Isaiah 52

How Beautiful upon the Mountains

Zion is told to wake up and dress for a coronation, a messenger runs across the mountains announcing that her God reigns, the exiles are told to leave Babylon in no hurry, and the servant appears, exalted and disfigured.

Addressed to the exiles, c. 540 BC; quoted by Jacob, by Abinadi (c. 150 BC), by the risen Savior (AD 34), and by Moroni Also in 2 Ne. 8:24–25, 3 Ne. 20:32–45 Read with footnotes in Gospel Library

Background

Chapter 52 finishes one unit and starts another. Verses 1–2 are the third “Awake, awake” of the sequence that began in Isa. 51:9; the first two verses belong with chapter 51, and…

Chapter 52 finishes one unit and starts another. Verses 1–2 are the third “Awake, awake” of the sequence that began in Isa. 51:9; the first two verses belong with chapter 51, and Jacob read them that way (2 Ne. 8:24–25). Verses 3–12 announce the return: the Lord reclaims His people, a herald brings the news to Jerusalem, and the exiles are told to leave Babylon. Verses 13–15 begin the fourth and last Servant Song, which continues through the end of chapter 53. The chapter break after verse 15 is medieval and falls in the middle of the song.

Few chapters of Isaiah appear in the Book of Mormon in as many different settings:

Jacob read verses 1–2 to close his reading of chapters 50–51 (2 Ne. 8:24–25).
Abinadi was challenged by the priests of King Noah to explain verses 7–10 (Mosiah 12:20–24). His answer takes up most of Mosiah 15.
The risen Savior quoted verses 8–10 to the Nephites (3 Ne. 16:18–20). The next day He recited most of the chapter, rearranged and adapted, as part of a prophecy of the latter-day gathering (3 Ne. 20:32–45), and then applied verse 15 to a latter-day “marvelous work” (3 Ne. 21:8–10).
Moroni closed the whole Book of Mormon by combining verses 1–2 with Isa. 54:2 (Moro. 10:31).

The Doctrine and Covenants adds a revealed interpretation of verses 1–2 (D&C 113:7–10) and reuses verses 10–12 for the latter-day gathering (D&C 133:3–5).

The thread through the chapter

Isaiah 52 is about good news arriving, and about what it asks of the people who hear it.

Isaiah 52 is about good news arriving, and about what it asks of the people who hear it.

The news comes in stages. First Zion is told to wake up, get out of the dust, dress in her best clothes, and take off the collar of a captive (verses 1–2). She was sold for nothing and will be bought back for nothing (verse 3). Then comes the scene the chapter is famous for. A runner appears on the mountains, and the watchmen on Jerusalem’s ruined walls see him and start to sing: “Thy God reigneth!” (verses 7–8). The Lord rolls up His sleeve before all the nations (verse 10). Then comes the call to leave Babylon, not like the first Exodus, in a hurry at midnight, but slowly, cleanly, with the Lord in front and behind (verses 11–12).

Then, abruptly, the Lord says, “Behold, my servant.” The one He introduces is exalted to the height Isaiah reserves for God, “high and lifted up,” and yet so disfigured that people recoil at the sight (verses 13–14). Kings fall silent (verse 15).

The two halves belong together. The good news of verse 7 is that God reigns, and the arm of verse 10 is bared. Verses 13–15 begin to show what that arm looks like when it is bared: a suffering servant. Abinadi made exactly this connection when he told Noah’s priests that the one whose feet are most beautiful on the mountains is “the founder of peace, yea, even the Lord, who has redeemed his people” (Mosiah 15:18).

Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its versein the margin.

Verses 1–2

Wake up, Zion

In plain words

Wake up, wake up! Put on your strength, Zion. Put on your beautiful clothes, Jerusalem, holy city, because the uncircumcised and the unclean will never enter you again. Shake off the dust and get up. Take your seat, Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains around your neck, captive daughter of Zion.

1 Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.

