Love Of Psalms 52 (Deliverance for Jerusalem)

CHAPTER 52-54
Deliverance for Jerusalem

1 Wake up, wake up, O Zion! Clothe yourselves with strength. Put on your beautiful clothes, O holy city of Jerusalem, for unclean and godless people will no longer enter your gates.

2 Rise from the dust, O Jerusalem. Remove the slave bands 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 paying for you.”

4 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “Long ago my people went to live as resident foreigners in Egypt. Now they have been oppressed without cause by Assyria.

5 And now, what is this?” asks the Lord. “Why are my people enslaved again? Those who rule them shout in exultation. My name is being 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 it is I who speaks to them.”

7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns!

8 The watchmen shout and sing with joy, for before their very eyes they see the Lord bringing his people home to Jerusalem.

9 Let the ruins of Jerusalem break into joyful song, for the Lord has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem.

10 The Lord will demonstrate his holy power before the eyes of all the nations. The ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.

11 Go now, leave your bonds and slavery. Put Babylon behind you, with everything it represents, for it is unclean to you. You are the Lord’s holy people. Purify yourselves, you who carry home the vessels of the Lord.

12 You will not leave in a hurry, running for your lives. For the Lord will go ahead of you, and the God of Israel will protect you from behind.

The Lord’s Suffering Servant

13 See, my servant will prosper; he will be highly exalted.

14 Many were amazed when they saw him —beaten and bloodied, so disfigured one would scarcely know he was a person.

15 And he will again startle many nations. Kings will stand speechless in his presence. For they will see what they had not previously been told about; they will understand what they had not heard about.

CHAPTER 53

1 Who has believed our message? To whom will the Lord reveal his saving power?

2 My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, sprouting from a root in dry and sterile ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him.

3 He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way when he went by. He was despised, and we did not care.

4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows* that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God for his own sins!

5 But he was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed!

6 All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the guilt and sins of us all.

7 He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.

8 From prison and trial they led him away to his death. But who among the people realized that he was dying for their sins—that he was suffering their punishment?

9 He had done no wrong, and he never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave.

10 But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and fill him with grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have a multitude of children, many heirs. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s plan will prosper in his hands.

11 When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of what he has experienced, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins.

12 I will give him the honors of one who is mighty and great, because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among those who were sinners. He bore the sins of many and interceded for sinners.

CHAPTER 54
Future Glory for Jerusalem

1 “Sing, O childless woman! Break forth into loud and joyful song, O Jerusalem, even though you never gave birth to a child. For the woman who could bear no children now has more than all the other women,” says the Lord.

2 “Enlarge your house; build an addition; spread out your home!

3 For you will soon be bursting at the seams. Your descendants will take over other nations and live in their cities.

4 “Fear not; you will no longer live in shame. The shame of your youth and the sorrows of widowhood will be remembered no more,

5 for your Creator will be your husband. The Lord Almighty is his name! He is your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of all the earth.

6 For the Lord has called you back from your grief—as though you were a young wife abandoned by her husband,” says your God.

7 “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great compassion I will take you back.

8 In a moment of anger I turned my face away for a little while. But with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord, your Redeemer.

9 “Just as I swore in the time of Noah that I would never again let a flood cover the earth and destroy its life, so now I swear that I will never again pour out my anger on you.

10 For the mountains may depart and the hills disappear, but even then I will remain loyal to you. My covenant of blessing will never be broken,” says the Lord, who has mercy on you.

11 “O storm-battered city, troubled and desolate! I will rebuild you on a foundation of sapphires and make the walls of your houses from precious jewels.

12 I will make your towers of sparkling rubies and your gates and walls of shining gems.

13 I will teach all your citizens, and their prosperity will be great.

14 You will live under a government that is just and fair. Your enemies will stay far away; you will live in peace. Terror will not come near.

15 If any nation comes to fight you, it will not be because I sent them to punish you. Your enemies will always be defeated because I am on your side.

16 I have created the blacksmith who fans the coals beneath the forge and makes the weapons of destruction. And I have created the armies that destroy.

17 But in that coming day, no weapon turned against you will succeed. And everyone who tells lies in court will be brought to justice. These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the Lord; their vindication will come from me. I, the Lord, have spoken!