Cheer for Prostrate Zion

1Awake, awake,

Clothe yourself in your strength, O Zion;

Clothe yourself in your beautiful garments,

O Jerusalem, the holy city;

For the uncircumcised and the unclean

Will no longer come into you.

2Shake yourself from the dust, rise up,

O captive Jerusalem;

Loose yourself from the chains around your neck,

O captive daughter of Zion.

3For thus says the Lord, “You were sold for nothing and you will be redeemed without money.” 4For thus says the Lord God, “My people went down at the first into Egypt to reside there; then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. 5Now therefore, what do I have here,” declares the Lord, “seeing that My people have been taken away without cause?” Again the Lord declares, “Those who rule over them howl, and My name is continually blasphemed all day long. 6Therefore My people shall know My name; therefore in that day I am the one who is speaking, ‘Here I am.’ ”

7How lovely on the mountains

Are the feet of him who brings good news,

Who announces peace

And brings good news of happiness,

Who announces salvation,

And says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

8Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices,

They shout joyfully together;

For they will see with their own eyes

When the Lord restores Zion.

9Break forth, shout joyfully together,

You waste places of Jerusalem;

For the Lord has comforted His people,

He has redeemed Jerusalem.

10The Lord has bared His holy arm

In the sight of all the nations,

That all the ends of the earth may see

The salvation of our God.

11Depart, depart, go out from there,

Touch nothing unclean;

Go out of the midst of her, purify yourselves,

You who carry the vessels of the Lord.

12But you will not go out in haste,

Nor will you go as fugitives;

For the Lord will go before you,

And the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

The Exalted Servant

13Behold, My servant will prosper,

He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted.

14Just as many were astonished at you, My people,

So His appearance was marred more than any man

And His form more than the sons of men.

15Thus He will sprinkle many nations,

Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him;

For what had not been told them they will see,

And what they had not heard they will understand.

The Suffering Servant

1Who has believed our message?

And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

2For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,

And like a root out of parched ground;

He has no stately form or majesty

That we should look upon Him,

Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.

3He was despised and forsaken of men,

A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

And like one from whom men hide their face

He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

4Surely our griefs He Himself bore,

And our sorrows He carried;

Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,

Smitten of God, and afflicted.

5But He was pierced through for our transgressions,

He was crushed for our iniquities;

The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,

And by His scourging 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 iniquity of us all

To fall on Him.

7He was oppressed and He was afflicted,

Yet He did not open His mouth;

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 out of the land of the living

For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?

9His grave was assigned with wicked men,

Yet He was with a rich man in His death,

Because He had done no violence,

Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

10But the Lord was pleased

To crush Him, putting Him to grief;

If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,

He will see His offspring,

He will prolong His days,

And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.

11As a result of the anguish of His soul,

He will see it and be satisfied;

By His knowledge the Righteous One,

My Servant, will justify the many,

As He will bear their iniquities.

12Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,

And He will divide the booty with the strong;

Because He poured out Himself to death,

And was numbered with the transgressors;

Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,

And interceded for the transgressors.

The Fertility of Zion

1“Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child;

Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed;

For the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous

Than the sons of the married woman,” says the Lord.

2“Enlarge the place of your tent;

Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not;

Lengthen your cords

And strengthen your pegs.

3For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left.

And your descendants will possess nations

And will resettle the desolate cities.

4“Fear not, for you will not be put to shame;

And do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced;

But you will forget the shame of your youth,

And the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.

5For your husband is your Maker,

Whose name is the Lord of hosts;

And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,

Who is called the God of all the earth.

6For the Lord has called you,

Like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,

Even like a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,”

Says your God.

7“For a brief moment I forsook you,

But with great compassion I will gather you.

8In an outburst of anger

I hid My face from you for a moment,

But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you,”

Says the Lord your Redeemer.

9“For this is like the days of Noah to Me,

When I swore that the waters of Noah

Would not flood the earth again;

So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you

Nor will I rebuke you.

10For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake,

But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you,

And My covenant of peace will not be shaken,”

Says the Lord who has compassion on you.

11“O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted,

Behold, I will set your stones in antimony,

And your foundations I will lay in sapphires.

12Moreover, I will make your battlements of rubies,

And your gates of crystal,

And your entire wall of precious stones.

13All your sons will be taught of the Lord;

And the well-being of your sons will be great.

14In righteousness you will be established;

You will be far from oppression, for you will not fear;

And from terror, for it will not come near you.

15If anyone fiercely assails you it will not be from Me.

Whoever assails you will fall because of you.

16Behold, I Myself have created the smith who blows the fire of coals

And brings out a weapon for its work;

And I have created the destroyer to ruin.

17No weapon that is formed against you will prosper;

And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn.

This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,

And their vindication is from Me,” declares the Lord.

