Isaiah 51

1 Listen to me, you who follow what is just and who seek the Lord. Pay attention to the rock from which you have been hewn, and to the walls of the pit from which you have been 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 Pay attention to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who bore you. For I called him alone, and I blessed him, and I 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 Therefore, the Lord will console Zion, and he will console all its ruins. And he will turn her desert into a place of delights, and her wilderness into a garden of the Lord. Gladness and rejoicing will be found in her, thanksgiving and a 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 Pay attention to me, my people, and listen to me, my tribes. For a law will go forth from me, and my judgment will rest as a light for 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 just one is near. My savior has gone forth. And my arms will judge the people. The islands will hope in me, and they will patiently wait for my arm.

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 heaven, and look down to the earth below. For the heavens will vanish like smoke, and the earth will be worn away like a garment, and its inhabitants will pass away in like manner. But my salvation will be forever, and my justice will 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 Listen to me, you who know what is just, my people who have my law in their heart. Do not be afraid of disgrace among men, and do not dread their blasphemies.

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 the worm will consume them like a garment, and the moth will devour them like wool. But my salvation will be forever, and my justice will be from generation to generation.

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 Rise up, Rise up! Clothe yourself in strength, O arm of the Lord! Rise up as in the days of antiquity, as in generations long past. Have you not struck the arrogant one and wounded the dragon?

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 Have not you dried up the sea, the waters of the great abyss, and turned the depths of the sea into a road, so that the delivered could cross over it?

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 And now, those who have been redeemed by the Lord will return. And they will arrive in Zion, praising. And everlasting rejoicing will be upon their heads. They will take hold of gladness and rejoicing. Anguish and mourning will flee 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 It is I, I myself, who will console you. Who are you that you would be afraid of a mortal man, and of a son of man, who will wither like the 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 have you forgotten the Lord, your Maker, who extended the heavens, and who founded the earth? And have you been in constant dread, all day long, at the face of his fury, of the one who afflicted you and who had prepared to destroy you? Where is the fury of the oppressor now?

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 Advancing quickly, he will arrive to be revealed, and he will not kill unto utter destruction, nor will his bread fail.

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

15 But I am the Lord, your God, who stirs up the sea, and who makes the waves swell. 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 have placed my words in your mouth, and I have protected you in the shadow of my hand, so that you might plant the heavens, and found the earth, and so that you might say to Zion, “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 Lift up, Lift up! Arise, O Jerusalem! You drank, from the hand of the Lord, the cup of his wrath. You drank, even to the bottom of the cup of deep sleep. And you were given to drink, all the way to the dregs.

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 There is no one who can uphold her, out of all the sons whom she has conceived. And there is no one who would take her by the hand, out of all the sons whom she has raised.

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 There are two things which have happened to you. Who will be saddened over you? There is devastation and destruction, and famine and sword. Who will console 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 have been cast out. They have slept at the head of all the roads, and they have been ensnared like a gazelle. They have been filled by the indignation of the Lord, by the rebuke of your 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, listen to this, O poor little ones, and you who have been inebriated, but not by wine.

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

22 Thus says your Sovereign, the Lord, and your God, who will fight on behalf of his people: Behold, I have taken the cup of deep sleep from your hand. You shall no longer drink from the bottom of the cup of my indignation.

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 set it in the hand of those who have humiliated you, and who have said to your soul: “Bow down, so that we pass over.” And you placed your body on the ground, as a path for them to pass over.

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.