Chronological
B. Expiation of Sin, Spiritual Liberation of Israel
Chapter 49
The Servant of the Lord[a]
1 Hear me, coastlands,
listen, distant peoples.(A)
Before birth the Lord called me,
from my mother’s womb he gave me my name.[b]
2 He made my mouth like a sharp-edged sword,
concealed me, shielded by his hand.
He made me a sharpened arrow,
in his quiver he hid me.
3 He said to me, You are my servant,
in you, Israel,[c] I show my glory.
4 Though I thought I had toiled in vain,
for nothing and for naught spent my strength,
Yet my right is with the Lord,
my recompense is with my God.(B)
5 For now the Lord has spoken
who formed me as his servant from the womb,
That Jacob may be brought back to him
and Israel gathered to him;
I am honored in the sight of the Lord,
and my God is now my strength!
6 It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant,
to raise up the tribes of Jacob,
and restore the survivors of Israel;(C)
I will make you a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.[d]
7 Thus says the Lord,
the redeemer, the Holy One of Israel,
To the one despised, abhorred by the nations,
the slave of rulers:
When kings see you, they shall stand up,
and princes shall bow down
Because of the Lord who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.(D)
The Liberation and Restoration of Zion
8 Thus says the Lord:
In a time of favor I answer you,[e]
on the day of salvation I help you;
I form you and set you
as a covenant for the people,
To restore the land
and allot the devastated heritages,(E)
9 To say to the prisoners: Come out!
To those in darkness: Show yourselves!
Along the roadways they shall find pasture,
on every barren height shall their pastures be.(F)
10 They shall not hunger or thirst;
nor shall scorching wind or sun strike them;
For he who pities them leads them
and guides them beside springs of water.(G)
11 I will turn all my mountains into roadway,
and make my highways level.(H)
12 See, these shall come from afar:
some from the north and the west,
others from the land of Syene.[f]
13 Sing out, heavens, and rejoice, earth,
break forth into song, you mountains,
For the Lord comforts his people
and shows mercy to his afflicted.
14 But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me;
my Lord has forgotten me.”(I)
15 Can a mother forget her infant,
be without tenderness for the child of her womb?
Even should she forget,
I will never forget you.(J)
16 See, upon the palms of my hands I have engraved you;[g]
your walls are ever before me.
17 Your children hasten—
your levelers, your destroyers
go forth from you;
18 Look about and see,
they are all gathering and coming to you.
As I live—oracle of the Lord—
you shall don them as jewels,
bedeck yourself like a bride.
19 Though you were waste and desolate,
a land of ruins,
Now you shall be too narrow for your inhabitants,
while those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20 The children of whom you were bereft
shall yet say in your hearing,
“This place is too narrow for me,
make room for me to live in.”
21 You shall ask yourself:
“Who has borne me these,
when I was bereft and barren?
Exiled and repudiated,
who has reared them?
I was left all alone;
where then do these come from?”(K)
22 Thus says the Lord God:
See, I will lift up my hand to the nations,
and to the peoples raise my signal;
They shall bring your sons in their arms,
your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.(L)
23 Kings shall be your guardians,
their princesses your nursemaids;
Face to the ground, they shall bow down before you
and lick the dust at your feet.
Then you shall know that I am the Lord,
none who hope in me shall be ashamed.
24 Can plunder be taken from a warrior,
or captives rescued from a tyrant?
25 Thus says the Lord:
Yes, captives can be taken from a warrior,
and plunder rescued from a tyrant;
Those who oppose you I will oppose,
and your sons I will save.
26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,
and they shall be drunk with their own blood
as though with new wine.
All flesh shall know
that I, the Lord, am your savior,
your redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.(M)
Chapter 50
Salvation Through the Lord’s Servant
1 Thus says the Lord:
Where is the bill of divorce
with which I dismissed your mother?[h]
Or to which of my creditors
have I sold you?
It was for your sins you were sold,
for your rebellions your mother was dismissed.(N)
2 Why was no one there when I came?
Why did no one answer when I called?[i]
Is my hand too short to ransom?
Have I not the strength to deliver?
See, with my rebuke I dry up the sea,
I turn rivers into wilderness;
Their fish rot for lack of water,
and die of thirst.(O)
3 I clothe the heavens in black,
and make sackcloth their covering.
4 [j]The Lord God has given me
a well-trained tongue,
That I might know how to answer the weary
a word that will waken them.
Morning after morning
he wakens my ear to hear as disciples do;
5 The Lord God opened my ear;
I did not refuse,
did not turn away.[k]
6 I gave my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who tore out my beard;[l]
My face I did not hide
from insults and spitting.(P)
7 The Lord God is my help,
therefore I am not disgraced;
Therefore I have set my face like flint,
knowing that I shall not be put to shame.(Q)
8 He who declares my innocence is near.
Who will oppose me?
Let us appear together.
Who will dispute my right?
Let them confront me.
9 See, the Lord God is my help;
who will declare me guilty?
See, they will all wear out like a garment,
consumed by moths.(R)
10 Who among you fears the Lord,[m]
heeds his servant’s voice?
Whoever walk in darkness,
without any light,
Yet trust in the name of the Lord
and rely upon their God!(S)
11 All you who kindle flames
and set flares alight,
Walk by the light of your own fire
and by the flares you have burnt!
This is your fate from my hand:
you shall lie down in a place of torment.
Chapter 51
Exhortation to Trust in the Lord
1 Listen to me, you who pursue justice,
who seek the Lord;
Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
to the quarry[n] from which you were taken;(T)
2 Look to Abraham, your father,
and to Sarah, who gave you birth;
Though he was but one when I called him,
I blessed him and made him many.(U)
3 Yes, the Lord shall comfort Zion,
shall comfort all her ruins;
Her wilderness he shall make like Eden,
her wasteland like the garden of the Lord;
Joy and gladness shall be found in her,
thanksgiving and the sound of song.
4 Be attentive to me, my people;[o]
my nation, give ear to me.
For teaching shall go forth from me,
and my judgment, as light to the peoples.(V)
5 I will make my victory come swiftly;
my salvation shall go forth
and my arm shall judge the nations;
In me the coastlands shall hope,
and my arm they shall await.
6 Raise your eyes to the heavens,
look at the earth below;
Though the heavens vanish like smoke,
the earth wear out like a garment
and its inhabitants die like flies,
My salvation shall remain forever
and my victory shall always be firm.[p]
7 Hear me, you who know justice,
you people who have my teaching at heart:
Do not fear the reproach of others;
remain firm at their revilings.
8 They shall be like a garment eaten by moths,
like wool consumed by grubs;
But my victory shall remain forever,
my salvation, for all generations.(W)
9 Awake, awake, put on strength,
arm of the Lord!
Awake as in the days of old,
in ages long ago!
Was it not you who crushed Rahab,[q]
you who pierced the dragon?(X)
10 Was it not you who dried up the sea,
the waters of the great deep,[r]
You who made the depths of the sea into a way
for the redeemed to pass through?
11 Those whom the Lord has ransomed will return
and enter Zion singing,
crowned with everlasting joy;
They will meet with joy and gladness,
sorrow and mourning will flee.
12 I, it is I who comfort you.
Can you then fear mortals who die,
human beings who are just grass,
13 And forget the Lord, your maker,
who stretched out the heavens
and laid the foundations of earth?
All the day you are in constant dread
of the fury of the oppressor
When he prepares himself to destroy;
but where is the oppressor’s fury?
14 The captives shall soon be released;
they shall not die and go down into the pit,
nor shall they want for bread.
15 For I am the Lord, your God,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar;
the Lord of hosts by name.(Y)
16 I have put my words into your mouth,
I covered you, shielded by my hand,
Stretching out the heavens,
laying the foundations of the earth,
saying to Zion: You are my people.
The Cup of the Lord
17 Wake up, wake up!
Arise, Jerusalem,
You who drank at the Lord’s hand
the cup of his wrath;
Who drained to the dregs
the bowl of staggering!(Z)
18 She has no one to guide her
of all the children she bore;
She has no one to take her by the hand,
of all the children she reared!—
19 Your misfortunes are double;
who is there to grieve with you?
Desolation and destruction, famine and sword!
Who is there to comfort you?
20 Your children lie helpless
at every street corner
like antelopes in a net.
They are filled with the wrath of the Lord,
the rebuke of your God.
