< Isaiah 51 >
1 Hearken to me, ye that pursue righteousness, that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence ye were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye were dug up.
2 Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bore you; for he was one when I called him, and I blessed him, and I increased him.
3 Yea, the Lord hath comforted Zion; he hath comforted all her ruins; and he hath made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord: gladness and joy shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of song.
4 Listen unto me, my people; and O my nation, give ear unto me; for a law shall proceed from me, and my justice will I establish as a light of the people.
5 My righteousness is near; my salvation goeth forth, and my arms shall judge the people: on me the isles shall wait, and for my arm shall they hope.
6 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 wear out like a garment, and they that dwell thereon shall die in like manner; but my salvation shall exist for ever, and my righteousness shall not be delayed.
7 Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, O people in whose heart my law is: ye must not fear the reproach of men, and of their revilings shall ye not be in dread.
8 For like a garment shall the moth eat them up, and like wool shall the worm eat them; but my righteousness shall exist for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.
9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord: awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of olden times. Art thou not it that struck down Rahab, that pierced the crocodile?
10 Art thou not it that dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; that rendered the depths of the sea a road for the redeemed to pass through?
11 And [so] shall the ransomed of the Lord return, and come to Zion with song, with everlasting joy upon their head; gladness and joy shall they obtain, while sorrow and sighing shall have fled away.
12 I, I am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a mortal that must die, and of a son of man who will wither as the grass?
13 And thou forgettest the Lord, thy Maker, who hath spread out the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and thou dreadest continually, all the day, because of the fury of the oppressor, whenever he aimeth to destroy: and where is [now] the fury of the oppressor?
14 The exile will be speedily set free; and he shall not die in the dungeon, and his bread shall not fail.
15 For I am the Lord thy God, who stirreth up the sea that its waves roar: the Lord of hosts is his name.
16 And I have placed 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 to Zion, Thou art my people.
17 Rouse up, rouse up, arise, O Jerusalem, thou who hast drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury: the deep cup of confusion hast thou drunk, hast thou drained.
18 There is none to lead her, from all the children whom she hath born; and there is none that taketh her by the hand, from all the children whom she hath brought up.
19 Two things are these which have befallen thee: who will have compassion for thee? desolation and destruction, and famine and sword—with whom shall I comfort thee?
20 Thy children have fainted, they lie at the entrance of all streets, as a wild bull caught in a net, [they are those] who are full of the fury of the Lord, the threatening of thy God.
21 Therefore hear now this, O thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine.
22 Thus hath said thy Lord, the Eternal, and thy God, who will ever plead for his people, Behold, I have taken out of thy hand the cup of confusion, the deep cup of my fury: thou shalt never more drink it again.
23 And I will place it in the hand of those who have tortured thee, that have said to thy soul, Bend thee down, that we may pass over; and thou madest like the earth thy back, and like the street for those that passed over.
