Isaiah 53

New American Standard Bible

The Suffering Servant

53 ^(A)Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
²For He grew up before Him like a ^(B)tender ^[a]shoot,
And like a root out of dry ground;
He has ^(C)no stately form or majesty
That we would look at Him,
Nor an appearance that we would take pleasure in Him.
³He was ^(D)despised and abandoned by men,
A man of ^[b]great pain and ^(E)familiar with sickness;
And like one from whom people hide their faces,
He was ^(F)despised, and we had no ^(G)regard for Him.

⁴However, it was our sicknesses that He Himself ^(H)bore,
And our pains that He carried;
Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted,
Struck down by ^(I)God, and humiliated.
⁵But He was ^[c]pierced for ^(J)our offenses,
He was crushed for ^(K)our wrongdoings;
The ^(L)punishment for our ^[d]well-being was laid upon Him,
And by ^(M)His wounds we are healed.
⁶All of us, like sheep, have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the wrongdoing of us all
To ^[e]fall on Him.

⁷He was oppressed and afflicted,
Yet He did not ^(N)open His mouth;
^(O)Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
⁸By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off from the land of the ^[f]living
^(P)For the wrongdoing of my people, to whom the blow was due?
⁹And His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a ^(Q)rich man in His death,
^(R)Because He had ^(S)done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

¹⁰But the Lord desired
To ^(T)crush Him, ^[g]^(U)causing Him grief;
If He renders ^[h]Himself as a guilt ^(V)offering,
He will see ^(W)His ^[i]offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the ^[j]good ^(X)pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.
¹¹As a result of the ^[k]anguish of His soul,
He will ^[l]^(Y)see it and be satisfied;
By His ^(Z)knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
For He will ^(AA)bear their wrongdoings.
¹²Therefore, I will allot Him a ^(AB)portion with the great,
And He will divide the plunder with the strong,
Because He poured out His ^[m]^(AC)life unto death,
And was ^(AD)counted with wrongdoers;
Yet He Himself ^(AE)bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the wrongdoers.

Footnotes

Isaiah 53:2 Lit suckling
Isaiah 53:3 Lit pains
Isaiah 53:5 Or wounded
Isaiah 53:5 Or peace
Isaiah 53:6 Lit encounter Him
Isaiah 53:8 Or life
Isaiah 53:10 Lit He made Him sick
Isaiah 53:10 Lit His soul
Isaiah 53:10 Lit seed
Isaiah 53:10 Or will of
Isaiah 53:11 Or trouble
Isaiah 53:11 DSS see light; LXX also has light
Isaiah 53:12 Lit soul

Isaiah 54

New American Standard Bible

The Fertility of Zion

54 “^(A)Shout for joy, infertile one, you who have not given birth to any child;
Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor;
For the sons of the ^(B)desolate one will be ^(C)more numerous
Than the sons of the married woman,” says the Lord.
²“^(D)Enlarge the place of your tent;
^[a]Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, do not spare them;
Lengthen your ^(E)ropes
And strengthen your ^(F)pegs.
³For you will ^(G)spread out to the right and to the left.
And your ^[b]descendants will ^(H)possess nations
And will ^(I)resettle the desolate cities.

⁴“Fear not, for you will ^(J)not be put to shame;
And do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced;
But you will forget the ^(K)shame of your youth,
And no longer remember the ^(L)disgrace of your widowhood.
⁵For your ^(M)husband is your Maker,
Whose name is the Lord of armies;
And your ^(N)Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,
Who is called the ^(O)God of all the earth.
⁶For the Lord has called you,
Like a wife ^(P)forsaken and grieved in spirit,
Even like a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,”
Says your God.
⁷“^[c]For a ^(Q)brief moment I abandoned you,
But with great compassion I will ^(R)gather you.
⁸In an ^[d]^(S)outburst of anger
I hid My face from you for a moment,
But with everlasting ^(T)favor I will ^(U)have compassion on you,”
Says the Lord your ^(V)Redeemer.

⁹“For ^[e]this is like the days of Noah to Me,
When I swore that the waters of Noah
Would ^(W)not ^[f]flood the earth again;
So I have sworn that I will ^(X)not be angry with you
Nor rebuke you.
¹⁰For the ^(Y)mountains may be removed and the hills may shake,
But My ^[g]favor will not be removed from you,
Nor will My ^(Z)covenant of peace be shaken,”
Says ^(AA)the Lord who has compassion on you.

¹¹“^(AB)Afflicted one, storm-tossed, and ^(AC)not comforted,
Behold, I will set your stones in antimony,
And I will ^(AD)lay your foundations with ^[h]^(AE)sapphires.
¹²Moreover, I will make your battlements of ^[i]rubies,
And your gates of ^[j]crystal,
And your entire ^[k]wall of precious stones.
¹³^(AF)All your sons will be ^[l]taught by the Lord;
And the well-being of your sons will be ^(AG)great.
¹⁴In ^(AH)righteousness you will be established;
You will be far from ^(AI)oppression, for you will ^(AJ)not fear;
And from ^(AK)terror, for it will not come near you.
¹⁵If anyone fiercely attacks you, it will not be from Me.
^(AL)Whoever attacks you will fall because of you.
¹⁶Behold, I Myself have created the smith who blows on the fire of coals
And produces a weapon for its work;
And I have created the destroyer to inflict ruin.
¹⁷^(AM)No weapon that is formed against you will succeed;
And you will condemn ^(AN)every tongue that ^[m]accuses you in judgment.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
And their ^(AO)vindication is from Me,” declares the Lord.

