Who are you that you should be afraid
c Of a man who will die,
And of the son of a man who will be made dlike grass?
13And eyou forget the LORD your Maker,
f Who stretched out the heavens
And laid the foundations of the earth;
You have feared continually every day
Because of the fury of the oppressor,
When he has prepared to destroy.
g And where is the fury of the oppressor?
14The captive exile hastens, that he may be loosed,
h That he should not die in the pit,
And that his bread should not fail.
15But I am the LORD your God,
Who idivided the sea whose waves roared—
The LORD of hosts is His name.
16And jI have put My words in your mouth;
k I have covered you with the shadow of My hand,
l That I may 3plant the heavens,
Lay the foundations of the earth,
And say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’ ”
God’s Fury Removed
17m Awake, awake!
Stand up, O Jerusalem,
You who nhave drunk at the hand of the LORD
The cup of His fury;
You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling,
And drained it out.
18There is no one to guide her
Among all the sons she has brought forth;
Nor is there any who takes her by the hand
Among all the sons she has brought up. Isaiah’s Description of Israel’s Future Kingdom
19o These two things have come to you;
Who will be sorry for you?—
Desolation and destruction, famine and sword—
p By whom will I comfort you?
20q Your sons have fainted,
They lie at the head of all the streets,
Like an antelope in a net;
They are full of the fury of the LORD,
The rebuke of your God.
21Therefore please hear this, you afflicted,
And drunk rbut not with wine.
22Thus says your Lord,
The LORD and your God,
Who spleads the cause of His people:
“See, I have taken out of your hand
The cup of trembling,
The dregs of the cup of My fury;
You shall no longer drink it.
23t But I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you,
Who have said to 4you,
‘Lie down, that we may walk over you.’
And you have laid your body like the ground,
And as the street, for those who walk over.”
God Redeems Jerusalem
Isaiah 52
God Will Restore Jerusalem
1Awake, awake!
Put on your strength, O Zion;
Put on your beautiful garments,
O Jerusalem, the holy city!
For the uncircumcised aand the unclean
Shall no longer come to you.
2b Shake yourself from the dust, arise;
Sit down, O Jerusalem!
c Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck,
O captive daughter of Zion!
3For thus says the LORD:
d“You have sold yourselves for nothing,
And you shall be redeemed ewithout money.”
4For thus says the Lord GOD:
“My people went down at first
Into fEgypt to 1dwell there;
Then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
5Now therefore, what have I here,” says the LORD,
“That My people are taken away for nothing?
Those who rule over them
2 Make them wail,” says the LORD,
“And My name is gblasphemed continually every day.
6Therefore My people shall know My name;
Therefore they shall know in that day
That I am He who speaks:
‘Behold, it is I.’ ”
7h How beautiful upon the mountains
Are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who proclaims peace,
Who brings glad tidings of good things,
Who proclaims salvation,
Who says to Zion,
i“Your God reigns!”
8Your watchmen shall lift up their voices,
With their voices they shall sing together;
For they shall see eye to eye
When the LORD brings back Zion.
9Break forth into joy, sing together,
You waste places of Jerusalem!
For the LORD has comforted His people,
He has redeemed Jerusalem.
10j The LORD has 3made bare His holy arm
In the eyes of kall the nations;
And all the ends of the earth shall see
The salvation of our God.
11l Depart! Depart! Go out from there,
Touch no unclean thing;
Go out from the midst of her,
m Be clean,
You who bear the vessels of the LORD.
12For nyou shall not go out with haste,
Nor go by flight;
o For the LORD will go before you,
p And the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
The Sin-Bearing Servant
13Behold, qMy Servant shall 4deal prudently;
r He shall be exalted and 5extolled and be very high.
14Just as many were astonished at you,
So His svisage6 was marred more than any man,
And His form more than the sons of men;
15t So shall He 7sprinkle many nations.
Kings shall shut their mouths at Him;
For uwhat had not been told them they shall see,
And what they had not heard they shall consider.
Isaiah 53
The Sin-Bearing Messiah
1Who ahas believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no 1form or 2comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no 3beauty that we should desire Him.
3b He is despised and 4rejected by men,
A Man of 5sorrows and cacquainted with 6grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and dwe did not esteem Him.
4Surely eHe has borne our 7griefs
And carried our 8sorrows;
Yet we 9esteemed Him stricken,
10 Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5But He was fwounded11 for our transgressions,
He was 12bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His gstripes13 we are healed.
6All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the LORD 14has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
7He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet hHe opened not His mouth;
i He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
8He was jtaken from 15prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For kHe was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
9l And 16they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any mdeceit in His mouth.
10Yet it pleased the LORD to 17bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul nan offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His
days,
And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.
1118 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge oMy righteous pServant shall qjustify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
12r Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
s And He shall divide the 19spoil with the strong,
Because He tpoured out His soul unto death,
And He was unumbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And vmade intercession for the transgressors.
A Perpetual Covenant of Peace
Isaiah 54
A Promise of Everlasting Kindness
1“Sing, O abarren,
You who have not borne!
Break forth into singing, and cry aloud,
You who have not labored with child!
For more are the children of the desolate
Than the children of the married woman,” says the LORD.
2“Enlargeb the place of your tent,
And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings;
Do not spare;
Lengthen your cords,
And strengthen your stakes.
3For you shall expand to the right and to the left,
And your descendants will cinherit the nations,
And make the desolate cities inhabited.
