Isaiah 52-54

The Message

God Is Leading You Out of Here

52 ^1-2Wake 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!

³God says, “You were sold for nothing. You’re being bought back for nothing.”

^4-6Again, 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!”

^7-10How 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.

^11-12Out 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?

^2-6The 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.

^7-9He 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.

¹⁰Still, 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.

^11-12Out 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.

Spread Out! Think Big!

54 ^1-6“Sing, barren woman, who has never had a baby.
    Fill the air with song, you who’ve never experienced childbirth!
You’re ending up with far more children
    than all those childbearing women.” God says so!
“Clear lots of ground for your tents!
    Make your tents large. Spread out! Think big!
Use plenty of rope,
    drive the tent pegs deep.
You’re going to need lots of elbow room
    for your growing family.
You’re going to take over whole nations;
    you’re going to resettle abandoned cities.
Don’t be afraid—you’re not going to be embarrassed.
    Don’t hold back—you’re not going to come up short.
You’ll forget all about the humiliations of your youth,
    and the indignities of being a widow will fade from memory.
For your Maker is your bridegroom,
    his name, God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
Your Redeemer is The Holy of Israel,
    known as God of the whole earth.
You were like an abandoned wife, devastated with grief,
    and God welcomed you back,
Like a woman married young
    and then left,” says your God.

^7-8Your Redeemer God says:

“I left you, but only for a moment.
    Now, with enormous compassion, I’m bringing you back.
In an outburst of anger I turned my back on you—
    but only for a moment.
It’s with lasting love
    that I’m tenderly caring for you.

^9-10“This exile is just like the days of Noah for me:
    I promised then that the waters of Noah
    would never again flood the earth.
I’m promising now no more anger,
    no more dressing you down.
For even if the mountains walk away
    and the hills fall to pieces,
My love won’t walk away from you,
    my covenant commitment of peace won’t fall apart.”
    The God who has compassion on you says so.

^11-17“Afflicted city, storm-battered, unpitied:
    I’m about to rebuild you with stones of turquoise,
Lay your foundations with sapphires,
    construct your towers with rubies,
Your gates with jewels,
    and all your walls with precious stones.
All your children will have God for their teacher—
    what a mentor for your children!
You’ll be built solid, grounded in righteousness,
    far from any trouble—nothing to fear!
    far from terror—it won’t even come close!
If anyone attacks you,
    don’t for a moment suppose that I sent them,
And if any should attack,
    nothing will come of it.
I create the blacksmith
    who fires up his forge
    and makes a weapon designed to kill.
I also create the destroyer—
    but no weapon that can hurt you has ever been forged.
Any accuser who takes you to court
    will be dismissed as a liar.
This is what God’s servants can expect.
    I’ll see to it that everything works out for the best.”
        God’s Decree.

Isaiah 52-54

New International Version

52 Awake, awake,^(A) Zion,
    clothe yourself with strength!^(B)
Put on your garments of splendor,^(C)
    Jerusalem, the holy city.^(D)
The uncircumcised^(E) and defiled^(F)
    will not enter you again.^(G)
²Shake off your dust;^(H)
    rise up,^(I) sit enthroned, Jerusalem.
Free yourself from the chains on your neck,^(J)
    Daughter Zion,^(K) now a captive.

³For this is what the Lord says:

“You were sold for nothing,^(L)
and without money^(M) you will be redeemed.^(N)”

⁴For this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“At first my people went down to Egypt^(O) to live;
lately, Assyria^(P) has oppressed them.

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,^[a]”
declares the Lord.
“And all day long
    my name is constantly blasphemed.^(Q)
⁶Therefore my people will know^(R) my name;^(S)
    therefore in that day^(T) they will know
that it is I who foretold^(U) it.
    Yes, it is I.”

