7How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,
who brings good news,
who announces salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
8Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices,
together they sing for joy;
for in plain sight they see
the return of the LORD to Zion.
9Break forth together into singing,
you ruins of Jerusalem;
for the LORD has comforted his people,
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10The LORD has bared his holy arm
before the eyes of all the nations;
and all the ends of the earth shall see
the salvation of our God.
11Depart, depart, go out from there!
Touch no unclean thing;
go out from the midst of it, purify yourselves,
you who carry the vessels of the LORD.
12For you shall not go out in haste,
and you shall not go in flight;
for the LORD will go before you,
and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
The Suffering Servant
13See, my servant shall prosper;
he shall be exalted
and lifted up, and shall be very high.
14Just as there were many who were astonished at himb
—so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of mortals—
15so he shall startlec many nations;
kings shall shut their mouths because of him;
for that which had not been told them they shall see,
and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate.
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a Cn: Heb rise up, sit
b Syr Tg: Heb you
c Meaning of Heb uncertain
52.1–12 A series of sayings stressing God’s redemption of Jerusalem.
52.1–2 Jerusalem should arise and dress up because her captivity is ended (cf. 51.17). The uncircumcised and the unclean are the foreigners and sinful Israelites who will no longer have access to the holy city (33.10–16).
52.3–6 A prose saying. Just as God once redeemed Israel from Egyptian and Assyrian oppression, so now God will redeem it from Babylonian oppression.
52.4–5 Without cause. Other nations have mistreated Israel without sufficient justification, and because they have done this with impunity God’s name has been despised (see 10.10–11).
52.6 Know my name. God will soon act to restore the reputation of the divine name.
52.7–10 God’s salvation is announced to Jerusalem and displayed before the whole world.
52.7–8 The imagery is that of a royal city waiting in suspense when a swift messenger arrives with the good news of their king’s victory. This is followed by the joyous shout of the city watchmen who now see the royal entourage, with the divine king returning in triumph from victory over his enemies (Pss 24.7–10;47.1–9).
52.10 Arm. See note on 51.9–10. Holy arm. See Ps 98.1.
52.11–12 The exiles are called upon to leave Babylon. As in the first exodus, God will guide and protect Israel (Ex 14.19–20), but unlike the first exodus (Ex 12.33–39), this one will not be in haste.
52.13–53.12 The last and most striking of the so-called servant songs (see note on 42.1–9). The early church identified the servant in this passage with Jesus (Acts 8.32–35), and Jesus’ own sense of identity and mission may have been shaped by this figure (Mk 8.31;9.30–32; 10.33–34). In the original historical context, however, the servant appears to have been exiled Israel.
52.13–15 God’s deliverance and exaltation of Israel will astound the nations, who formerly despised this disfigured slave (49.7).
ISAIAH 53
1Who has believed what we have heard?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3He was despised and rejected by others;
a man of sufferinga and acquainted with infirmity;
and as one from whom others hide their facesb
he was despised, and we held him of no account.
4Surely he has borne our infirmities
and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
5But he was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed.
6All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have all turned to our own way,
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8By a perversion of justice he was taken away.
Who could have imagined his future?
For he was cut off from the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people.
9They made his grave with the wicked
and his tombc with the rich,d
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him with pain.e
When you make his life an offering for sin,f
he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days;
through him the will of the LORD shall prosper.
11Out of his anguish he shall see light;g
he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge.
The righteous one,h my servant, shall make many righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
12Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;
because he poured out himself to death,
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
53.1–6 The nations speak, expressing their astonishment at the deliverance of Israel, which forces them to revise their assessment of Israel.
53.1–3 The servant’s outward appearance suggested nothing special.
53.2 There may be an allusion in the term root to Israel’s messianic expectations (11.1, 10), but the servant had no majesty to suggest a royal status.
53.3 The servant was despised by the nations.
53.4–6 Israel’s suffering suggested God had rejected it. Now, however, contrary to the nations’ original impression, they see that the servant’s suffering was vicarious, God’s surprising way of restoring all people to himself (42.2–3; Mt 8.17; 1 Pet 2.22–25).
53.7–12 The servant’s willing submission to suffering leads to his exaltation (cf. Phil 2.6–11).
53.7–9 The servant suffered silently, though unjustly.
53.8 The Babylonian exile could be seen as a perversion of justice despite Israel’s sins, since it was more righteous than its Babylonian oppressors (Hab 1.12–17). Cut off from…the living. Many Israelites saw the Babylonian exile as the death and burial of their nation (Ezek 37.11–14).
53.9 Cf. Mt 27.57–60.
53.10–12 Like a sin offering, the servant’s suffering brings forgiveness to many.
53.12 The servant will be exalted among the great and strong (52.13). Numbered with the transgressors. Cf. Lk 22.37.
ISAIAH 54
The Eternal Covenant of Peace
1Sing, O barren one who did not bear;
burst into song and shout,
you who have not been in labor!
For the children of the desolate woman will be more
than the children of her that is married, says the LORD.
2Enlarge the site of your tent,
and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out;
do not hold back; lengthen your cords
and strengthen your stakes.
3For you will spread out to the right and to the left,
and your descendants will possess the nations
and will settle the desolate towns.
4Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed;
do not be discouraged,
for you will not suffer disgrace; for you will forget the shame of your youth,
and the disgrace of your widowhood you will remember no more.
5For your Maker is your husband,
the LORD of hosts is his name;
the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,
the God of the whole earth he is called.
6For the LORD has called you
like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,
like the wife of a man’s youth when she is cast off,
says your God.
7For a brief moment I abandoned you,
but with great compassion I will gather you.
8In overflowing wrath for a moment
I hid my face from you,
but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,
says the LORD, your Redeemer.
9This is like the days of Noah to me:
Just as I swore that the waters of Noah
would never again go over the earth,
so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you
and will not rebuke you.
10For 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.
11O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted,
I am about to set your stones in antimony,
and lay your foundations with sapphires.i
12I will make your pinnacles of rubies,
your gates of jewels,
and all your wall of precious stones.
13All your children shall be taught by the LORD,
and great shall be the prosperity 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.
15If anyone stirs up strife,
it is not from me;
whoever stirs up strife with you
shall fall because of you.
16See it is I who have created the smith
who blows the fire of coals,
and produces a weapon fit for its purpose;
I have also created the ravager to destroy.
17No weapon that is fashioned against you shall prosper,
and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment.
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD
and their vindication from me, says the LORD.
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a Or a man of sorrows
b Or as one who hides his face from us
c Q Ms: MT and in his death
d Cn: Heb with a rich person
e Or by disease; meaning of Heb uncertain
f Meaning of Heb uncertain
g Q Mss: MT lacks light
h Or and he shall find satisfaction. Through his knowledge, the righteous one
i Or lapis lazuli
54.1–17 Jerusalem is comforted by God with the announcement of her restoration.
54.1–3 Israel, personified as the feminine figure of its capital city, Jerusalem, which remained desolate and uninhabited during the exile, will soon overflow with a burgeoning population (49.14–21).
54.1 Barren one, Zion, or Jerusalem. Children, Zion’s inhabitants.
54.4–8 Zion will not remain abandoned.
54.4 Shame, widowhood, the destruction caused by the exile, which signified God’s abandonment of the city (cf. 4.1 and the similar language used of Babylon’s destruction, 47.3, 8–9).
54.5 Husband, God.
54.6–8 God has not rejected Zion permanently; there was no divorce (50.1), only a brief estrangement, and God will soon redeem her (Hos 2.14–20). Hid my face, a recurring image for God’s anger (8.17; 30.20;45.15; 57.17; 59.2; 64.7).
54.9–10 God’s eternal covenant with Jerusalem.
54.9 See Gen 8.21–22; 9.8–17.
54.10 Mountains may depart…hills be removed. See Ps 46.1–3. Covenant of peace. See Ezek 34.25.
54.11–17 Though formerly afflicted (51.21), the new Jerusalem will be established in beauty and security.
54.11–12 Cf. Rev 21.10–21.
54.13 Taught by the LORD. See 30.20–21; Jer 31.34; 1 Thess 4.9.
54.14 Cf. 33.18–22.
54.15–17 Since God, the creator of all craftsmen and thus all weapons, is on Zion’s side, no enemy will successfully raise any weapon against her.
ISAIAH 55
An Invitation to Abundant Life
1Ho, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and you that have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
2Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.
3Incline your ear,
and come to me; listen, so that you may live.
I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
4See, I made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander for the peoples.
5See, you shall call nations that you do not know,
and nations that do not know you shall run to you,
because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.
6Seek the LORD while he may be found,
call upon him while he is near;
7let the wicked forsake their way,
and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
9For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
12For you shall go out in joy,
and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall burst into song,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall be to the LORD for a memorial,
for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
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55.1–13 Isra
el should come to God now, for his salvation is about to be realized.
55.1–3a This invitation to a free banquet may be modeled on ritual meals for the dead in which the dead were summoned to partake in the food offering. Ho, a particle that was sometimes used to get the attention of the dead in funerary laments. If this is the background, Israel in exile is being addressed as though it is dead in exile (cf. Ezek 37.11–14). That you may live. The free food and drink offered by God will give the people life. Note that the destruction of death is also associated with God’s royal banquet on Mount Zion in 25.6–7. Cf. also the covenant banquet on Mount Sinai, where mere humans see God and eat in his presence, yet live (Ex 24.9–11). The metaphor of the free banquet (cf. also Prov 9.1–5; Jn 7.37) functions as an invitation to Israel to accept God’s coming restoration of the nation.
55.3b–5 If Israel turns to him, God will turn his former covenant with David (2 Sam 7.4–17) into a covenant with the whole nation.
55.3 Sure love for David. See Ps 89.24, 28, 33.
55.4–5 The nations will come to Israel, their leader and commander, as they once came to the Davidic king in Jerusalem (Ps 72.8–11; cf. Isa 2.3–4;11.10, 12; 49.22–23).
55.6–9 Israel should seek God now in repentance, because God has positive plans for those who return to him.
55.6 While he is near, now that God has come out of hiding and is ready to save.
55.7 A change of life and thought is demanded of the wicked.
55.8–9 God’s ways and thoughts, the divine plan to redeem Israel, are beyond Israel’s comprehension.
55.10–11 As the rain and the snow, sent by God to give new life to the earth, succeed, so shall God’s promise to save Israel.
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