Isaiah 52-56

English Standard Version

The Lord's Coming Salvation

52 ^(A)Awake, awake,
    put on your strength, O Zion;
^(B)put on your beautiful garments,
    O Jerusalem, ^(C)the holy city;
^(D)for there shall no more come into you
    the uncircumcised and the unclean.
²^(E)Shake yourself from the dust and arise;
    be seated, O Jerusalem;
^(F)loose the bonds from your neck,
    O captive daughter of Zion.

³For thus says the Lord: ^(G)“You were sold for nothing, and ^(H)you shall be redeemed without money.” ⁴For thus says the Lord God: ^(I)“My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing.^[a] ⁵Now therefore what have I here,” declares the Lord, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail,” declares the Lord, “and ^(J)continually all the day my name is despised. ⁶Therefore my people shall know my name. ^(K)Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here I am.”

⁷^(L)How beautiful upon the mountains
    are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace, ^(M)who brings good news of happiness,
    who publishes salvation,
    who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
⁸The voice of ^(N)your watchmen—they lift up their voice;
    together they sing for joy;
^(O)for eye to eye they see
    the return of the Lord to Zion.
⁹^(P)Break forth together into singing,
    ^(Q)you waste places of Jerusalem,
for ^(R)the Lord has comforted his people;
    he has redeemed Jerusalem.
¹⁰^(S)The Lord has bared his holy arm
    before the eyes of all the nations,
^(T)and all the ends of the earth shall see
    the salvation of our God.

¹¹^(U)Depart, depart, go out from there;
    touch no unclean thing;
go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves,
    ^(V)you who bear the vessels of the Lord.
¹²For you shall not ^(W)go out in haste,
    and you shall not go in flight,
^(X)for the Lord will go before you,
    ^(Y)and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

He Was Pierced for Our Transgressions

¹³Behold, ^(Z)my servant shall act wisely;^[b]
    he shall be high and lifted up,
    and shall be exalted.
¹⁴As many were astonished at you—
    ^(AA)his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
    and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
¹⁵so ^(AB)shall he sprinkle^[c] many nations.
    ^(AC)Kings shall shut their mouths because of him,
^(AD)for that which has not been told them they see,
    and that which they have not heard they understand.
53 ^(AE)Who has believed what he has heard from us?^[d]
    And to whom has ^(AF)the arm of the Lord been revealed?
²For he grew up before him like a young plant,
    ^(AG)and like a root out of dry ground;
^(AH)he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
    and no beauty that we should desire him.
³^(AI)He was despised and rejected^[e] by men,
    a man of sorrows^[f] and acquainted with^[g] grief;^[h]
and as one from whom men hide their faces^[i]
    he was despised, and ^(AJ)we esteemed him not.

⁴^(AK)Surely he has borne our griefs
    and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
    ^(AL)smitten by God, and afflicted.
⁵^(AM)But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    ^(AN)and with his wounds we are healed.
⁶^(AO)All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his own way;
^(AP)and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

⁷He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
    ^(AQ)yet he opened not his mouth;
^(AR)like a ^(AS)lamb that is led to the slaughter,
    and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
    so he opened not his mouth.
⁸By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
    and as for his generation, ^(AT)who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
    stricken for the transgression of my people?
⁹And they made his grave with the wicked
    ^(AU)and with a rich man in his death,
although ^(AV)he had done no violence,
    and there was no deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰Yet ^(AW)it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
    he has put him to grief;^[j]
^(AX)when his soul makes^[k] an offering for guilt,
    he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
^(AY)the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
¹¹Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see^[l] and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall ^(AZ)the righteous one, my servant,
    ^(BA)make many to be accounted righteous,
    ^(BB)and he shall bear their iniquities.
¹²^(BC)Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,^[m]
    ^(BD)and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,^[n]
because he poured out his soul to death
    and was numbered with the transgressors;
^(BE)yet he bore the sin of many,
    and makes intercession for the transgressors.

The Eternal Covenant of Peace

54 ^(BF)“Sing, O barren one, who did not bear;
    break forth into singing and cry aloud,
    you who have not been in labor!
For the children of ^(BG)the desolate one ^(BH)will be more
    than the children of her who is married,” says the Lord.
²^(BI)“Enlarge the place 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^(BJ)For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left,
    and your offspring will possess the nations
    and will people the desolate cities.

