Study Desk

Break forth, shout joyfully together, You ruins of Jerusalem; For the LORD has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem.

For you will not go out in a hurry [as when you left Egypt], Nor will you go in flight [fleeing, as you did from the Egyptians]; For the LORD will go before you, And the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

So He will sprinkle many nations [with His blood, providing salvation], Kings will shut their mouths because of Him; For what they had not been told they will see, And what they had not heard they will understand.

For He [the Servant of God] grew up before Him like a tender shoot (plant), And like a root out of dry ground; He has no stately form or majestic splendor That we would look at Him, Nor [handsome] appearance that we would be attracted to Him.

But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was crushed for our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing]; The punishment [required] for our well-being fell on Him, And by His stripes (wounds) we are healed.

After oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation [His contemporaries], who [among them] concerned himself with the fact That He was cut off from the land of the living [by His death] For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke [of death] was due?

Yet the LORD was willing To crush Him, causing Him to suffer; If He would give Himself as a guilt offering [an atonement for sin], He shall see His [spiritual] offspring, He shall prolong His days, And the will (good pleasure) of the LORD shall succeed and prosper in His hand.

As a result of the anguish of His soul, He shall see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge [of what He has accomplished] the Righteous One, My Servant, shall justify the many [making them righteous—upright before God, in right standing with Him], For He shall bear [the responsibility for] their sins.

Therefore, I will divide and give Him a portion with the great [kings and rulers], And He shall divide the spoils with the mighty, Because He [willingly] poured out His life to death, And was counted among the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore and took away the sin of many, And interceded [with the Father] for the transgressors.

"Shout for joy, O barren one, she who has not given birth; Break forth into joyful shouting and rejoice, she who has not gone into labor [with child]! For the [spiritual] sons of the desolate one will be more numerous Than the sons of the married woman," says the LORD.

"Enlarge the site of your tent [to make room for more children]; Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, do not spare them; Lengthen your tent ropes And make your pegs (stakes) firm [in the ground].

"For you will spread out to the right and to the left; And your descendants will take possession of nations And will inhabit deserted cities.

"Do not fear, for you will not be put to shame, And do not feel humiliated or ashamed, for you will not be disgraced. For you will forget the shame of your youth, And you will no longer remember the disgrace of your widowhood.

"For your husband is your Maker, The LORD of hosts is His name; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, Who is called the God of the whole earth.

"For the LORD has called you, Like a wife who has been abandoned, grieved in spirit, And like a wife [married] in her youth when she is [later] rejected and scorned," Says your God.

"For a brief moment I abandoned you, But with great compassion and mercy I will gather you [to Myself again].

"In an outburst of wrath I hid My face from you for a moment, But with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you," Says the LORD your Redeemer.

"For this is like the waters of Noah to Me, As I swore [an oath] that the waters of Noah Would not flood the earth again; In the same way I have sworn that I will not be angry with you Nor will I rebuke you.

"For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, Nor will My covenant of peace be shaken," Says the LORD who has compassion on you.

"You will be firmly established in righteousness: You will be far from [even the thought of] oppression, for you will not fear, And from terror, for it will not come near you.