The Redemption of Zion
52 Awake, awake!
Clothe yourself with strength,[a] O Zion!
Put on your beautiful garments,
O Jerusalem, the holy city,
for the uncircumcised and the unclean won’t enter you.[b]
2 Shake yourself from the dust and[c] arise,
and[d] sit on your throne, O Jerusalem!
Loosen the bonds from your neck,
O captive daughter of Zion.
3 For this is what the Lord says: “You were sold for nothing, and you’ll be redeemed without money.”
4 For this is what the Lord[e] says: “My people went down long ago into Egypt to live[f] there; the Assyrian, too, has oppressed them without cause.
5 “Now therefore, what[g] am I doing here,” asks[h] the Lord, “seeing that my people are taken away without cause? Those who rule over them are deluded,”[i] says the Lord, “and continuously, all the day long, my name is blasphemed. 6 Therefore my people will know my name; in that day[j] they’ll know that it is I who speaks, ‘Here I am!’
7 “How beautiful[k] on the mountains
are the feet of the one who brings news of peace,[l]
who announces good things,
who announces salvation,[m]
who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’
8 Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices,[n]
together they sing for joy;
for they will see in plain sight
the return of the Lord to Zion with compassion.[o]
9 “Break forth together into singing,[p]
you ruins of Jerusalem;
for the Lord has comforted his people,
and[q] he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The Lord has bared his holy arm[r]
in the eyes of all the nations;
and all the ends of the earth will see
the salvation of our God.
11 “Depart! Depart! Go out from there;
touch no unclean thing;
go out from the midst of her;
purify yourselves,
you who carry the vessels of the Lord.
12 For you won’t go out in haste,
nor will you go in flight;
for the Lord will go before you;
and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
He is called the God of all the earth.”[s]
The Suffering Servant
13 “Look! My servant will prosper,
and[t] he will be exalted and lifted up,
and will be very high.
14 Just as many were astonished at you[u]—
so was he marred in[v] his appearance, more than any human,
and his form beyond that of human semblance[w]—
15 so will he startle[x] many nations.
Kings will shut their mouths at him;
for what had not been told them they will see,
and what they had not heard they will understand.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 52:1 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read with your strength
- Isaiah 52:1 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read you any more
- Isaiah 52:2 So 1QIsaa LXX; 4QIsab MT lack and
- Isaiah 52:2 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack and
- Isaiah 52:4 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads the Lord God
- Isaiah 52:4 Or sojourn
- Isaiah 52:5 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads who
- Isaiah 52:5 Lit. declares
- Isaiah 52:5 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read them wail; or them taunt
- Isaiah 52:6 So 1QIsaa LXX. MT reads therefore in that day
- Isaiah 52:7 Lit. they are beautiful; so 1QIsaa MTT LXXmss; 4QIsab reads It is beautiful
- Isaiah 52:7 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read who brings good news
- Isaiah 52:7 So 1QIsaa; MT reads who announces peace, who brings news of good things, who announces salvation; cf. LXX
- Isaiah 52:8 Lit. their voice; so 1QIsaa; MT reads the voice
- Isaiah 52:8 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT lacks with compassion
- Isaiah 52:9 Lit. sing for joy (sing.); so 1QIsaa; MT reads sing for joy (pl.)
- Isaiah 52:9 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT lacks and
- Isaiah 52:10 I.e. the Messiah
- Isaiah 52:12 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack this line
- Isaiah 52:13 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab 4QIsac MT lack and; LXX lacks and he will be exalted
- Isaiah 52:14 So 1QIsaa MT LXX; MTmss Syriac read at him
- Isaiah 52:14 Or was my marring; so 1QIsaa; MT reads was the marring of
- Isaiah 52:14 Lit. of the descendants of humans; so 1QIsaa; LXX reads of the humans; MT reads of the human
- Isaiah 52:15 Or sprinkle