for joy.(BA)
When the Lord returns(BB) to Zion,(BC)
they will see it with their own eyes.
9 Burst into songs of joy(BD) together,
you ruins(BE) of Jerusalem,
for the Lord has comforted(BF) his people,
he has redeemed Jerusalem.(BG)
10 The Lord will lay bare his holy arm(BH)
in the sight of all the nations,(BI)
and all the ends of the earth(BJ) will see
the salvation(BK) of our God.
11 Depart,(BL) depart, go out from there!
Touch no unclean thing!(BM)
Come out from it and be pure,(BN)
you who carry the articles(BO) of the Lord’s house.
12 But you will not leave in haste(BP)
or go in flight;
for the Lord will go before you,(BQ)
the God of Israel will be your rear guard.(BR)
The Suffering and Glory of the Servant
13 See, my servant(BS) will act wisely[c];
he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.(BT)
14 Just as there were many who were appalled(BU) at him[d]—
his appearance was so disfigured(BV) beyond that of any human being
and his form marred beyond human likeness(BW)—
15 so he will sprinkle(BX) many nations,[e]
and kings(BY) will shut their mouths(BZ) because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
and what they have not heard, they will understand.(CA)
53 Who has believed our message(CB)
and to whom has the arm(CC) of the Lord been revealed?(CD)
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,(CE)
and like a root(CF) out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance(CG) that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering,(CH) and familiar with pain.(CI)
Like one from whom people hide(CJ) their faces
he was despised,(CK) and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,(CL)
yet we considered him punished by God,(CM)
stricken by him, and afflicted.(CN)
5 But he was pierced(CO) for our transgressions,(CP)
he was crushed(CQ) for our iniquities;
the punishment(CR) that brought us peace(CS) was on him,
and by his wounds(CT) we are healed.(CU)
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,(CV)
each of us has turned to our own way;(CW)
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity(CX) of us all.
7 He was oppressed(CY) and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;(CZ)
he was led like a lamb(DA) to the slaughter,(DB)
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression[f] and judgment(DC) he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;(DD)
for the transgression(DE) of my people he was punished.[g]
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,(DF)
and with the rich(DG) in his death,
though he had done no violence,(DH)
nor was any deceit in his mouth.(DI)
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will(DJ) to crush(DK) him and cause him to suffer,(DL)
and though the Lord makes[h] his life an offering for sin,(DM)
he will see his offspring(DN) and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper(DO) in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,(DP)
he will see the light(DQ) of life[i] and be satisfied[j];
by his knowledge[k] my righteous servant(DR) will justify(DS) many,
and he will bear their iniquities.(DT)
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,[l](DU)
and he will divide the spoils(DV) with the strong,[m]
because he poured out his life unto death,(DW)
and was numbered with the transgressors.(DX)
For he bore(DY) the sin of many,(DZ)
and made intercession(EA) for the transgressors.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 51:19 Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; Masoretic Text / how can I
- Isaiah 52:5 Dead Sea Scrolls and Vulgate; Masoretic Text wail
- Isaiah 52:13 Or will prosper
- Isaiah 52:14 Hebrew you
- Isaiah 52:15 Or so will many nations be amazed at him (see also Septuagint)
- Isaiah 53:8 Or From arrest
- Isaiah 53:8 Or generation considered / that he was cut off from the land of the living, / that he was punished for the transgression of my people?
- Isaiah 53:10 Hebrew though you make
- Isaiah 53:11 Dead Sea Scrolls (see also Septuagint); Masoretic Text does not have the light of life.
- Isaiah 53:11 Or (with Masoretic Text) 11 He will see the fruit of his suffering / and will be satisfied
- Isaiah 53:11 Or by knowledge of him
- Isaiah 53:12 Or many
- Isaiah 53:12 Or numerous
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.