Freedom for Zion
52
Wake, awake!
Clothe yourself with strength, O Zion.
Put on your beautiful garments,
Jerusalem, you holy city,
for never again will the uncircumcised
and the unclean enter you.
2 Shake off the dust.
Get up and take your seat, Jerusalem.
Loosen the chains from your neck,
you captive daughter of Zion.
3 Yes, this is what the Lord says.
You were sold for nothing,
and you will be redeemed without money.
4 Yes, this is what the Lord God says.
In the beginning, my people went down to Egypt to stay there
for a while.
Later Assyria oppressed them without cause.
5 Now what do I have here? declares the Lord.
Indeed, my people have been taken away for nothing.
Their rulers howl with mockery, declares the Lord.
My name is continually despised all day.
6 Therefore my people will know my name.
So on that day they will know that I am the one—
the one who is saying, “Here I am!”
The Herald of the Gospel
7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of a herald,
who proclaims peace and preaches good news,
who proclaims salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God is king!”
8 The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voices.
Together they shout for joy,
because with both eyes they will see it
when the Lord returns to Zion.
9 Break out, shout for joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem,
because the Lord is comforting his people.
He is redeeming Jerusalem.
10 The Lord lays bare[a] his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation from our God.
Get Away From Babylon
11 Get away! Get away! Get out of there!
Do not touch any unclean thing!
Go out from her midst.
Purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the Lord!
12 You will not be in a hurry when you go out.
You will not be fleeing when you walk out,
because the one who walks in front of you is the Lord,
and your rearguard is the God of Israel.
The Fourth Servant Song
The Lord’s Servant Suffers for Straying Sheep
13 Look, my servant will succeed.[b]
He will rise. He will be lifted up. He will be highly exalted.
14 Just as many were appalled at him[c]—
his appearance was so disfigured that he did not look like a man,
and his form was disfigured more than any other person—
15 so he will sprinkle[d] many nations,
and kings will shut their mouths because of him,
because they will see something they had never been told before,
and they will understand something they had never heard before.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 52:10 Or flexes
- Isaiah 52:13 Or act wisely
- Isaiah 52:14 The translation follows some Hebrew manuscripts and ancient versions. The main Hebrew reading is at you. Sudden shifts in person are not unusual in Hebrew poetry.
- Isaiah 52:15 Or startle