⁴“Fear not, ^(BK)for you will not be ashamed;
    be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced;
for you will forget the shame of your youth,
    and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.
⁵^(BL)For your Maker is your husband,
    the Lord of hosts is his name;
^(BM)and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,
    ^(BN)the God of the whole earth he is called.
⁶^(BO)For the Lord has called you
    like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit,
like a wife of youth when she is cast off,
    says your God.
⁷^(BP)For a brief moment I deserted you,
    but with great compassion I will gather you.
⁸^(BQ)In overflowing anger for a moment
    I hid my face from you,
^(BR)but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,”
    says the Lord, your Redeemer.

⁹“This is like ^(BS)the days of Noah^[o] to me:
    as I swore that the waters of Noah
    should no more go over the earth,
so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you,
    and will not rebuke you.
¹⁰For the mountains may depart
    and the hills be removed,
but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,
    and ^(BT)my covenant of peace shall not be removed,”
    says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

¹¹^(BU)“O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted,
    behold, ^(BV)I will set your stones in antimony,
    ^(BW)and lay your foundations with sapphires.^[p]
¹²I will make your pinnacles of agate,^[q]
    your gates of carbuncles,^[r]
    and all your wall of precious stones.
¹³^(BX)All your children ^(BY)shall be taught by the Lord,
    ^(BZ)and great shall be the peace of your children.
¹⁴In 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^(CA)If anyone stirs up strife,
    it is not from me;
whoever stirs up strife with you
    shall fall because of you.
¹⁶Behold, I have created the smith
    who blows the fire of coals
    and produces a weapon for its purpose.
I have also created the ravager to destroy;
¹⁷    no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed,
    and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord
    ^(CB)and their vindication^[s] from me, declares the Lord.”

The Compassion of the Lord

55 ^(CC)“Come, everyone who thirsts,
    come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
    ^(CD)come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without price.
²^(CE)Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
    and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
    and delight yourselves in rich food.
³Incline your ear, and come to me;
    ^(CF)hear, that your soul may live;
^(CG)and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
    ^(CH)my steadfast, sure love for ^(CI)David.
⁴^(CJ)Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,
    ^(CK)a leader and commander for the peoples.
⁵^(CL)Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,
    and ^(CM)a nation that did not know you shall run to you,
because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,
    ^(CN)for he has glorified you.

⁶^(CO)“Seek 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;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
    and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
⁸For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
⁹^(CP)For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

¹⁰^(CQ)“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
    and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
    ^(CR)giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
¹¹so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
    it shall not return to me empty,
but ^(CS)it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
    and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

¹²^(CT)“For you shall go out in joy
    and be led forth in peace;
^(CU)the mountains and the hills before you
    shall break forth into singing,
    and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
¹³^(CV)Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
    instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the Lord,
    an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

Salvation for Foreigners

56 Thus says the Lord:
“Keep justice, and do righteousness,
^(CW)for soon my salvation will come,
    and my righteousness be revealed.
²Blessed is the man who does this,
    and the son of man who holds it fast,
^(CX)who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it,
    and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

³Let not ^(CY)the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say,
    “The Lord will surely separate me from his people”;
and let not the eunuch say,
    “Behold, I am ^(CZ)a dry tree.”
⁴For thus says the Lord:
“To the eunuchs ^(DA)who keep my Sabbaths,
    who choose the things that please me
    and hold fast my covenant,
⁵^(DB)I will give in my house and within my walls
    a ^(DC)monument and a name
    better than sons and daughters;
^(DD)I will give them an everlasting name
    that shall not be cut off.

⁶“And ^(DE)the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
    to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
    and to be his servants,
everyone ^(DF)who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,
    and holds fast my covenant—
⁷^(DG)these I will bring to ^(DH)my holy mountain,
    and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
^(DI)their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
    will be accepted on my altar;
for ^(DJ)my house shall be called a house of prayer
    for all peoples.”
⁸The Lord God,
    ^(DK)who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,
^(DL)“I will gather yet others to him
    besides those already gathered.”

Israel's Irresponsible Leaders

⁹^(DM)All you beasts of the field, come to devour—
    all you beasts in the forest.
¹⁰^(DN)His watchmen are blind;
    they are all without knowledge;
they are all silent ^(DO)dogs;
    they cannot bark,
dreaming, lying down,
    loving to slumber.
¹¹^(DP)The dogs have a mighty appetite;
    they never have enough.
But ^(DQ)they are shepherds who have no understanding;
    they have all turned to their own way,
    ^(DR)each to his own gain, one and all.
¹²^(DS)“Come,” they say, “let me get wine;
    let us fill ourselves with strong drink;
^(DT)and tomorrow will be like this day,
    great beyond measure.”