Restoration Insight #

“Put on thy strength”

This is the last of the three “Awake, awake” cries. In Isa. 51:9 the people asked the Lord’s arm to “put on strength.”

This is the last of the three “Awake, awake” cries. In Isa. 51:9 the people asked the Lord’s arm to “put on strength.” The Lord answered by waking Jerusalem up (Isa. 51:17). Now He tells Zion to put on her strength. The one who prayed for God to act is told to act.

In 1838 Elias Higbee asked Joseph Smith what this verse meant and whom Isaiah was describing. The answer is now D&C 113:7–8: Isaiah “had reference to those whom God should call in the last days, who should hold the power of priesthood to bring again Zion, and the redemption of Israel; and to put on her strength is to put on the authority of the priesthood, which she, Zion, has a right to by lineage; also to return to that power which she had lost.” The revelation reads the verse as a prophecy of the Restoration: the priesthood authority Israel once held is given back to her descendants in the last days.

The Savior’s wording when He quoted the verse to the Nephites was “Awake, awake again, and put on thy strength, O Zion” (3 Ne. 20:36). Zion had been awake before. And Moroni chose this passage for the very end of the Book of Mormon: “awake, and arise from the dust, O Jerusalem; yea, and put on thy beautiful garments, O daughter of Zion” (Moro. 10:31). The Book of Mormon ends where Zion wakes up.

Sources: Donald W. Parry and John W. Welch, eds., Isaiah in the Book of Mormon, Provo, UT: FARMS, 1998.

Imagery & Symbol #

Dressing for the occasion

“Beautiful garments” is bigdê tipʾartēk, “garments of your glory.” The same noun describes the high priest’s clothing, made “for glory and for beauty” (Ex. 28:2).

“Beautiful garments” is bigdê tipʾartēk, “garments of your glory.” The same noun describes the high priest’s clothing, made “for glory and for beauty” (Ex. 28:2). So the image is not just a woman changing out of mourning clothes. Jerusalem is dressing as a priest, fit to enter God’s presence, and the reason follows: “there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.” The city itself has become holy ground. Revelation says the same of the New Jerusalem: “there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth” (Rev. 21:27).

The image reverses chapter 47. There Babylon, the proud “virgin daughter,” was told to come down from her throne, sit in the dust, and strip (Isa. 47:1–2). Here Jerusalem, the captive daughter, is told to rise from the dust, dress, and take her seat.

Latter-day revelation applies the verse to the building of Zion in this dispensation: “Zion must increase in beauty, and in holiness; her borders must be enlarged; her stakes must be strengthened; yea, verily I say unto you, Zion must arise and put on her beautiful garments” (D&C 82:14). In that verse, the beautiful garments are holiness.

Sources: John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, New International Commentary on the Old Testament, 2 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986–1998. Shalom M. Paul, Isaiah 40–66: Translation and Commentary, Eerdmans Critical Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012.

2 Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.

Restoration Insight #

Taking off the collar

Captives were led into exile bound, and Assyrian palace reliefs show deportees roped and shackled on the march.

Captives were led into exile bound, and Assyrian palace reliefs show deportees roped and shackled on the march. Zion is told to take off the collar herself: “loose thyself.” The Lord has opened the lock, but she has to lift it off.

“Arise, and sit down” sounds contradictory until one sees the posture. She gets up out of the dust, where mourners and captives sat (Lam. 2:10), and sits down on a seat, probably a throne. (The Book of Mormon drops the “and”: “arise, sit down,” 2 Ne. 8:25.)

The second of Elias Higbee’s questions was about this verse, and the answer interprets the collar: “The bands of her neck are the curses of God upon her, or the remnants of Israel in their scattered condition among the Gentiles.” The same answer interprets the call to loosen them: “the scattered remnants are exhorted to return to the Lord from whence they have fallen; which if they do, the promise of the Lord is that he will speak to them, or give them revelation” (D&C 113:10). It then points to “the 6th, 7th, and 8th verses” as the promise, which is the Lord’s “it is I” of verse 6 and the messenger and watchmen of verses 7–8. On that reading, the freedom offered is not just political. It is the renewal of revelation.

Sources: Donald W. Parry and John W. Welch, eds., Isaiah in the Book of Mormon, Provo, UT: FARMS, 1998.

Verses 3–6

Sold for nothing

In plain words

This is what the Lord says: You were sold for nothing, and you will be bought back without money. This is what the Lord God says: Long ago My people went down to Egypt to live there as foreigners, and more recently Assyria oppressed them for no reason. And now, what is this? says the Lord. My people have been taken away for nothing. Their rulers mock them, says the Lord, and My name is insulted all day long. So My people will know My name. On that day they will know that I am the one who speaks. Here I am.

3 For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.

Witness of Christ #

Sold for nothing, bought for nothing

This picks up the debt-slavery image of Isa. 50:1. There the Lord asked which creditor He had sold Israel to.

This picks up the debt-slavery image of Isa. 50:1. There the Lord asked which creditor He had sold Israel to. Here He clarifies that nobody paid Him anything. Israel was “sold for nought,” and since no price was received, none has to be refunded: she “shall be redeemed without money.” Verses 4–5 add a history of such unpaid transactions. Israel went down to Egypt and was enslaved; Assyria oppressed her “without cause”; now Babylon holds her, and the Lord asks, “what have I here… that my people is taken away for nought?” He gained nothing from their captivity, so He owes their captors nothing.

In the historical setting, the redemption “without money” was Cyrus’s decree letting the exiles go home. There was no ransom. The New Testament reads the phrase at a deeper level. Redemption costs nothing money can pay, but it is not free: “ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold… But with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Pet. 1:18–19). Isaiah will make the same offer of grace in economic terms: “come, buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Isa. 55:1).

The Savior kept this verse when He recited the chapter to the Nephites (3 Ne. 20:38) but left out verses 4–5, the history of Egypt and Assyria, which would have meant little to a Nephite audience.

Sources: Shalom M. Paul, Isaiah 40–66: Translation and Commentary, Eerdmans Critical Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012.

4 For thus saith the Lord GOD, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.

5 Now therefore, what have I here, saith the LORD, that my people is taken away for nought? they that rule over them make them to howl, saith the LORD; and my name continually every day is blasphemed.

Word & Language #

God’s reputation

Israel’s captivity damaged the Lord’s reputation. When conquered peoples went into exile, onlookers concluded that their god had lost.

Israel’s captivity damaged the Lord’s reputation. When conquered peoples went into exile, onlookers concluded that their god had lost. Every day Israel spent in Babylon was, in effect, an advertisement that the God of Israel was weak. Ezekiel makes the same argument: the exiles “profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land” (Ezek. 36:20). The Lord will act to restore His people, He says there, “for mine holy name’s sake” (Ezek. 36:22).

Paul quotes this verse in a form that shifts the blame. Following the Septuagint, which adds “because of you… among the Gentiles,” he writes to Jewish readers who boast of the law but break it: “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written” (Rom. 2:24). In Isaiah the Gentiles mock God because Israel is suffering. In Paul they mock Him because of how His people behave. Both are true, and the second is the more uncomfortable to apply to oneself.

Sources: Shalom M. Paul, Isaiah 40–66: Translation and Commentary, Eerdmans Critical Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012. John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, New International Commentary on the Old Testament, 2 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986–1998.

6 Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I.

Word & Language #

“Here I am”

“Behold, it is I” is one Hebrew word: hinnēnî, “here I am.” It is what people say when God calls them.

“Behold, it is I” is one Hebrew word: hinnēnî, “here I am.” It is what people say when God calls them. Abraham said it on Mount Moriah (Gen. 22:1). Moses said it at the burning bush (Ex. 3:4). Samuel said it in the night (1 Sam. 3:4). Isaiah said it in the temple: “Here am I; send me” (Isa. 6:8).

Here the Lord says it to His people. The one who is usually called now answers. He will do it again in Isa. 58:9: “Thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am.” And in Isa. 65:1 He says it to a people who didn’t even ask: “I said, Behold me, behold me.” The exiles felt that God had gone silent. The chapter’s answer is that He is present and speaking: “in that day… they shall know that I am he that doth speak.”

D&C 113:10 reads verses 6–8 as a promise of renewed revelation to scattered Israel: when they return to the Lord, “he will speak to them, or give them revelation.”

Verses 7–10

The feet of the messenger

In plain words

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news, who announces peace, who brings news of good things, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Listen: your watchmen raise their voices and shout for joy together, because they see with their own eyes the Lord coming back to Zion. Break out singing together, you ruins of Jerusalem, because the Lord has comforted His people and bought Jerusalem back. The Lord has rolled up His sleeve and bared His holy arm in front of all the nations, and the whole earth, to its farthest edges, will see our God save.

7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!

Witness of Christ #

Abinadi and the beautiful feet

The scene is a city waiting for news of a battle. A runner appears on the ridge.

The scene is a city waiting for news of a battle. A runner appears on the ridge. The watchmen can tell from his pace that the news is good (compare 2 Sam. 18:24–27). His message is three words in Hebrew, mālak ʾĕlōhāyik, “Your God reigns,” the same acclamation as the enthronement psalms: “The LORD reigneth” (Ps. 93:1; Ps. 97:1). The verb for bringing good news, bāśar, is the root of the New Testament’s “gospel” (see the note on Isa. 40:9). Paul quoted this verse to describe missionaries: “how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace” (Rom. 10:15).

The Book of Mormon’s most extended treatment of the verse is in the trial of Abinadi. One of King Noah’s priests asked him what these verses meant (Mosiah 12:20–24). The question was probably a trap. The passage sounded like a promise of peace and prosperity, which would undercut Abinadi’s prophecies of doom. Abinadi first rebuked the priests for not living the law they claimed to teach. His real answer comes later, in Mosiah 15:13–18, after he has quoted Isaiah 53 in full.

He reads the “feet” in widening circles. First they are the prophets: “these are they who have published peace… And O how beautiful upon the mountains were their feet!” Then they are all who are “still publishing peace,” and all who “shall hereafter publish peace.” Finally, “this is not all”: the most beautiful feet belong to “him that bringeth good tidings, that is the founder of peace, yea, even the Lord, who has redeemed his people” (Mosiah 15:18).

Abinadi’s interpretation joins the two halves of Isaiah 52. The messenger announcing salvation and the suffering servant of verses 13–15 are the same person. The priests asked about a pleasant verse, and Abinadi answered with Isaiah 53. Within days he was burned for his testimony (Mosiah 17:13–20).

Sources: Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ and the New Covenant: The Messianic Message of the Book of Mormon, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1997. Donald W. Parry and John W. Welch, eds., Isaiah in the Book of Mormon, Provo, UT: FARMS, 1998.

8 Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion.

Word & Language #

Eye to eye

In modern English, “see eye to eye” means “agree,” and this verse is where the English idiom comes from.

In modern English, “see eye to eye” means “agree,” and this verse is where the English idiom comes from. But the Hebrew, ʿayin bĕʿayin, “eye in eye,” means seeing something directly, face to face. The same expression describes how Israel saw God in the wilderness: “thou LORD art seen face to face” (Num. 14:14). The watchmen on Jerusalem’s walls see the Lord return with their own eyes. Many modern translations render it “they will see with their own eyes” (for example, the NIV).

The Book of Mormon versions keep the KJV wording. Abinadi, quoting verses 8–10, turns the start into a prayer: “Yea, Lord, thy watchmen shall lift up their voice” (Mosiah 15:29). The Savior puts the watchmen in the future and follows the verse with a gathering: “then will the Father gather them together again, and give unto them Jerusalem for the land of their inheritance” (3 Ne. 20:32–33).

Latter-day revelation uses the phrase for a time when “all shall know me… and shall see eye to eye, and shall lift up their voice, and with the voice together sing this new song” (D&C 84:98). There, knowing the Lord directly and being united are one condition. The two senses of the idiom meet: people who see God clearly end up seeing each other clearly too.

9 Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.

10 The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

Witness of Christ #

The arm made bare

A warrior going into battle pushed back his robe to free his sword arm.

A warrior going into battle pushed back his robe to free his sword arm. In Isa. 51:9 the people prayed, “Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD.” This is the answer. The arm is bared, and bared publicly, “in the eyes of all the nations.”

When the Savior quoted the verse to the Nephites, He changed the subject: “The Father hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of the Father; and the Father and I are one” (3 Ne. 20:35). He also made the Father the one who comforts and redeems in the previous verse (3 Ne. 20:34). The Savior presents Himself as the Father’s arm, the instrument by which the Father saves.

That fits where Isaiah goes next. Three verses later the servant appears, and chapter 53 opens, “to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?” (Isa. 53:1). The arm, when it is finally bared, is a disfigured man. Latter-day revelation uses this verse for the Second Coming: “he shall make bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of their God” (D&C 133:3).

Sources: Donald W. Parry and John W. Welch, eds., Isaiah in the Book of Mormon, Provo, UT: FARMS, 1998.

Verses 11–12

Leave, but not in a hurry

In plain words

Leave, leave, get out of there! Don’t touch anything unclean. Get out of the middle of her. Keep yourselves pure, you who carry the Lord’s sacred vessels. But you won’t leave in a rush or run away in fear, because the Lord will go ahead of you, and the God of Israel will guard you from behind.

11 Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.

Liken It #

Carrying the vessels

“Depart… go ye out from thence” means out of Babylon, as in Isa. 48:20.

“Depart… go ye out from thence” means out of Babylon, as in Isa. 48:20. The “vessels of the LORD” had a real history. Nebuchadnezzar carried the temple’s gold and silver vessels to Babylon (2 Kgs. 25:13–15); Belshazzar drank from them at his feast (Dan. 5:2–4); and Cyrus gave them back, 5,400 of them by Ezra’s count, to be carried home (Ezra 1:7–11). Under the law of Moses only consecrated Levites could carry the sanctuary’s holy things (Num. 4:15). So “be ye clean, that bear the vessels” is a priestly instruction. The people who carry holy things must be holy.

Paul quoted the verse to the Corinthians: “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing” (2 Cor. 6:17). Latter-day revelation uses it twice, in both cases linking cleanliness to the gathering: “go ye out from among the wicked. Save yourselves. Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord” (D&C 38:42), and “Go ye out from Babylon. Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord” (D&C 133:5). Latter-day Saints often apply the verse to those who hold the priesthood or officiate in ordinances. It applies more broadly to anyone entrusted with something sacred on the way out of Babylon.

Sources: “Babylon or Babel”, Bible Dictionary.

12 For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rearward.

Restoration Insight #

A slow exodus

The first Exodus was a hurried escape. Israel ate the Passover “in haste,” dressed for travel (Ex. 12:11), and left so fast that the bread had no time to rise (Ex. 12:34).

The first Exodus was a hurried escape. Israel ate the Passover “in haste,” dressed for travel (Ex. 12:11), and left so fast that the bread had no time to rise (Ex. 12:34). The new exodus will be different. Nobody will chase them. They can walk.

But one feature of the first Exodus remains. Then the pillar of cloud led Israel by day (Ex. 13:21), and when Pharaoh’s army came up behind them, the angel of God “removed and went behind them” (Ex. 14:19). Now “the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rearward,” that is, the rear guard. They are protected in both directions.

Latter-day revelation applied this verse, sometimes in its exact words, to the gathering of the Saints to Missouri: “let the work of the gathering be not in haste, nor by flight” (D&C 58:56), and “let not your gathering be in haste, nor by flight; but let all things be prepared before you” (D&C 101:68). A gathering that is prepared rather than panicked, with the Lord in front and behind, is the pattern. In another revelation the Lord promised the Saints, “I will go before you and be your rearward” (D&C 49:27).

Verses 13–15

Behold, my servant

In plain words

Look, My servant will act wisely and succeed. He will be raised up, lifted high, and greatly exalted. Just as many people were appalled at him, his appearance so disfigured that he hardly looked human, his form no longer like a man’s, so he will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of him, for they will see what they were never told and understand what they had never heard.

13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.

Witness of Christ #

High and lifted up

The fourth Servant Song begins at its end. Before describing the servant’s suffering, the Lord announces his exaltation.

The fourth Servant Song begins at its end. Before describing the servant’s suffering, the Lord announces his exaltation. The first verb, yaśkîl, means both “act wisely” and “succeed” (the KJV’s “deal prudently”). Jeremiah uses it for the promised Davidic king who “shall reign and prosper” (Jer. 23:5).

The next three words are striking: yārûm wĕniśśāʾ wĕgābah mĕʾōd, “he shall be raised up and lifted up and very high.” Isaiah uses the pair rām wĕniśśāʾ, “high and lifted up,” for the Lord Himself on His throne in the temple (Isa. 6:1). He uses it again in Isa. 57:15: “thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity.” Throughout the book, everything else that is “high and lifted up” is human pride that will be brought low (Isa. 2:12–17). The servant is the one exception. He is given God’s own height.

The Gospel of John appears to build on this. Jesus says, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me,” meaning His crucifixion (John 12:32–33). A few verses later John quotes Isa. 53:1 and Isa. 6:10 and then comments: “These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him” (John 12:41). Richard Bauckham argues that John is reading Isa. 6:1 and Isa. 52:13 together: the glory Isaiah saw on the throne is the glory of the servant lifted up on the cross. For Latter-day Saints, who identify Jehovah with the premortal Christ, the connection is especially natural.

Critical scholars debate who the servant is in this song: Israel as a people, a faithful remnant, the prophet himself, or a future individual. The Servant Songs page summarizes those positions. The Book of Mormon’s answer is explicit. Abinadi quotes the song’s continuation in full (Mosiah 14) as a prophecy that “God himself should come down among the children of men” (Mosiah 13:34).

Sources: Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel: God Crucified and Other Studies on the New Testament’s Christology of Divine Identity, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008. John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, New International Commentary on the Old Testament, 2 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986–1998. Brevard S. Childs, Isaiah, Old Testament Library. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001.

14 As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:

Word & Language #

Marred, or anointed?

“Astonied” (šāmĕmû) means appalled, stunned into horror; it is used of people staring at a ruined city (Jer. 18:16).

“Astonied” (šāmĕmû) means appalled, stunned into horror; it is used of people staring at a ruined city (Jer. 18:16). The servant’s appearance is so damaged that he hardly looks human. “Marred” is mišḥat, from šāḥat, “to ruin, destroy.”

The Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaᵃ) has one extra letter here, mšḥty, which can be read māšaḥtî, “I anointed.” That would give “I anointed his appearance beyond any man.” William Brownlee, one of the first scholars to study the scroll, proposed that the Qumran community read the servant as an anointed, messianic figure. Most textual critics think the extra letter is a spelling variant or copying error and that the Masoretic reading, “marred,” is original; the parallel with “his form” in the next line supports it. The Book of Mormon has “marred,” with the Savior’s punctuation making the verse a parenthesis: “As many were astonished at thee—his visage was so marred, more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men—” (3 Ne. 20:44).

The two readings are less opposed than they look. In the Gospels the anointed one is the marred one. Jesus was beaten, crowned with thorns, and scourged before Pilate presented Him to the crowd: “Behold the man!” (John 19:1–5).

Sources: The Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaᵃ), The Digital Dead Sea Scrolls, Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Martin Abegg Jr., Peter Flint, and Eugene Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1999. Emanuel Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 3rd ed. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012.

