1. Wake up! Zion, wake up! Dress yourself with strength as if it were your clothes. Holy city of Jerusalem, put on your clothes of glory. Those who haven't been circumcised will never enter you again. Neither will those who are "unclean."
2. Get up, Jerusalem! Shake off your dust. Take your place on your throne. Captured people of Zion, remove the chains from your neck.
3. The Lord says, "When you were sold as slaves, no one paid anything for you. Now no one will pay any money to set you free."
4. The Lord and King continues, "Long ago my people went down to Egypt. They lived there for a while. Later, Assyria crushed them without any reason.
5. "Now look at what has happened to them," announces the Lord. "Once again my people have been taken away. And no one paid anything for them. Those who rule over them brag about it," announces the Lord. "All day long without stopping, people speak evil things against my name.
6. So the day will come when my people will really know the meaning of my name. They will know what kind of God I am. They will know that I told them ahead of time they would return to their land. They will know that it was I."
7. What a beautiful sight it is to see messengers coming with good news! How beautiful to see them coming down from the mountains with a message about peace! How wonderful it is when they bring the good news that we are saved! How wonderful when they say to Zion, "Your God rules!"
8. Listen! Those on guard duty are shouting out the message. With their own eyes they see the Lord returning to Zion. So they shout with joy.
9. Burst into songs of joy together, you broken-down buildings in Jerusalem. The Lord has comforted his people. He has set Jerusalem free.
10. The Lord will use the power of his holy arm to save his people. All of the nations will see him do it. Everyone from one end of the earth to the other will see it.
11. You who carry the articles that belong to the Lord's temple, leave Babylon! Leave it! Get out of there! Don't touch anything that isn't pure and clean. Come out of Babylon and be pure.