4“Dod not fear, for you will not be ashamed;
Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame;
For you will forget the shame of your youth,
And will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore.
5e For your Maker is your husband,
The LORD of hosts is His name;
And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel;
He is called fthe God of the whole earth.
6For the LORD ghas called you
Like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit,
Like a youthful wife when you were refused,”
Says your God.
7“Forh a mere moment I have forsaken you,
But with great mercies iI will gather you.
8With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment;
j But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,”
Says the LORD, your Redeemer.
9“For this is like the waters of kNoah to Me;
For as I have sworn
That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth,
So have I sworn
That I would not be angry with lyou, nor rebuke you.
10For mthe mountains shall depart
And the hills be removed,
n But My kindness shall not depart from you,
Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,”
Says the LORD, who has mercy on you.
11“O you afflicted one,
Tossed with tempest, and not comforted,
Behold, I will lay your stones with ocolorful gems,
And lay your foundations with sapphires.
12I will make your pinnacles of rubies,
Your gates of crystal,
And all your walls of precious stones.
13All your children shall be ptaught by the LORD,
And qgreat shall be the peace of your children.
14In 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.
15Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me.
Whoever assembles against you shall rfall for your sake.
16“Behold, I have created the blacksmith
Who blows the coals in the fire,
Who brings forth an 1instrument for his work;
And I have created the 2spoiler to destroy.
17No weapon formed against you shall sprosper,
And every tongue which rises against you in judgment
You shall condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
t And their righteousness is from Me,”
Says the LORD.
An Invitation to Abundant Life
Isaiah 55
A Free Offer of Mercy to All
1“Ho! aEveryone who thirsts,
Come to the waters;
And you who have no money,
b Come, buy and eat.
Yes, come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without price.
2Why do you 1spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And let your soul delight itself in abundance.
3Incline your ear, and ccome to Me.
Hear, and your soul shall live;
d And I will make an everlasting covenant with you—
The esure mercies of David.
4Indeed I have given him as fa witness to the people,
g A leader and commander for the people.
5h Surely you shall call a nation you do not know,
i And nations who do not know you shall run to you,
Because of the LORD your God,
And the Holy One of Israel;
j For He has glorified you.”
6k Seek the LORD while He may be lfound,
Call upon Him while He is near.
7m Let the 2wicked forsake his way,
And the unrighteous man nhis thoughts;
Let him return to the LORD,
o And He will have mercy on him;
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.
8“Forp My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.
9“Forq as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
10“For ras the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater,
11s So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me 3void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall tprosper in the thing for which I sent it.
12“Foru you shall go out with joy,
And be led out with peace;
The mountains and the hills
Shall vbreak forth into singing before you,
And wall the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13x Instead of ythe thorn shall come up the cypress tree,
And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree;
And it shall be to the LORD zfor a name,
For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
Isaiah 56
Salvation for the Gentiles
1Thus says the LORD:
“Keep justice, and do righteousness,
a For My salvation is about to come,
And My righteousness to be revealed.
2Blessed is the man who does this,
And the son of man who lays hold on it;
b Who keeps from defiling the Sabbath,
And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”
3Do not let cthe son of the foreigner
Who has joined himself to the LORD
Speak, saying,
“The LORD has utterly separated me from His people”;
Nor let the deunuch say,
“Here I am, a dry tree.”
4For thus says the LORD:
“To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths,
And choose what pleases Me,
And hold fast My covenant,
5Even to them I will give in eMy house
And within My walls a pla
ce fand a name
Better than that of sons and daughters;
I will give 1them an everlasting name
That shall not be cut off.
6“Also the sons of the foreigner
Who join themselves to the LORD, to serve Him,
And to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants—
Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath,
And holds fast My covenant—
7Even them I will gbring to My holy mountain,
And make them joyful in My hhouse of prayer.
i Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
Will be jaccepted on My altar;
For kMy house shall be called a house of prayer lfor all nations.”
8The Lord GOD, mwho gathers the outcasts of Israel, says,
n“Yet I will gather to him
Others besides those who are gathered to him.”
Israel’s Irresponsible Leaders
9o All you beasts of the field, come to devour,
All you beasts in the forest.
10His watchmen are pblind,
They are all ignorant;
q They are all dumb dogs,
They cannot bark;
2 Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
11Yes, they are rgreedy3 dogs
Which snever4 have enough.
And they are shepherds
Who cannot understand;
They all look to their own way,
Every one for his own gain,
From his own territory.
12“Come,” one says, “I will bring wine,
And we will fill ourselves with intoxicating tdrink;
u Tomorrow will be vas today,
And much more abundant.”
Israel’s Futile Idolatry
Isaiah 57
Condemnation of Israel’s Idolatry
1The righteous perishes,
And no man takes it to heart;
a Merciful men are taken away,
b While no one considers
That the righteous is taken away from 1evil.
2He shall enter into peace;
They shall rest in ctheir beds,
Each one walking in his uprightness.
3“But come here,
d You sons of the sorceress,
You offspring of the adulterer and the harlot!
4Whom do you ridicule?
Against whom do you make a wide mouth
And stick out the tongue?
Are you not children of transgression,
Offspring of falsehood,
5Inflaming yourselves with gods eunder every green tree,
f Slaying the children in the valleys,
Under the clefts of the rocks?
6Among the smooth gstones of the stream
The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV Page 329