Esias 51

1 Listen to me, you that follow after righteousness, and seek the Lord: look to the solid rock, which you have hewn, and to the hole of the pit which you have dug.

Hearken to me, ye who follow after righteousness, ye who seek Jehovah. Look to the rock from where ye were hewn, and to the hold of the pit from where ye were dug.

2 Look to Abraam your father, and to Sarrha that bore you: for he was alone when I called him, and blessed him, and loved him, and multiplied him.

Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you. For when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many.

3 And now I will comfort you, O Sion: and I have comforted all her desert places; and I will make her desert places as a garden, and her western places as the garden of the Lord; they shall find in her gladness and exultation, thanksgiving and the voice of praise.

For Jehovah has comforted Zion. He has comforted all her waste places, and has made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Jehovah. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.

4 Hear me, hear me, my people; and you kings, listen to me: for a law shall proceed from me, and my judgement [shall be] for a light of the nations.

Attend to me, O my people, and give ear to me, O my nation. For a law shall go forth from me, and I will establish my justice for a light of the peoples.

5 My righteousness speedily draws near, and my salvation shall go forth as light, and on mine arm shall the Gentiles trust: the isles shall wait for me, and on mine arm shall they trust.

My righteousness is near. My salvation has gone forth, and my arms shall judge the peoples. The isles shall wait for me, and on my arm they shall trust.

6 Lift up your eyes to the sky, and look on the earth beneath: for the sky was darkened like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and the inhabitants shall die in like manner: but my righteousness shall not fail.

Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath. For the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall grow old like a garment, and those who dwell in it shall die in like manner. But my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.

7 Hear me, you that know judgement, the people in whose heart is my law: fear not the reproach of men, and be not overcome by their contempt.

Hearken to me, ye who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law. Fear ye not the reproach of men, nor be ye dismayed at their revilings.

8 For as a garment will be devoured by time, and as wool will be devoured by a moth, [so shall they be consumed]; but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation for all generations.

For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool. But my righteousness shall be forever, and my salvation to all generations.

9 Awake, awake, O Jerusalem, and put on the strength of your arm; awake as in the early time, as the ancient generation.

Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of Jehovah. Awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Is it not thou who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the monster?

10 Are you not it that dried the sea, the water, [even] the abundance of the deep; that made the depths of the sea a way of passage for the delivered and redeemed?

Is it not thou who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?

11 for by [the help of] the Lord they shall return, and come to Sion with joy and everlasting exultation, for praise and joy shall come upon their head: pain, and grief, and groaning, have fled away.

And the ransomed of Jehovah shall return, and come with singing to Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

12 I, [even] I, am he that comforts you: consider who you are, that you were afraid of mortal man, and of the son of man, who are withered as grass.

I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are thou, that thou are afraid of man who shall die, and of the son of man who shall be made as grass,

13 And you have forgotten God who made you, who made the sky and founded the earth; and you were continually afraid because of the wrath of him that afflicted you: for [whereas] he counselled to take you away, yet now where is the wrath of him that afflicted you?

and have forgotten Jehovah thy maker, who stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth, and fear continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he makes ready to destroy? And where is the fury of the oppressor?

14 For in your deliverance he shall not halt, nor wait;

The captive exile shall speedily be loosed, and he shall not die in the pit, nor shall his bread fail.

15 for I am your God, that troubles the sea, and causes the waves thereof to roar: the Lord of hosts is my name.

For I am Jehovah thy God, who stirs up the sea so that the waves of it roar. Jehovah of hosts is his name.

16 I will put my words into your mouth, and I will shelter you under the shadow of mine hand, with which I fixed the sky, and founded the earth: and [the Lord] shall say to Sion, You are my people.

And I have put my words in thy mouth, and have covered thee in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say to Zion, Thou are my people.

17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, that have drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury: for you have drunk out and drained the cup of calamity, the cup of wrath:

Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, who have drunk at the hand of Jehovah the cup of his wrath. Thou have drunk the bowl of the cup of staggering, and drained it.

18 and there was none to comfort you of all the children whom you bore; and there was none to take hold of your hand, not even of all the children whom you has reared.

There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she has brought forth, nor is there any who takes her by the hand among all the sons that she has brought up.

19 Therefore these things are against you; who shall sympathise with you in your grief? downfall, and destruction, famine, and sword: who shall comfort you?

These two things have befallen thee (Who shall bemoan thee?): Desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword. How shall I comfort thee?

20 Your sons are the perplexed ones, that sleep at the top of every street as a half-boiled beet; they that are full of the anger of the Lord, caused to faint by the Lord God.

Thy sons have fainted. They lie at the head of all the streets, as an antelope in a net. They are full of the wrath of Jehovah, the rebuke of thy God.

21 Therefore hear, you afflicted one, and drunken, [but] not with wine;

Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine.

22 thus says the Lord God that judges his people, Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of calamity, the cup of my wrath; and you shall not drink it any more.

Thus says thy lord Jehovah, and thy God who pleads the cause of his people: Behold, I have taken out of thy hand the cup of staggering, even the bowl of the cup of my wrath. Thou shall no more drink it again.

23 And I will give it into the hands of them that injured you, and them that afflicted you; who said to your soul, Bow down, that we may pass over: and you did level your body with the ground to them passing by without.

And I will put it into the hand of those who afflict thee, who have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over, and thou have laid thy back as the ground, and as the street, to those who go over.