NRSV Isaiah 52 Chapter
52:1
Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion! Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for the uncircumcised and the unclean shall enter you no more.
52:2
Shake yourself from the dust, rise up, O captive Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter Zion!
52:3
For thus says the LORD: You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.
52:4
For thus says the Lord GOD: Long ago, my people went down into Egypt to reside there as aliens; the Assyrian, too, has oppressed them without cause.
52:5
Now therefore what am I doing here, says the LORD, seeing that my people are taken away without cause? Their rulers howl, says the LORD, and continually, all day long, my name is despised.
52:6
Therefore my people shall know my name; therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here am I.
52:7
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns."
52:8
Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices, together they sing for joy; for in plain sight they see the return of the LORD to Zion.
52:9
Break forth together into singing, you ruins of Jerusalem; for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.
52:10
The LORD has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
52:11
Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of it, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.
52:12
For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight; for the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
52:13
See, my servant shall prosper; he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high.
52:14
Just as there were many who were astonished at him-- so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of mortals--
52:15
so he shall startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which had not been told them they shall see, and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate.