Isaiah 52-53

Good News Translation

God Will Rescue Jerusalem

52 ^(A)Jerusalem, be strong and great again!
    Holy city of God, clothe yourself with splendor!
The heathen will never enter your gates again.
²Shake yourself free, Jerusalem!
    Rise from the dust and sit on your throne!
Undo the chains that bind you,
    captive people of Zion!

³The Sovereign Lord says to his people, “When you became slaves, no money was paid for you; in the same way nothing will be paid to set you free. ⁴When you went to live in Egypt as foreigners, you did so of your own free will; Assyria, however, took you away by force and paid nothing for you. ⁵^(B)And now in Babylonia the same thing has happened: you are captives, and nothing was paid for you. Those who rule over you boast and brag and constantly show contempt for me. ⁶In time to come you will acknowledge that I am God and that I have spoken to you.”

⁷^(C)How wonderful it is to see
    a messenger coming across the mountains,
    bringing good news, the news of peace!
He announces victory and says to Zion,
    “Your God is king!”
⁸Those who guard the city are shouting,
    shouting together for joy.
They can see with their own eyes
    the return of the Lord to Zion.

⁹Break into shouts of joy,
    you ruins of Jerusalem!
The Lord will rescue his city
    and comfort his people.
¹⁰The Lord will use his holy power;
    he will save his people,
    and all the world will see it.
¹¹^(D)Be sure to leave Babylonia,
    all you that carry the Temple equipment.
Touch no forbidden thing;^[a]
    keep yourselves holy and leave.
¹²This time you will not have to leave in a hurry;
    you will not be trying to escape.
The Lord your God will lead you
    and protect you on every side.

The Suffering Servant

¹³The Lord says,

“My servant will succeed in his task;
    he will be highly honored.^[b]
¹⁴Many people were shocked when they saw him;
    he was so disfigured that he hardly looked human.
¹⁵^(E)But now many nations will marvel at him,
    and kings will be speechless with amazement.
They will see and understand
    something they had never known.”

53 ^(F)The people reply,

“Who would have believed what we now report?
    Who could have seen the Lord's hand in this?
²It was the will of the Lord that his servant
    grow like a plant taking root in dry ground.
He had no dignity or beauty
    to make us take notice of him.
There was nothing attractive about him,
    nothing that would draw us to him.
³We despised him and rejected him;
    he endured suffering and pain.
No one would even look at him—
    we ignored him as if he were nothing.

⁴^(G)“But he endured the suffering that should have been ours,
    the pain that we should have borne.
All the while we thought that his suffering
    was punishment sent by God.
⁵^(H)But because of our sins he was wounded,
    beaten because of the evil we did.
We are healed by the punishment he suffered,
    made whole by the blows he received.
⁶^(I)All of us were like sheep that were lost,
    each of us going his own way.
But the Lord made the punishment fall on him,
    the punishment all of us deserved.

⁷^(J)“He was treated harshly, but endured it humbly;
    he never said a word.
Like a lamb about to be slaughtered,
like a sheep about to be sheared,
    he never said a word.
⁸He was arrested and sentenced and led off to die,
    and no one cared about his fate.
He was put to death for the sins of our people.
⁹^(K)He was placed in a grave with those who are evil,
    he was buried with the rich,
even though he had never committed a crime
    or ever told a lie.”

¹⁰The Lord says,

“It was my will that he should suffer;
    his death was a sacrifice to bring forgiveness.
And so he will see his descendants;
    he will live a long life,
    and through him my purpose will succeed.
¹¹After a life of suffering, he will again have joy;
    he will know that he did not suffer in vain.
My devoted servant, with whom I am pleased,
    will bear the punishment of many
    and for his sake I will forgive them.
¹²^(L)And so I will give him a place of honor,
    a place among the great and powerful.
He willingly gave his life
    and shared the fate of evil men.
He took the place of many sinners
    and prayed that they might be forgiven.”^[c]

Footnotes

Isaiah 52:11 Any object that was considered ritually unclean.
Isaiah 52:13 he will be highly honored; or he will be restored to greatness and honor.
Isaiah 53:12 prayed that they might be forgiven; or suffered the punishment they deserved.