Isaiah 52
Clothe yourself with strength, O Zion!
Put on your beautiful clothes,
O Jerusalem,1 holy city!
For uncircumcised and unclean pagans
will no longer invade you.
52:2 Shake off the dirt!2
Get up, captive3 Jerusalem!
Take off the iron chains around your neck,
O captive daughter Zion!
52:3 For this is what the
“You were sold for nothing,
and you will not be redeemed for money.”
52:4 For this is what the sovereign
“In the beginning my people went to live temporarily in Egypt;
Assyria oppressed them for no good reason.
52:5 And now, what do we have here?”4 says the
“Indeed my people have been carried away for nothing,
those who rule over them taunt,”5 says the
“and my name is constantly slandered6 all day long.
52:6 For this reason my people will know my name,
for this reason they will know7 at that time8 that I am the one who says,
‘Here I am.’”
52:7 How delightful it is to see approaching over the mountains9
the feet of a messenger who announces peace,
a messenger who brings good news, who announces deliverance,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”10
52:8 Listen,11 your watchmen shout;
in unison they shout for joy,
for they see with their very own eyes12
the
52:9 In unison give a joyful shout,
O ruins of Jerusalem!
For the
he protects13 Jerusalem.
52:10 The
in the sight of all the nations;
the entire16 earth sees
our God deliver.17
52:11 Leave! Leave! Get out of there!
Don’t touch anything unclean!
Get out of it!
Stay pure, you who carry the
52:12 Yet do not depart quickly
or leave in a panic.19
For the
the God of Israel is your rear guard.
The Lord Will Vindicate His Servant
52:13 “Look, my servant will succeed!20
He will be elevated, lifted high, and greatly exalted21 –
52:14 (just as many were horrified by the sight of you)22
he was so disfigured23 he no longer looked like a man;24
52:15 his form was so marred he no longer looked human25 –
so now26 he will startle27 many nations.
Kings will be shocked by his exaltation,28
for they will witness something unannounced to them,
and they will understand something they had not heard about.