Footnotes

Isaiah 52:4 Or the Assyrian has oppressed them of late
Isaiah 52:13 Or shall prosper
Isaiah 52:15 Or startle
Isaiah 53:1 Or Who has believed what we have heard?
Isaiah 53:3 Or forsaken
Isaiah 53:3 Or pains; also verse 4
Isaiah 53:3 Or and knowing
Isaiah 53:3 Or sickness; also verse 4
Isaiah 53:3 Or as one who hides his face from us
Isaiah 53:10 Or he has made him sick
Isaiah 53:10 Or when you make his soul
Isaiah 53:11 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll he shall see light
Isaiah 53:12 Or with the great
Isaiah 53:12 Or with the numerous
Isaiah 54:9 Some manuscripts For this is as the waters of Noah
Isaiah 54:11 Or lapis lazuli
Isaiah 54:12 Or jasper, or ruby
Isaiah 54:12 Or crystal
Isaiah 54:17 Or righteousness

John 4

English Standard Version

Jesus and the Woman of Samaria

4 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and ^(A)baptizing more disciples than John ²(although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), ³he left Judea and departed ^(B)again for Galilee. ⁴^(C)And he had to pass through Samaria. ⁵So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field ^(D)that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, ^(E)wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.^[a]

⁷A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, ^(F)“Give me a drink.” ⁸(For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) ⁹The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (^(G)For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) ¹⁰Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you ^(H)living water.” ¹¹The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? ¹²^(I)Are you greater than our father Jacob? ^(J)He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” ¹³Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but ^(K)whoever drinks of the water that I will give him ^(L)will never be thirsty again.^[b] The water that I will give him will become ^(M)in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” ¹⁵The woman said to him, “Sir, ^(N)give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Go, ^(O)call your husband, and come here.” ¹⁷The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; ¹⁸for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” ¹⁹The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that ^(P)you are ^(Q)a prophet. ²⁰^(R)Our fathers worshiped on ^(S)this mountain, but you say that ^(T)in Jerusalem is ^(U)the place where people ought to worship.” ²¹Jesus said to her, ^(V)“Woman, believe me, ^(W)the hour is coming when ^(X)neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. ²²^(Y)You worship what you do not know; ^(Z)we worship what we know, for ^(AA)salvation is ^(AB)from the Jews. ²³But ^(AC)the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father ^(AD)in spirit and ^(AE)truth, for the Father ^(AF)is seeking such people to worship him. ²⁴God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” ²⁵The woman said to him, “I know that ^(AG)Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, ^(AH)he will tell us all things.” ²⁶Jesus said to her, ^(AI)“I who speak to you am he.”

²⁷Just then ^(AJ)his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” ²⁸So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, ²⁹“Come, see a man ^(AK)who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” ³⁰They went out of the town and were coming to him.

³¹Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, ^(AL)“Rabbi, eat.” ³²But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” ³³So the disciples said to one another, ^(AM)“Has anyone brought him something to eat?” ³⁴Jesus said to them, ^(AN)“My food is ^(AO)to do the will of him who sent me and ^(AP)to accomplish his work. ³⁵Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that ^(AQ)the fields are white for harvest. ³⁶Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that ^(AR)sower and ^(AS)reaper ^(AT)may rejoice together. ³⁷For here the saying holds true, ^(AU)‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸I sent you to reap ^(AV)that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, ^(AW)and you have entered into their labor.”

³⁹Many Samaritans ^(AX)from that town believed in him ^(AY)because of ^(AZ)the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” ⁴⁰So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. ⁴¹And many more believed ^(BA)because of his word. ⁴²They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, ^(BB)and we know that this is indeed ^(BC)the Savior ^(BD)of the world.”

⁴³After ^(BE)the two days he departed for Galilee. ⁴⁴(For Jesus himself had testified ^(BF)that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) ⁴⁵So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, ^(BG)having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For ^(BH)they too had gone to the feast.

Jesus Heals an Official's Son

⁴⁶So he came again to ^(BI)Cana in Galilee, ^(BJ)where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. ⁴⁷When this man heard that Jesus ^(BK)had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. ⁴⁸So Jesus said to him, ^(BL)“Unless you^[c] see signs and wonders you will not believe.” ⁴⁹The official said to him, “Sir, come down ^(BM)before my child dies.” ⁵⁰Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. ⁵¹As he was going down, his servants^[d] met him and told him that his son was recovering. ⁵²So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour^[e] the fever left him.” ⁵³The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, ^(BN)and all his household. ⁵⁴^(BO)This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.