and lay the foundations of the earth,
and tell Zion, ‘You are my people.’ ”
17 Awake, awake!
Stand up, Jerusalem,
you who have drunk from the LORD’s hand the cup of his wrath.
You have drunken the bowl of the cup of staggering,
and drained it.
18 There is no one to guide her among all the sons to whom she has given birth;
and there is no one who takes her by the hand among all the sons whom she has brought up.
19 These two things have happened to you—
who will grieve with you?—
desolation and destruction,
and famine and the sword.
How can I comfort you?
20 Your sons have fainted.
They lie at the head of all the streets,
like an antelope in a net.
They are full of the LORD’s wrath,
the rebuke of your God.
21 Therefore now hear this, you afflicted,
and drunken, but not with wine:
22 Your Lord GOD,
your God who pleads the cause of his people, says,
“Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of staggering,
even the bowl of the cup of my wrath.
You will not drink it any more.
23 I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you,
who have said to your soul, ‘Bow down, that we may walk over you;’
and you have laid your back as the ground,
like a street to those who walk over.”
52
1 Awake, awake! Put on your strength, Zion.
Put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city,
for from now on the uncircumcised and the unclean will no more come into you.
2 Shake yourself from the dust!
Arise, sit up, Jerusalem!
Release yourself from the bonds of your neck, captive daughter of Zion!
3 For the LORD says, “You were sold for nothing;
and you will be redeemed without money.”
4 For the Lord GOD says:
“My people went down at the first into Egypt to live there;
and the Assyrian has oppressed them without cause.
5 “Now therefore, what do I do here,” says the LORD,
“seeing that my people are taken away for nothing?
Those who rule over them mock,” says the LORD,
“and my name is blasphemed continually all day long.
6 Therefore my people shall know my name.
Therefore they shall know in that day that I am he who speaks.
Behold, it is I.”
7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace,
who brings good news,
who proclaims salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
8 Your watchmen lift up their voice.
Together they sing;
for they shall see eye to eye when the LORD returns to Zion.
9 Break out into joy!
Sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem;
for the LORD has comforted his people.
He has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The LORD has made his holy arm bare in the eyes of all the nations.
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
11 Depart! Depart! Go out from there! Touch no unclean thing!
Go out from among her!
Cleanse yourselves, you who carry the LORD’s vessels.
12 For you shall not go out in haste,
neither shall you go by flight;
for the LORD will go before you,
and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
13 Behold, my servant will deal wisely.
He will be exalted and lifted up,
and will be very high.
14 Just as many were astonished at you—
his appearance was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men—
15 so he will cleanse† many nations.
Kings will shut their mouths at him;
for they will see that which had not been told them,
and they will understand that which they had not heard.
53
1 Who has believed our message?
To whom has the LORD’s arm been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him as a tender plant,
and as a root out of dry ground.
He has no good looks or majesty.
When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised
and rejected by men,
a man of suffering
and acquainted with disease.
He was despised as one from whom men hide their face;
and we didn’t respect him.
4 Surely he has borne our sickness
and carried our suffering;
yet we considered him plagued,
struck by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions.
He was crushed for our iniquities.
The punishment that brought our peace was on him;
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray.
Everyone has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed,
yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth.
As a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he didn’t open his mouth.
8 He was taken away by oppression and judgment.
As for his generation,
who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living
and stricken for the disobedience of my people?
9 They made his grave with the wicked,
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him.
He has caused him to suffer.
When you make his soul an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring.
He will prolong his days
and the LORD’s pleasure will prosper in his hand.
11 After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light† and be satisfied.
My righteous servant will justify many by the knowledge of himself;
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion with the great.
He will divide the plunder with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was counted with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sins of many
and made intercession for the transgressors.
54
1 “Sing, barren, you who didn’t give birth!
Break out into singing, and cry aloud, you who didn’t travail with child!
For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife,” says the LORD.
2 “Enlarge the place of your tent,
and let them stretch out the curtains of your habitations;
don’t spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes.
3 For you will spread out on the right hand and on the left;
and your offspring will possess the nations
and settle in desolate cities.
4 “Don’t be afraid, for you will not be ashamed.
Don’t be confounded, for you will not be disappointed.
For you will forget the shame of your youth.
You will remember the reproach of your widowhood no more.
5 For your Maker is your husband; the LORD of Hosts is his name.
The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer.
He will be called the God of the whole earth.
6 For the LORD has called you as a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,
even a wife of youth, when she is cast off,” says your God.
7 “For a small moment I have forsaken you,
but I will gather you with great mercies.
8 In overflowing wrath I hid my face from you for a moment,
but with everlasting loving kindness I will have mercy on you,” says the LORD your Redeemer.
9 “For this is like the waters of Noah to me;
for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah will no more go over the earth,
so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.
10 For the mountains may depart,
and the hills be removed,
but my loving kindness will not depart from you,
and my covenant of peace will not be removed,”
says the LORD who has mercy on you.
11 “You afflicted, tossed with storms, and not comforted,
behold, I will set your stones in beautiful colors,
and lay your foundations with sapphires.
12 I will make your pinnacles of rubies,
your gates of sparkling jewels,
and all your walls of precious stones.
13 All your children will be taught by the LORD,
and your children’s peace will be great.
14 You will be established in righteousness.
You will be far from oppression,
for you will not be afraid,
and far from terror,
for it shall not come near you.
15 Behold, they may gather together, but not by me.
Whoever gathers together against you will fall because of you.
16 “Behold, I have created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame,
and forges a weapon for his work;
and I have created the destroyer to destroy.
17 No weapon that is formed against you will prevail;
and you will condemn every tongue that rises against you in judgment.
This is the heritage of the LORD’s servants,
and their righteousness is of me,” says the LORD.
55
1 “Hey! Come, everyone who thirsts, to the waters!
Come, he who has no money, buy, and eat!
Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
2 Why do you spend money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which doesn’t satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat that which is good,
and let your soul delight itself in richness.
3 Turn your ear, and come to me.
Hear, and your soul will live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
4 Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander to the peoples.
5 Behold, you shall call a nation that you don’t know;
and a nation that didn’t know you shall run to you,
because of the LORD your God,
and for the Holy One of Israel;
for he has glorified you.”
6 Seek the LORD while he may be found.
Call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts.
Let him return to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him,
to our God, for he will freely pardon.
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
and your ways are not my ways,” says the LORD.
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky,
and doesn’t return there, but waters
