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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]
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.

For this is what the Lord says: “You were sold for nothing, and you’ll be redeemed without money.”

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.

“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. Therefore my people will know my name; in that day[j] they’ll know that it is I who speaks, ‘Here I am!’

“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!’
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]

“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

  1. Isaiah 52:1 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read with your strength
  2. Isaiah 52:1 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read you any more
  3. Isaiah 52:2 So 1QIsaa LXX; 4QIsab MT lack and
  4. Isaiah 52:2 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack and
  5. Isaiah 52:4 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads the Lord God
  6. Isaiah 52:4 Or sojourn
  7. Isaiah 52:5 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads who
  8. Isaiah 52:5 Lit. declares
  9. Isaiah 52:5 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read them wail; or them taunt
  10. Isaiah 52:6 So 1QIsaa LXX. MT reads therefore in that day
  11. Isaiah 52:7 Lit. they are beautiful; so 1QIsaa MTT LXXmss; 4QIsab reads It is beautiful
  12. Isaiah 52:7 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read who brings good news
  13. Isaiah 52:7 So 1QIsaa; MT reads who announces peace, who brings news of good things, who announces salvation; cf. LXX
  14. Isaiah 52:8 Lit. their voice; so 1QIsaa; MT reads the voice
  15. Isaiah 52:8 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT lacks with compassion
  16. Isaiah 52:9 Lit. sing for joy (sing.); so 1QIsaa; MT reads sing for joy (pl.)
  17. Isaiah 52:9 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT lacks and
  18. Isaiah 52:10 I.e. the Messiah
  19. Isaiah 52:12 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack this line
  20. Isaiah 52:13 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab 4QIsac MT lack and; LXX lacks and he will be exalted
  21. Isaiah 52:14 So 1QIsaa MT LXX; MTmss Syriac read at him
  22. Isaiah 52:14 Or was my marring; so 1QIsaa; MT reads was the marring of
  23. Isaiah 52:14 Lit. of the descendants of humans; so 1QIsaa; LXX reads of the humans; MT reads of the human
  24. Isaiah 52:15 Or sprinkle