⁷How beautiful on the mountains^(V)
    are the feet of those who bring good news,^(W)
who proclaim peace,^(X)
    who bring good tidings,
    who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
    “Your God reigns!”^(Y)
⁸Listen! Your watchmen^(Z) lift up their voices;^(AA)
    together they shout for joy.^(AB)
When the Lord returns^(AC) to Zion,^(AD)
    they will see it with their own eyes.
⁹Burst into songs of joy^(AE) together,
    you ruins^(AF) of Jerusalem,
for the Lord has comforted^(AG) his people,
    he has redeemed Jerusalem.^(AH)
¹⁰The Lord will lay bare his holy arm^(AI)
    in the sight of all the nations,^(AJ)
and all the ends of the earth^(AK) will see
    the salvation^(AL) of our God.

¹¹Depart,^(AM) depart, go out from there!
    Touch no unclean thing!^(AN)
Come out from it and be pure,^(AO)
    you who carry the articles^(AP) of the Lord’s house.
¹²But you will not leave in haste^(AQ)
    or go in flight;
for the Lord will go before you,^(AR)
    the God of Israel will be your rear guard.^(AS)

The Suffering and Glory of the Servant

¹³See, my servant^(AT) will act wisely^[b];
    he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.^(AU)
¹⁴Just as there were many who were appalled^(AV) at him^[c]—
    his appearance was so disfigured^(AW) beyond that of any human being
    and his form marred beyond human likeness^(AX)—
¹⁵so he will sprinkle^(AY) many nations,^[d]
    and kings^(AZ) will shut their mouths^(BA) because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
    and what they have not heard, they will understand.^(BB)

53 Who has believed our message^(BC)
    and to whom has the arm^(BD) of the Lord been revealed?^(BE)
²He grew up before him like a tender shoot,^(BF)
    and like a root^(BG) out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
    nothing in his appearance^(BH) that we should desire him.
³He was despised and rejected by mankind,
    a man of suffering,^(BI) and familiar with pain.^(BJ)
Like one from whom people hide^(BK) their faces
    he was despised,^(BL) and we held him in low esteem.

⁴Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,^(BM)
yet we considered him punished by God,^(BN)
    stricken by him, and afflicted.^(BO)
⁵But he was pierced^(BP) for our transgressions,^(BQ)
    he was crushed^(BR) for our iniquities;
the punishment^(BS) that brought us peace^(BT) was on him,
    and by his wounds^(BU) we are healed.^(BV)
⁶We all, like sheep, have gone astray,^(BW)
    each of us has turned to our own way;^(BX)
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity^(BY) of us all.

⁷He was oppressed^(BZ) and afflicted,
    yet he did not open his mouth;^(CA)
he was led like a lamb^(CB) to the slaughter,^(CC)
    and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
⁸By oppression^[e] and judgment^(CD) he was taken away.
    Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;^(CE)
    for the transgression^(CF) of my people he was punished.^[f]
⁹He was assigned a grave with the wicked,^(CG)
    and with the rich^(CH) in his death,
though he had done no violence,^(CI)
    nor was any deceit in his mouth.^(CJ)

¹⁰Yet it was the Lord’s will^(CK) to crush^(CL) him and cause him to suffer,^(CM)
    and though the Lord makes^[g] his life an offering for sin,^(CN)
he will see his offspring^(CO) and prolong his days,
    and the will of the Lord will prosper^(CP) in his hand.
¹¹After he has suffered,^(CQ)
    he will see the light^(CR) of life^[h] and be satisfied^[i];
by his knowledge^[j] my righteous servant^(CS) will justify^(CT) many,
    and he will bear their iniquities.^(CU)
¹²Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,^[k]^(CV)
    and he will divide the spoils^(CW) with the strong,^[l]
because he poured out his life unto death,^(CX)
    and was numbered with the transgressors.^(CY)
For he bore^(CZ) the sin of many,^(DA)
    and made intercession^(DB) for the transgressors.