Footnotes

Isaiah 54:2 Lit Let them stretch out
Isaiah 54:3 Lit seed
Isaiah 54:7 Lit In
Isaiah 54:8 Lit overflowing
Isaiah 54:9 Some mss the waters of Noah this is to Me
Isaiah 54:9 Lit cross over
Isaiah 54:10 Or faithfulness
Isaiah 54:11 Or lapis lazuli
Isaiah 54:12 I.e., bright red
Isaiah 54:12 Or carbuncles
Isaiah 54:12 Lit border, boundary
Isaiah 54:13 Or disciples of
Isaiah 54:17 Lit rises against

Isaiah 55

New American Standard Bible

The Free Offer of Mercy

55 “^[a]You there! Everyone who ^(A)thirsts, come to the waters;
And you who have ^(B)no ^[b]money come, buy and eat.
Come, buy ^(C)wine and milk
^(D)Without money and without cost.
²Why do you ^[c]spend money for what is ^(E)not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and ^(F)eat what is good,
And ^(G)delight yourself in abundance.
³^(H)Incline your ear and come to Me.
Listen, that ^[d]you may ^(I)live;
And I will make ^(J)an everlasting covenant with you,
According to the ^(K)faithful mercies ^[e]shown to David.
⁴Behold, I have made ^(L)him a witness to the peoples,
A ^(M)leader and commander for the peoples.
⁵Behold, you will call a ^(N)nation you do not know,
And a nation which does not know you will ^(O)run to you,
Because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel;
For He has ^(P)glorified you.”

⁶^(Q)Seek the Lord while He may be found;
^(R)Call upon Him while He is near.
⁷^(S)Let the wicked abandon his way,
And the unrighteous person his ^(T)thoughts;
And let him ^(U)return to the Lord,
And He will have ^(V)compassion on him,
And to our God,
For He will ^(W)abundantly pardon.
⁸“For My thoughts are not ^(X)your thoughts,
Nor are ^(Y)your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
⁹“For ^(Z)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 ^(AA)rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there without watering the earth
And making it produce and sprout,
And providing ^(AB)seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
¹¹So will My ^(AC)word be which goes out of My mouth;
It will ^(AD)not return to Me empty,
Without ^(AE)accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the purpose for which I sent it.
¹²For you will go out with ^(AF)joy
And be led in ^(AG)peace;
The ^(AH)mountains and the hills will break into shouts of joy before you,
And all the ^(AI)trees of the field will clap their hands.
¹³Instead of the ^(AJ)thorn bush, the ^(AK)juniper will come up,
And instead of the ^(AL)stinging nettle, the myrtle will come up;
And ^[f]it will be a ^[g]^(AM)memorial to the Lord,
An everlasting ^(AN)sign which ^(AO)will not be eliminated.”

Footnotes

Isaiah 55:1 Lit Hoy
Isaiah 55:1 Lit silver
Isaiah 55:2 Lit weigh out silver
Isaiah 55:3 Lit your soul
Isaiah 55:3 Lit of David
Isaiah 55:13 I.e., the transformation of the desert
Isaiah 55:13 Lit name

Isaiah 56

New American Standard Bible

Rewards for Obedience to God

56 This is what the Lord says:
“^(A)Guard justice and do righteousness,
For My ^(B)salvation is about to come
And My righteousness to be revealed.
²^(C)Blessed is a man who does this,
And a son of man who ^(D)takes hold of it;
Who ^(E)keeps from profaning the Sabbath,
And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”
³Let not the ^(F)foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say,
“The Lord will certainly separate me from His people.”
Nor let the ^(G)eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”
⁴For this is what the Lord says:
“To the eunuchs who ^(H)keep My Sabbaths,
And choose what pleases Me,
And ^(I)hold firmly to My covenant,
⁵To them I will give in My ^(J)house and within My ^(K)walls a memorial,
And a name better than that of sons and daughters;
I will give ^[a]them an everlasting ^(L)name which ^(M)will not be eliminated.

⁶“Also the ^(N)foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
To attend to His service and to love the name of the Lord,
To be His servants, every one who ^(O)keeps the Sabbath so as not to profane it,
And holds firmly to My covenant;
⁷Even ^(P)those I will bring to My ^(Q)holy mountain,
And ^(R)make them joyful in My house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on ^(S)My altar;
For ^(T)My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”
⁸The Lord ^[b]God, who ^(U)gathers the dispersed of Israel, declares,
“I will yet gather ^(V)others to ^[c]them, to those already gathered.”

⁹All you ^[d]^(W)wild animals,
All you animals in the forest,
Come to eat.
¹⁰His ^(X)watchmen are ^(Y)blind,
All of them know nothing.
All of them are mute dogs unable to bark,
Dreamers lying down, who love to slumber;
¹¹And the dogs are ^[e]^(Z)greedy, they ^[f]are never satisfied.
And they are shepherds who have ^(AA)no understanding;
They have all ^(AB)turned to their own way,
Each one to his unjust gain, ^[g]without exception.
¹²“Come,” they say, “^[h]let’s get ^(AC)wine, and let’s drink heavily of intoxicating drink;
And ^(AD)tomorrow will be like today, only more so.”