Isaiah 51:13-54:5

English Standard Version

¹³and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,
    ^(A)who stretched out the heavens
    and ^(B)laid the foundations of the earth,
and you fear continually all the day
    because of the wrath of ^(C)the oppressor,
when he sets himself to destroy?
    And where is the wrath of ^(D)the oppressor?
¹⁴^(E)He who is bowed down shall speedily be released;
    he shall not die and go down ^(F)to the pit,
    neither shall his bread be lacking.
¹⁵I am the Lord your God,
    ^(G)who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
    the Lord of hosts is his name.
¹⁶^(H)And I have put my words in your mouth
    ^(I)and covered you in the shadow of my hand,
^(J)establishing^[a] the heavens
    and ^(K)laying the foundations of the earth,
    and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”

¹⁷^(L)Wake yourself, wake yourself,
    stand up, O Jerusalem,
^(M)you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord
    the cup of his wrath,
who have drunk to the dregs
    the bowl, ^(N)the cup of staggering.
¹⁸^(O)There is none to guide her
    among all the sons she has borne;
there is none to take her by the hand
    among all the sons she has brought up.
¹⁹^(P)These two things have happened to you—
    who will console you?—
devastation and destruction, famine and sword;
    who will comfort you?^[b]
²⁰^(Q)Your sons have fainted;
    they lie at the head of every street
    like an ^(R)antelope ^(S)in a net;
they are full of the wrath of the Lord,
    the rebuke of your God.

²¹^(T)Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted,
    who are drunk, but not with wine:
²²Thus says your Lord, the Lord,
    your God ^(U)who pleads the cause of his people:
“Behold, I have taken from your hand ^(V)the cup of staggering;
the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more;
²³^(W)and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,
    ^(X)who have said to you,
    ‘Bow down, that we may pass over’;
and ^(Y)you have made your back like the ground
    and like the street for them to pass over.”

The Lord's Coming Salvation

52 ^(Z)Awake, awake,
    put on your strength, O Zion;
^(AA)put on your beautiful garments,
    O Jerusalem, ^(AB)the holy city;
^(AC)for there shall no more come into you
    the uncircumcised and the unclean.
²^(AD)Shake yourself from the dust and arise;
    be seated, O Jerusalem;
^(AE)loose the bonds from your neck,
    O captive daughter of Zion.

³For thus says the Lord: ^(AF)“You were sold for nothing, and ^(AG)you shall be redeemed without money.” ⁴For thus says the Lord God: ^(AH)“My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing.^[c] ⁵Now therefore what have I here,” declares the Lord, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail,” declares the Lord, “and ^(AI)continually all the day my name is despised. ⁶Therefore my people shall know my name. ^(AJ)Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here I am.”

⁷^(AK)How beautiful upon the mountains
    are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace, ^(AL)who brings good news of happiness,
    who publishes salvation,
    who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
⁸The voice of ^(AM)your watchmen—they lift up their voice;
    together they sing for joy;
^(AN)for eye to eye they see
    the return of the Lord to Zion.
⁹^(AO)Break forth together into singing,
    ^(AP)you waste places of Jerusalem,
for ^(AQ)the Lord has comforted his people;
    he has redeemed Jerusalem.
¹⁰^(AR)The Lord has bared his holy arm
    before the eyes of all the nations,
^(AS)and all the ends of the earth shall see
    the salvation of our God.

¹¹^(AT)Depart, depart, go out from there;
    touch no unclean thing;
go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves,
    ^(AU)you who bear the vessels of the Lord.
¹²For you shall not ^(AV)go out in haste,
    and you shall not go in flight,
^(AW)for the Lord will go before you,
    ^(AX)and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

He Was Pierced for Our Transgressions

¹³Behold, ^(AY)my servant shall act wisely;^[d]
    he shall be high and lifted up,
    and shall be exalted.
¹⁴As many were astonished at you—
    ^(AZ)his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
    and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
¹⁵so ^(BA)shall he sprinkle^[e] many nations.
    ^(BB)Kings shall shut their mouths because of him,
^(BC)for that which has not been told them they see,
    and that which they have not heard they understand.
53 ^(BD)Who has believed what he has heard from us?^[f]
    And to whom has ^(BE)the arm of the Lord been revealed?
²For he grew up before him like a young plant,
    ^(BF)and like a root out of dry ground;
^(BG)he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
    and no beauty that we should desire him.
³^(BH)He was despised and rejected^[g] by men,
    a man of sorrows^[h] and acquainted with^[i] grief;^[j]
and as one from whom men hide their faces^[k]
    he was despised, and ^(BI)we esteemed him not.

⁴^(BJ)Surely he has borne our griefs
    and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
    ^(BK)smitten by God, and afflicted.
⁵^(BL)But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    ^(BM)and with his wounds we are healed.
⁶^(BN)All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his own way;
^(BO)and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

⁷He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
    ^(BP)yet he opened not his mouth;
^(BQ)like a ^(BR)lamb that is led to the slaughter,
    and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
    so he opened not his mouth.
⁸By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
    and as for his generation, ^(BS)who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
    stricken for the transgression of my people?
⁹And they made his grave with the wicked
    ^(BT)and with a rich man in his death,
although ^(BU)he had done no violence,
    and there was no deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰Yet ^(BV)it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
    he has put him to grief;^[l]
^(BW)when his soul makes^[m] an offering for guilt,
    he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
^(BX)the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
¹¹Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see^[n] and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall ^(BY)the righteous one, my servant,
    ^(BZ)make many to be accounted righteous,
    ^(CA)and he shall bear their iniquities.
¹²^(CB)Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,^[o]
    ^(CC)and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,^[p]
because he poured out his soul to death
    and was numbered with the transgressors;
^(CD)yet he bore the sin of many,
    and makes intercession for the transgressors.

The Eternal Covenant of Peace

54 ^(CE)“Sing, O barren one, who did not bear;
    break forth into singing and cry aloud,
    you who have not been in labor!
For the children of ^(CF)the desolate one ^(CG)will be more
    than the children of her who is married,” says the Lord.
²^(CH)“Enlarge the place of your tent,
    and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out;
do not hold back; lengthen your cords
    and strengthen your stakes.
³^(CI)For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left,
    and your offspring will possess the nations
    and will people the desolate cities.

⁴“Fear not, ^(CJ)for you will not be ashamed;
    be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced;
for you will forget the shame of your youth,
    and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.
⁵^(CK)For your Maker is your husband,
    the Lord of hosts is his name;
^(CL)and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,
    ^(CM)the God of the whole earth he is called.

Footnotes

Isaiah 51:16 Or planting
Isaiah 51:19 Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; Masoretic Text how shall I comfort you
Isaiah 52:4 Or the Assyrian has oppressed them of late
Isaiah 52:13 Or shall prosper
Isaiah 52:15 Or startle
Isaiah 53:1 Or Who has believed what we have heard?
Isaiah 53:3 Or forsaken
Isaiah 53:3 Or pains; also verse 4
Isaiah 53:3 Or and knowing
Isaiah 53:3 Or sickness; also verse 4
Isaiah 53:3 Or as one who hides his face from us
Isaiah 53:10 Or he has made him sick
Isaiah 53:10 Or when you make his soul
Isaiah 53:11 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll he shall see light
Isaiah 53:12 Or with the great
Isaiah 53:12 Or with the numerous