The Future Glory of Zion

54 “Sing, barren woman,^(DC)
    you who never bore a child;
burst into song, shout for joy,^(DD)
    you who were never in labor;^(DE)
because more are the children^(DF) of the desolate^(DG) woman
    than of her who has a husband,^(DH)”
says the Lord.
²“Enlarge the place of your tent,^(DI)
    stretch your tent curtains wide,
    do not hold back;
lengthen your cords,
    strengthen your stakes.^(DJ)
³For you will spread out to the right and to the left;
    your descendants^(DK) will dispossess nations^(DL)
    and settle in their desolate^(DM) cities.

⁴“Do not be afraid;^(DN) you will not be put to shame.^(DO)
    Do not fear disgrace;^(DP) you will not be humiliated.
You will forget the shame of your youth^(DQ)
    and remember no more the reproach^(DR) of your widowhood.^(DS)
⁵For your Maker^(DT) is your husband^(DU)—
    the Lord Almighty is his name—
the Holy One^(DV) of Israel is your Redeemer;^(DW)
    he is called the God of all the earth.^(DX)
⁶The Lord will call you back^(DY)
    as if you were a wife deserted^(DZ) and distressed in spirit—
a wife who married young,^(EA)
    only to be rejected,” says your God.
⁷“For a brief moment^(EB) I abandoned^(EC) you,
    but with deep compassion^(ED) I will bring you back.^(EE)
⁸In a surge of anger^(EF)
    I hid^(EG) my face from you for a moment,
but with everlasting kindness^(EH)
    I will have compassion^(EI) on you,”
    says the Lord your Redeemer.^(EJ)

⁹“To me this is like the days of Noah,
    when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth.^(EK)
So now I have sworn^(EL) not to be angry^(EM) with you,
    never to rebuke^(EN) you again.
¹⁰Though the mountains be shaken^(EO)
    and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love^(EP) for you will not be shaken^(EQ)
    nor my covenant^(ER) of peace^(ES) be removed,”
    says the Lord, who has compassion^(ET) on you.

¹¹“Afflicted^(EU) city, lashed by storms^(EV) and not comforted,^(EW)
    I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise,^[m]^(EX)
    your foundations^(EY) with lapis lazuli.^(EZ)
¹²I will make your battlements of rubies,
    your gates^(FA) of sparkling jewels,
    and all your walls of precious stones.
¹³All your children will be taught by the Lord,^(FB)
    and great will be their peace.^(FC)
¹⁴In righteousness^(FD) you will be established:^(FE)
Tyranny^(FF) will be far from you;
    you will have nothing to fear.^(FG)
Terror^(FH) will be far removed;
    it will not come near you.
¹⁵If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing;
    whoever attacks you will surrender^(FI) to you.

¹⁶“See, it is I who created the blacksmith^(FJ)
    who fans the coals into flame
    and forges a weapon^(FK) fit for its work.
And it is I who have created the destroyer^(FL) to wreak havoc;
¹⁷    no weapon forged against you will prevail,^(FM)
    and you will refute^(FN) every tongue that accuses you.
This is the heritage of the servants^(FO) of the Lord,
    and this is their vindication^(FP) from me,”
declares the Lord.

Footnotes

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) ¹¹He 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
Isaiah 54:11 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.

The Message (MSG)

New International Version (NIV)

Isaiah 52-54

The Message

God Is Leading You Out of Here

It Was Our Pains He Carried

Spread Out! Think Big!

Isaiah 52-54

New International Version

The Suffering and Glory of the Servant

The Future Glory of Zion

Footnotes

Cross references

More on the NIV

Isaiah 52-54 The Message

God Is Leading You Out of Here

It Was Our Pains He Carried

Spread Out! Think Big!

Isaiah 52-54 New International Version

The Suffering and Glory of the Servant

The Future Glory of Zion

Footnotes

Cross references

More on the NIV

Isaiah 52-54

The Message

Isaiah 52-54

New International Version