21 But now, hear this, afflicted one,
drunk, but not with wine,(AA)
22 Thus says the Lord, your Master,
your God, who defends his people:
See, I am taking from your hand
the cup of staggering;
The bowl of my wrath
you shall no longer drink.
23 I will put it into the hands of your tormentors,
those who said to you,
“Bow down, that we may walk over you.”
So you offered your back like the ground,
like the street for them to walk on.
Chapter 52
Let Zion Rejoice
1 Awake, awake!
Put on your strength, Zion;
Put on your glorious garments,
Jerusalem, holy city.
Never again shall the uncircumcised
or the unclean enter you.
2 Arise, shake off the dust,
sit enthroned, Jerusalem;
Loose the bonds from your neck,
captive daughter Zion!
3 For thus says the Lord:
For nothing you were sold,
without money you shall be redeemed.
4 For thus says the Lord God:
To Egypt long ago my people went down,
to sojourn there;
Assyria, too, oppressed them for nought.
5 But now, what am I to do here?
—oracle of the Lord.
My people have been taken away for nothing;
their rulers mock, oracle of the Lord;
constantly, every day, my name is reviled.
6 Therefore my people shall know my name
on that day, that it is I who speaks: Here I am!
7 How beautiful upon the mountains[s]
are the feet of the one bringing good news,
Announcing peace, bearing good news,
announcing salvation, saying to Zion,
“Your God is King!”(AB)
8 Listen! Your sentinels raise a cry,
together they shout for joy,
For they see directly, before their eyes,
the Lord’s return to Zion.(AC)
9 Break out together in song,
O ruins of Jerusalem!
For the Lord has comforted his people,
has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The Lord has bared his holy arm
in the sight of all the nations;
All the ends of the earth can see
the salvation of our God.
11 Depart, depart, go out from there,
touch nothing unclean!
Out from there![t] Purify yourselves,
you who carry the vessels of the Lord.
12 But not in hurried flight will you go out,
nor leave in headlong haste,
For the Lord goes before you,
and your rear guard is the God of Israel.(AD)
Suffering and Triumph of the Servant of the Lord[u]
13 See, my servant shall prosper,
he shall be raised high and greatly exalted.
14 Even as many were amazed at him—
so marred were his features,
beyond that of mortals
his appearance, beyond that of human beings—(AE)
15 So shall he startle many nations,
kings shall stand speechless;
For those who have not been told shall see,
those who have not heard shall ponder it.(AF)
Chapter 53
1 Who would believe what we have heard?[v]
To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?(AG)
2 He grew up like a sapling before him,(AH)
like a shoot from the parched earth;
He had no majestic bearing to catch our eye,
no beauty to draw us to him.
3 He was spurned and avoided by men,
a man of suffering, knowing pain,
Like one from whom you turn your face,
spurned, and we held him in no esteem.(AI)
4 Yet it was our pain that he bore,
our sufferings he endured.
We thought of him as stricken,
struck down by God[w] and afflicted,(AJ)
5 But he was pierced for our sins,
crushed for our iniquity.
He bore the punishment that makes us whole,
by his wounds we were healed.(AK)
6 We had all gone astray like sheep,
all following our own way;
But the Lord laid upon him[x]
the guilt of us all.(AL)
7 Though harshly treated, he submitted
and did not open his mouth;
Like a lamb led to slaughter
or a sheep silent before shearers,
he did not open his mouth.(AM)
8 Seized and condemned, he was taken away.
Who would have thought any more of his destiny?
For he was cut off from the land of the living,
struck for the sins of his people.
9 He was given a grave among the wicked,
a burial place with evildoers,
Though he had done no wrong,
nor was deceit found in his mouth.(AN)
10 But it was the Lord’s will to crush him with pain.
By making his life as a reparation offering,[y]
he shall see his offspring, shall lengthen his days,
and the Lord’s will shall be accomplished through him.
11 Because of his anguish he shall see the light;
because of his knowledge he shall be content;
My servant, the just one, shall justify the many,
their iniquity he shall bear.
12 Therefore I will give him his portion among the many,
and he shall divide the spoils with the mighty,
Because he surrendered himself to death,
was counted among the transgressors,
Bore the sins of many,
and interceded for the transgressors.(AO)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.