15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

Witness of Christ #

Sprinkle or startle?

“Sprinkle” is yazzeh, from nāzâ. In this causative form the verb is otherwise always a priestly word: the high priest sprinkles sacrificial blood before the mercy seat on the Day…

“Sprinkle” is yazzeh, from nāzâ. In this causative form the verb is otherwise always a priestly word: the high priest sprinkles sacrificial blood before the mercy seat on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:14–15), and priests sprinkle water or blood to cleanse the unclean (Lev. 14:7; Num. 19:18–19). Read that way, the servant who was so defiled in appearance becomes the one who cleanses others, and not just Israel but “many nations.”

The difficulty is grammar. When the verb means sprinkle, it normally takes the liquid as its object and the thing sprinkled with a preposition. Here “many nations” is the direct object. The Septuagint translated “many nations shall marvel at him,” and many modern translations, reading the verb from a root that means “leap” or “startle,” have “so shall he startle many nations” (RSV). That fits the parallel line: nations are startled, and kings are silenced.

The KJV and the Book of Mormon (3 Ne. 20:45) both have “sprinkle.” The New Testament uses the priestly image for Christ’s blood: “the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel” (Heb. 12:24); “elect… unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:2). The grammatical objection is real, but the sprinkling reading has always had defenders, and it fits the fourth song’s sacrificial language (Isa. 53:10 calls the servant’s life an “offering for sin”).

Sources: John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, New International Commentary on the Old Testament, 2 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986–1998. Joseph Blenkinsopp, Isaiah, Anchor Bible, 3 vols. New York: Doubleday, 2000–2003. Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, Leiden: Brill, 1994–2000.

Restoration Insight #

The marvelous work and the marred servant

Kings put a hand over their mouths out of awe (Job 29:9; Micah 7:16). They see something no one told them and understand something they never heard.

Kings put a hand over their mouths out of awe (Job 29:9; Micah 7:16). They see something no one told them and understand something they never heard. Paul took the last line as a description of his mission to the Gentiles, who had never heard of Christ (Rom. 15:21).

The risen Savior gave the verse a second application. After reciting verses 13–15 (3 Ne. 20:43–45), He said that when the sign of the latter-day gathering comes, “kings shall shut their mouths; for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider. For in that day, for my sake shall the Father work a work, which shall be a great and a marvelous work among them” (3 Ne. 21:8–9). Then He described a servant: “the life of my servant shall be in my hand; therefore they shall not hurt him, although he shall be marred because of them. Yet I will heal him” (3 Ne. 21:10).

Who is this latter-day servant? The Savior doesn’t say. Many Latter-day Saint commentators have identified him with Joseph Smith, the one who brought forth the Book of Mormon, which in context is the “marvelous work” of verse 9. Others read the servant as Christ Himself, marred in His suffering and healed in His Resurrection. The Joseph Smith reading is widespread, but it is an interpretation; the text doesn’t name him. What is clear is that the Savior used the language of Isaiah 52:14–15, a marred servant who astonishes kings, for a latter-day event as well as for His own suffering. The pattern repeats.

Sources: Monte S. Nyman, “Great Are the Words of Isaiah”, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980. Victor L. Ludlow, Isaiah: Prophet, Seer, and Poet, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1982. Donald W. Parry, Jay A. Parry, and Tina M. Peterson, Understanding Isaiah, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1998.

Seeing Christ in Isaiah 52

The chapter moves from a proclamation to a person. The messenger on the mountains announces, “Thy God reigneth,” and the Lord bares His arm before all nations. Then the Lord points: “Behold, my servant.” The one He points to is exalted to God’s own height, “high and lifted up,” and at the same time disfigured beyond recognition.

Two Book of Mormon voices bring that together. Abinadi told Noah’s priests that the most beautiful feet on the mountains belong to “the founder of peace, yea, even the Lord, who has redeemed his people” (Mosiah 15:18), and he proved it by reading them the suffering servant. And the risen Lord told the Nephites that “the Father hath made bare his holy arm… and the Father and I are one” (3 Ne. 20:35). The good news that God reigns and the marred face of the servant are not two different messages. The King reigns from the cross.

