HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1019
ISAIAH 52
page 649
Sorrow and mourning will disappear,
and they will be filled with joy and
gladness.
12
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15
16
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19
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“I, yes I, am the one who comforts you.
So why are you afraid of mere humans,
who wither like the grass and disappear?
Yet you have forgotten the Lord,
your Creator,
the one who stretched out the sky like
a canopy
and laid the foundations of the earth.
Will you remain in constant dread of human
oppressors?
Will you continue to fear the anger of
your enemies?
Where is their fury and anger now?
It is gone!
Soon all you captives will be released!
Imprisonment, starvation, and death
will not be your fate!
For I am the Lord your God,
who stirs up the sea, causing its waves
to roar.
My name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
And I have put my words in your mouth
and hidden you safely in my hand.
I stretched out* the sky like a canopy
and laid the foundations of the earth.
I am the one who says to Israel,
‘You are my people!’”
Wake up, wake up, O Jerusalem!
You have drunk the cup of the Lord’s fury.
You have drunk the cup of terror,
tipping out its last drops.
Not one of your children is left alive
to take your hand and guide you.
These two calamities have fallen on you:
desolation and destruction, famine
and war.
And who is left to sympathize with you?
Who is left to comfort you?*
For your children have fainted and lie in
the streets,
helpless as antelopes caught in a net.
The Lord has poured out his fury;
God has rebuked them.
But now listen to this, you afflicted ones
who sit in a drunken stupor,
though not from drinking wine.
This is what the Sovereign Lord,
your God and Defender, says:
“See, I have taken the terrible cup from
your hands.
You will drink no more of my fury.
51:16 As in Syriac version (see also 51:13); Hebrew reads
planted. 51:19 As in Dead Sea Scrolls and Greek, Latin, and
Syriac versions; Masoretic Text reads How can I comfort you?
52:5a As in Dead Sea Scrolls; Masoretic Text reads Those
who rule them wail. 52:5b Greek version reads The Gentiles
continually blaspheme my name because of you. Compare
Rom 2:24. 52:7 Hebrew of Zion.
23
Instead, I will hand that cup to your
tormentors,
those who said, ‘We will trample
you into the dust
and walk on your backs.’”
Deliverance for Jerusalem
1 Wake up, wake up, O Zion!
Clothe yourself with strength.
Put on your beautiful clothes, O holy city
of Jerusalem,
for unclean and godless people
will enter your gates no longer.
2 Rise from the dust, O Jerusalem.
Sit in a place of honor.
Remove the chains of slavery from
your neck,
O captive daughter of Zion.
3 For this is what the Lord says:
“When I sold you into exile,
I received no payment.
Now I can redeem you
without having to pay for you.”
52
4 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “Long
ago my people chose to live in Egypt. Now they
are oppressed by Assyria. 5 What is this?” asks
the Lord. “Why are my people enslaved again?
Those who rule them shout in exultation.* My
name is blasphemed all day long.* 6 But I will reveal my name to my people, and they will come
to know its power. Then at last they will recognize that I am the one who speaks to them.”
7
How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of the messenger who brings
good news,
the good news of peace and salvation,
the news that the God of Israel* reigns!
• Happiness
I S A I A H 52:7
Seven hundred years before the arrival of
Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the prophet
Isaiah wrote about it. Jesus’ coming and
his work were to be good news. Those
who would receive him would indeed be
blessed. But those who would share his
Good News with others would be blessed
even more. Momentary happiness may
come from a new car, a salary bonus,
or other material pleasures. But true,
lasting happiness is the fruit of accepting
Jesus—the source of all the good things
we are and have—and of sharing this
Good News with others. When we do
that, we are the “people with beautiful
feet.”