Isaiah 51

1 Listen to me, you that follow after righteousness, you that seek the LORD: look to the rock from where you are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from where you are dig.

Hearken unto me, Ye that pursue righteousness, Ye that seek Yahweh, —Look well unto the rock whence ye were hewn, And unto the quarry whence ye were digged:

2 Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah that bore you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.

Look well unto Abraham your father, And unto Sarah who gave you birth, —For he was, alone, when called I him, And, I blessed him that I might make him, many.

3 For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.

For Yahweh hath comforted Zion, He hath comforted all her waste places, And hath made her wilderness like Eden, And her waste plain like the garden of Yahweh, —Joy and gladness, shall be found in her, Thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.

4 Listen to me, my people; and give ear to me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.

Attend unto me, O my people, And, O, my nation unto me give ear, —For, instruction, from me, shall go forth, And, my justice—for a light of peoples, will I establish:

5 My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and my arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait on me, and on my arm shall they trust.

At hand is my righteousness. Gone forth hath my salvation, And, mine own arms, unto the peoples, shall give justice, —Upon me, Coastlands, shall wait, And for mine arm, shall they hope.

6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.

Lift up—to the heavens—your eyes, And look around to the earth beneath Though, the heavens, like smoke, should have vanished And, the earth, like a garment, should fall to pieces, And, her inhabitants, in like manner, should die, Yet, my salvation, unto times age-abiding, shall continue, And, my righteousness, shall not be broken down.

7 Listen to me, you that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear you not the reproach of men, neither be you afraid of their revilings.

Hearken unto me ye who discern righteousness, The people in whose heart is my law, —Do not fear the reproach of frail men, Nor at their revilings, be dismayed;

8 For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.

For like a garment, shall they be eaten of the moth, And like wool, shall they be eaten of the larva; But, my righteousness, unto times age-abiding shall continue, And, my salvation, unto the remotest generation.

9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Are you not it that has cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?

Awake, awake put on strength, O arm of Yahweh, Awake, As in days of old, The generations of bygone ages: Art not thou that which—Hewed down Rahab, Piercing the Crocodile?

10 Are you not it which has dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that has made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?

Art not thou that which dried up—The Sea, The waters of the mighty Deep, —That which made of the abysses of the sea a road for the passing over of the redeemed?

11 Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy shall be on their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

Therefore, the ransomed of Yahweh, shall again come unto Zion, with shouts of triumph, With gladness age-abiding on their head, —Joy, and gladness, shall overtake [them]. Sorrow and sighing have fled away.

12 I, even I, am he that comforts you: who are you, that you should be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass;

I—I, am he that comforteth you, —Who art, thou, that thou hast feared Frail man that dieth, and A son of the earthborn, who, as grass, shall be delivered up?

13 And forget the LORD your maker, that has stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and have feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?

That thou hast forgotten Yahweh thy maker, Who stretched out the heavens And founded the earth? That thou hast dreaded continually, all the day, by reason of the fury of the oppressor, in that he was ready to destroy? Where then is the fury of the oppressor?

14 The captive exile hastens that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.

The captive hath hastened to be loosed, —That he might not die in the pit. Neither should, his bread, be cut off.

15 But I am the LORD your God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name.

But, I—Yahweh, am thy God, Who threw into commotion the sea And the waves thereof roared, —Yahweh of hosts, is his name.

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

Therefore have I put my words in thy mouth, And with the shadow of my hand, have I covered thee, —To plant the heavens, and To lay the foundations of the earth, and To say unto Zion My people, thou art!

17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which have drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; you have drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.

Rouse thee—rouse, thee stand up, O Jerusalem, Who hast drunk, at the hand of Yahweh, his cup of indignation: The goblet-cup of confusion, hast thou drunk—hast thou drained.

18 There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she has brought forth; neither is there any that takes her by the hand of all the sons that she has brought up.

There is none to guide her, Among all the sons she hath borne, —There is none to grasp her hand, Among all the sons she hath brought up.

19 These two things are come to you; who shall be sorry for you? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort you?

Twain, are the things befalling thee, Who will lament for thee? Wasting and destruction and famine and sword By whom shall I comfort thee?

20 Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of your God.

Thy sons, have fainted, They lie at the head of all the streets like a gazelle in a net, —Who, indeed, are full of The indignation of Yahweh The rebuke of thy God.

21 Therefore hear now this, you afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:

Therefore, hear, I pray thee, this, thou humbled one, —And drunken but not with wine: —

22 Thus says your Lord the LORD, and your God that pleads the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; you shall no more drink it again:

Thus, saith Thy Lord, Yahweh, Even thy God who pleadeth the cause of his people: —Lo! I have taken, out of thy hand, the cup of confusion, —As for the goblet-cup of mine indignation, Thou shalt not again drink it, any more;

23 But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict you; which have said to your soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and you have laid your body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.

But I will put it into the hand of thy tormentors, Who said to thy soul, Bow down that we may pass over, —And so thou didst place as the ground, thy back, Yea as the street to such as were passing along.