The Suffering Servant, the Triumph of Redemption, and the Promise of Unshakable Love
Isaiah 52
1 Awake, awake, put on your strength, Zion; put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city: for from now on there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean.
2 Shake yourself from the dust! Arise, sit up, Jerusalem! Release yourself from the bonds of your neck, captive daughter of Zion.
3 For Yahweh says, “You were sold for nothing; and you shall be redeemed without money.”
4 For the Lord Yahweh 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 Yahweh, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Those who rule over them mock,” says Yahweh, “and my name is continually blasphemed 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 of good, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
8 Your watchmen lift up their voices. Together they sing; for they shall see eye to eye when Yahweh returns to Zion.
9 Break out into joy! Sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem; for Yahweh has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 Yahweh has made his holy arm bare in the eyes of all the nations; and 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 the middle of her! Cleanse yourselves, you who carry Yahweh’s vessels.
12 For you shall not go out in haste, neither shall you go by flight: for Yahweh 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.
Isaiah 53
1 Who has believed our message? To whom has Yahweh’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 Yahweh 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; and 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 Yahweh 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 Yahweh’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, and he will divide the plunder with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Isaiah 54
1 “Sing, barren, you who didn’t bear; 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 Yahweh.
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 make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
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; and the reproach of your widowhood you shall remember no more.
5 For your Maker is your husband; Yahweh of Armies is his name: and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he will be called the God of the whole earth.
6 For Yahweh 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 with great mercies I will gather you.
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 Yahweh 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 Yahweh 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 Yahweh; and great will be the peace of your children.
14 In righteousness you will be established. 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 Yahweh’s servants, and their righteousness is of me,” says Yahweh.
Scripture: World English Bible (WEB), public domain.
