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53Who has believed what we have heard?
   And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
² For 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.
³ He was despised and rejected by others;
   a man of suffering^* and acquainted with infirmity;
and as one from whom others hide their faces^*
   he was despised, and we held him of no account.

⁴ Surely he has borne our infirmities
   and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
   struck down by God, and afflicted.
⁵ But 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.
⁶ All 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.

⁷ He 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.
⁸ By 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.
⁹ They made his grave with the wicked
   and his tomb^* with the rich,^*
although he had done no violence,
   and there was no deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰ Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain.^*
When you make his life an offering for sin,^*
   he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days;
through him the will of the Lord shall prosper.
¹¹   Out of his anguish he shall see light;^*
he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge.
   The righteous one,^* my servant, shall make many righteous,
   and he shall bear their iniquities.
¹² Therefore 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.

The Eternal Covenant of Peace

54Sing, O barren one who did not bear;
   burst into song and shout,
   you who have not been in labour!
For the children of the desolate woman will be more
   than the children of her that is married, says the Lord.
² Enlarge 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.
³ For you will spread out to the right and to the left,
   and your descendants will possess the nations
   and will settle the desolate towns.

⁴ Do 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.
⁵ For 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.
⁶ For 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.
⁷ For a brief moment I abandoned you,
   but with great compassion I will gather you.
⁸ In 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.

⁹ This 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.
¹⁰ For 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.

¹¹ O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted,
   I am about to set your stones in antimony,
   and lay your foundations with sapphires.^*
12 I will make your pinnacles of rubies,
   your gates of jewels,
   and all your wall of precious stones.
¹³ All your children shall be taught by the Lord,
   and great shall be the prosperity of your children.
¹⁴ In 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.
¹⁵ If anyone stirs up strife,
   it is not from me;
whoever stirs up strife with you
   shall fall because of you.
¹⁶ See, 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.
¹⁷   No weapon that is fashioned against you shall prosper,
   and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgement.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord
   and their vindication from me, says the Lord.

An Invitation to Abundant Life

55Ho, 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.
² Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
   and your labour for that which does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,
   and delight yourselves in rich food.
³ Incline 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.
⁴ See, I made him a witness to the peoples,
   a leader and commander for the peoples.
⁵ See, 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.

⁶ Seek the Lord while he may be found,
   call upon him while he is near;
⁷ let 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.
⁸ For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
   nor are your ways my ways, says 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.

¹⁰ For 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,
¹¹ so 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.

¹² For 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.
¹³ Instead 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.

The Covenant Extended to All Who Obey

56Thus says the Lord:
   Maintain justice, and do what is right,
for soon my salvation will come,
   and my deliverance be revealed.

² Happy is the mortal who does this,
   the one who holds it fast,
who keeps the sabbath, not profaning it,
   and refrains from doing any evil.

³ Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say,
   ‘The Lord will surely separate me from his people’;
and do not let the eunuch say,
   ‘I am just a dry tree.’
⁴ For thus says the Lord:
To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths,
   who choose the things that please me
   and hold fast my covenant,
⁵ I will give, in my house and within my walls,
   a monument and a name
   better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
   that shall not be cut off.

⁶ And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
   to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
   and to be his servants,
all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it,
   and hold fast my covenant—
⁷ these I will bring to my holy mountain,
   and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices
   will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
   for all peoples.
⁸ Thus says the Lord God,
   who gathers the outcasts of Israel,
I will gather others to them
   besides those already gathered.^*

The Corruption of Israel’s Rulers

⁹ All you wild animals,
   all you wild animals in the forest, come to devour!
¹⁰ Israel’s^* sentinels are blind,
   they are all without knowledge;
they are all silent dogs
   that cannot bark;
dreaming, lying down,
   loving to slumber.
¹¹ The dogs have a mighty appetite;
   they never have enough.
The shepherds also have no understanding;
   they have all turned to their own way,
   to their own gain, one and all.
¹² ‘Come,’ they say, ‘let us^* get wine;
   let us fill ourselves with strong drink.
And tomorrow will be like today,
   great beyond measure.’