52  ^fAwake, awake,

put on your strength, O Zion;

put on your beautiful garments,

O Jerusalem, the ^gholy city;

for there shall no more come into you

the uncircumcised and the ^hunclean.

2  Shake yourself from the dust and arise;

be seated, O Jerusalem;

loose the bonds from your neck,

O captive daughter of Zion.

7  ⁿHow beautiful upon the mountains

are the feet of him who ^obrings good news,

who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,

who publishes salvation,

who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

8  The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice;

together they sing for joy;

for eye to eye they see

the return of the Lord to Zion.

9  Break forth together into singing,

you waste places of Jerusalem,

for the Lord has comforted his people;

he has redeemed Jerusalem.

10  The Lord has bared his holy arm

before the eyes of all the nations,

and ^pall the ends of the earth shall see

the salvation of our God.

11  ^qDepart, depart, go out from there;

touch no unclean thing;

go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves,

you who bear the vessels of the Lord.

12  For you shall not go out ^rin haste,

and you shall not go in flight,

for the Lord will go before you,

and ^sthe God of Israel will be your rear guard.

13  Behold, ^tmy servant shall act wisely;²

he shall be ^uhigh and lifted up,

and shall be exalted.

14  As many were astonished at you—

his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,

and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—

15  so shall he sprinkle³ many nations.

Kings shall shut their mouths because of him,

for ^vthat which has not been told them they see,

and that which they have not heard they understand.

53  ^wWho has ^xbelieved what he has heard from us?¹

And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

2  For he grew up before him like a young plant,

and like a ^yroot out of dry ground;

he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,

and no beauty that we should desire him.

3  He was ^zdespised and rejected² by men,

a man of sorrows³ and acquainted with⁴ grief;⁵

and as one from whom men hide their faces⁶

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4  Surely ^ahe has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted.

5  But he was pierced ^bfor our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his wounds we are healed.

6  ^cAll we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

7  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet ^dhe opened not his mouth;

^elike a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he opened not his mouth.

8  By oppression and judgment he was taken away;

and as for his generation, who considered

that he was cut off out of the land of the living,

stricken for the transgression of my people?

9  And they made his grave with the wicked

and with a ^frich man in his death,

although^{7 g}he had done no violence,

and there was no deceit in his mouth.

10  Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;

he has put him to grief;⁸

when his soul makes⁹ an offering for guilt,

he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;

the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

11  Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see¹⁰ and be satisfied;

by his knowledge shall the righteous one, ^hmy servant,

ⁱmake many to be accounted righteous,

and he shall ^jbear their iniquities.

12  Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,¹¹

and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,¹²

because he poured out his soul to death

^kand was numbered ^lwith the transgressors;

yet he ^mbore the sin of many,

and makes intercession for the transgressors.

54  ⁿ“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 the ^odesolate one will be more

than the children of her who is married,” says the Lord.

2  ^p“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  For you will ^qspread abroad to the right and to the left,

and your offspring will ^rpossess the nations

and will people the desolate cities.

4  “Fear not, for ^syou 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  For your Maker is your husband,

the Lord of hosts is his name;

and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,

the God ^tof the whole earth he is called.

6  For the Lord has called you

like a wife ^udeserted and grieved in spirit,

like a wife of youth when she is cast off,

says your God.

7  For a brief moment I deserted you,

but with great compassion I will gather you.

8  ^vIn overflowing anger for a moment

I ^whid my face from you,

but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,”

says the Lord, your Redeemer.

9  “This is like the days of Noah¹ to me:

^xas I swore that the waters of Noah

should no more go over the earth,

so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you,

and will not rebuke you.

10  For the mountains may depart

and the hills be removed,

but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,

and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,”

says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

11  “O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted,

behold, I will set your stones in antimony,

and lay your foundations with sapphires.²

12  I will make your pinnacles of agate,³

your gates of carbuncles,⁴

and all your wall of precious stones.

13  ^yAll your children shall be taught by the Lord,

and great shall be the peace of your children.

14  In righteousness you shall be established;

you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear;

and from terror, for it shall not come near you.

15  If anyone stirs up strife,

it is not from me;

whoever stirs up strife with you

shall fall because of you.

16  Behold, I have created the smith

who blows the fire of coals

and produces a weapon for its purpose.

I have also created the ravager to destroy;

17  no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed,

and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment.

This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord

and their vindication⁵ from me, declares the Lord.”

55  ^z“Come, everyone who thirsts,

come to the waters;

and he who has no money,

come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

without money and without price.

2  Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,

and your labor for that which does not satisfy?

Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,

and delight yourselves in rich food.

3  Incline your ear, and come to me;

hear, that your soul may live;

and ^aI will make with you an everlasting ^bcovenant,

^cmy steadfast, sure love for David.

4  Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,

a leader and commander for the peoples.

5  Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,

and a nation that did not know you shall run to you,

because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,

^dfor he has glorified you.

6  “Seek the Lord ^ewhile he may be found;

call upon him while he is near;

7  let the wicked forsake his way,

and the unrighteous man his thoughts;

let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,

and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

8  For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

9  For ^fas 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 and the snow come down from heaven

and do not return there but water the earth,

making it bring forth and sprout,

^ggiving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

11  so shall my ^hword be that goes out from my mouth;

it shall not return to me empty,

but ⁱit shall accomplish that which I purpose,

and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

12  “For you shall go out in joy

and be led forth in peace;

the mountains and the hills before you

shall break forth into singing,

and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

13  ^jInstead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;

instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;

and it shall make a name for the Lord,

an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

56  Thus says the Lord:

“Keep justice, and do righteousness,

for soon my salvation ^kwill come,

and my righteousness be revealed.

2  Blessed is the man who does this,

and the son of man who holds it fast,

who ^lkeeps the Sabbath, not ^mprofaning it,

and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

3  Let not the foreigner who has ⁿjoined himself to the Lord say,

^o“The Lord will surely separate me from his people”;

and let not the eunuch say,

“Behold, I am a dry tree.”

4  For thus says the Lord:

“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,

who choose the things that please me

and hold fast my covenant,

5  I will give in my house and within my walls

a monument and a name

better than sons and daughters;

I will give them an everlasting name

that shall not be cut off.

6  “And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,

to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,

and to be his servants,

everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,

and holds fast my covenant—

7  these I will bring to my holy mountain,

and make them joyful in my house of prayer;

their burnt offerings and their sacrifices

will be ^paccepted on my altar;

for ^qmy house shall be called a house of prayer

^rfor all peoples.”

8  The Lord God,

who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,

“I will gather yet others to him

besides those already gathered.”

9  All you beasts of the field, ^scome to devour—

all you beasts in the forest.

10  His watchmen are blind;

they are all without knowledge;

they are all silent dogs;

they cannot bark,

dreaming, lying down,

loving to slumber.

11  The dogs have a mighty appetite;

they never have enough.

But they are ^tshepherds who have no understanding;

they have all turned to their own way,

each to his own gain, one and all.

12  “Come,” they say, “let me get wine;

let us fill ourselves with strong drink;

and tomorrow will be like this day,

great beyond measure.”