The Free Offer of Mercy

1“Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters;

And you who have no money come, buy and eat.

Come, buy wine and milk

Without money and without cost.

2Why do you spend money for what is not bread,

And your wages for what does not satisfy?

Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,

And delight yourself in abundance.

3Incline your ear and come to Me.

Listen, that you may live;

And I will make an everlasting covenant with you,

According to the faithful mercies shown to David.

4Behold, I have made him a witness to the peoples,

A leader and commander for the peoples.

5Behold, you will call a nation you do not know,

And a nation which knows you not will run to you,

Because of the Lord your God, even 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 his way

And the unrighteous man his thoughts;

And let him return to the Lord,

And He will have compassion on him,

And to our God,

For He will abundantly pardon.

8“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.

9“For 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 without watering the earth

And making it bear and sprout,

And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;

11So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;

It will not return to Me empty,

Without accomplishing what I desire,

And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

12For you will go out with joy

And be led forth with peace;

The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you,

And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

13Instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up,

And instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up,

And it will be a memorial to the Lord,

For an everlasting sign which will not be cut off.”

Rewards for Obedience to God

1Thus says the Lord,

“Preserve justice and do righteousness,

For My salvation is about to come

And My righteousness to be revealed.

2How blessed is the man who does this,

And the son of man who takes hold of it;

Who keeps from profaning the sabbath,

And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

3Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say,

“The Lord will surely separate me from His people.”

Nor let the eunuch say, “Behold, 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,

5To them I will give in My house and within My walls a memorial,

And a name better than that of sons and daughters;

I will give them an everlasting name which will not be cut off.

6“Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,

To minister to Him, and to love the name of the Lord,

To be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the sabbath

And holds fast My covenant;

7Even those I will bring to My holy mountain

And make them joyful in My house of prayer.

Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar;

For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”

8The Lord God, who gathers the dispersed of Israel, declares,

“Yet others I will gather to them, to those already gathered.”

9All you beasts of the field,

All you beasts in the forest,

Come to eat.

10His watchmen are 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 greedy, they are not satisfied.

And they are shepherds who have no understanding;

They have all turned to their own way,

Each one to his unjust gain, to the last one.

12“Come,” they say, “let us get wine, and let us drink heavily of strong drink;

And tomorrow will be like today, only more so.”

Evil Leaders Rebuked

1The righteous man perishes, and no man takes it to heart;

And devout men are taken away, while no one understands.

For the righteous man is taken away from evil,

2He enters into peace;

They rest in their beds,

Each one who walked in his upright way.

3“But come here, you sons of a sorceress,

Offspring of an adulterer and a prostitute.

4Against whom do you jest?

Against whom do you open wide your mouth

And stick out your tongue?

Are you not children of rebellion,

Offspring of deceit,

5Who inflame yourselves among the oaks,

Under every luxuriant tree,

Who slaughter the children in the ravines,

Under the clefts of the crags?

6Among the smooth stones of the ravine

Is your portion, they are your lot;

Even to them you have poured out a drink offering,

You have made a grain offering.

Shall I relent concerning these things?

7Upon a high and lofty mountain

You have made your bed.

You also went up there to offer sacrifice.

8Behind the door and the doorpost

You have set up your sign;

Indeed, far removed from Me, you have uncovered yourself,

And have gone up and made your bed wide.

And you have made an agreement for yourself with them,

You have loved their bed,

You have looked on their manhood.

9You have journeyed to the king with oil

And increased your perfumes;

You have sent your envoys a great distance

And made them go down to Sheol.

10You were tired out by the length of your road,

Yet you did not say, ‘It is hopeless.’

You found renewed strength,

Therefore you did not faint.

11“Of whom were you worried and fearful

When you lied, and did not remember Me

Nor give Me a thought?

Was I not silent even for a long time

So you do not fear Me?

12I will declare your righteousness and your deeds,

But they will not profit you.

13When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you.

But the wind will carry all of them up,

And a breath will take them away.

But he who takes refuge in Me will inherit the land

And will possess My holy mountain.”

14And it will be said,

“Build up, build up, prepare the way,

Remove every obstacle out of the way of My people.”

15For thus says the high and exalted One

Who lives forever, whose name is Holy,

“I dwell on a high and holy place,

And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit

In order to revive the spirit of the lowly

And to revive the heart of the contrite.

16For I will not contend forever,

Nor will I always be angry;

For the spirit would grow faint before Me,

And the breath of those whom I have made.

17Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry and struck him;

I hid My face and was angry,

And he went on turning away, in the way of his heart.

18I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;

I will lead him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners,

19Creating the praise of the lips.

Peace, peace to him who is far and to him who is near,”

Says the Lord, “and I will heal him.”

20But the wicked are like the tossing sea,

For it cannot be quiet,

And its waters toss up refuse and mud.

21“There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”