Liken it to yourself

Zion is told to take the collar off her own neck. What bands have I stopped trying to loosen because I assumed only God could remove them?
Where do I “put on strength,” in the sense of D&C 113:8? How am I using the priesthood authority and covenants I already have?
Whose feet have been beautiful on the mountains for me, bringing good news at the right time? Can mine be for someone else?
What vessels of the Lord am I carrying? What would being clean enough to carry them look like this week?
Do I tend to leave Babylon “with haste” and “by flight,” in a panic? What would a prepared, unhurried departure look like, with the Lord in front and behind?

Worth exploring next

Abinadi’s answer. Read Mosiah 12:17–37, then Mosiah 14–15, and trace how he answers the priests’ question about verses 7–10.
The Savior’s version. Read 3 Ne. 20:29–46 and 3 Ne. 21:1–11, and note what He changed, added, and left out.
The three “awakes.” Read Isa. 51:9, Isa. 51:17, and Isa. 52:1–2, then D&C 113:7–10 and Moro. 10:30–33.
High and lifted up. Compare Isa. 2:12–17, Isa. 6:1, Isa. 52:13, Isa. 57:15, and John 12:32–41.
The new exodus. Read verses 11–12 with Ex. 12:11, Ex. 14:19–20, D&C 58:56, and D&C 133:4–15.

This chapter elsewhere in scripture

Nephi’s text of this chapter (2 Ne. 8:24–25; Mosiah 12:21–24) reads differently from the King James Version in 1 verse. The differences are all small words.

2 Ne. 8:24–25 — Jacob reads verses 1–2 to close his reading of Isaiah 50–51.
3 Ne. 20:32–45 — The risen Savior recites most of the chapter, rearranged and adapted, as a prophecy of the latter-day gathering.
Mosiah 12:21–24 — Noah’s priests quote verses 7–10 to challenge Abinadi.
Mosiah 15:13–18, 29–31 — Abinadi explains who the beautiful feet belong to.
3 Ne. 16:18–20 — The Savior quotes verses 8–10.
3 Ne. 21:8–10 — The Savior applies verse 15 to a latter-day marvelous work and a marred servant.
Moro. 10:31 — Moroni closes the Book of Mormon with verses 1–2.
D&C 113:7–10 — The Lord explains verses 1–2.
Rom. 10:15 — Paul applies verse 7 to preachers of the gospel.

Sources & further reading

Shalom M. Paul, Isaiah 40–66: Translation and Commentary, Eerdmans Critical Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012.
John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, New International Commentary on the Old Testament, 2 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986–1998.
Joseph Blenkinsopp, Isaiah, Anchor Bible, 3 vols. New York: Doubleday, 2000–2003.
Brevard S. Childs, Isaiah, Old Testament Library. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001.
Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel: God Crucified and Other Studies on the New Testament’s Christology of Divine Identity, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008.
Donald W. Parry and John W. Welch, eds., Isaiah in the Book of Mormon, Provo, UT: FARMS, 1998.
Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ and the New Covenant: The Messianic Message of the Book of Mormon, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1997.
The Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaᵃ), The Digital Dead Sea Scrolls, Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
Martin Abegg Jr., Peter Flint, and Eugene Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1999.
Emanuel Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 3rd ed. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012.
Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, Leiden: Brill, 1994–2000.
Monte S. Nyman, “Great Are the Words of Isaiah”, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980.
Victor L. Ludlow, Isaiah: Prophet, Seer, and Poet, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1982.
Donald W. Parry, Jay A. Parry, and Tina M. Peterson, Understanding Isaiah, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1998.
“Babylon or Babel”, Bible Dictionary.
Chapter 17: The Gathering of Israel and the Coming of the Messiah (Isaiah 48–54), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).

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