< Isaiah 51 >
1 “Listen to Me, you pursuing righteousness, Seeking YHWH, Look attentively to the rock—you have been hewn, And to the hole of the pit—you have been dug.
2 Look attentively to your father Abraham, And to Sarah—she brings you forth, For—one—I have called him, And I bless him, and multiply him.”
3 For YHWH has comforted Zion, He has comforted all her ruins, And He sets her wilderness as Eden, And her desert as a garden of YHWH, Joy, indeed, gladness is found in her, Confession, and the voice of song.
4 “Attend to Me, O My people, And, O My nation, give ear to Me. For a law goes out from Me, And My judgment to the light, I cause peoples to rest.
5 My righteousness [is] near, My salvation has gone out, And My arms judge peoples, Islands wait on Me, Indeed, on My arm they wait with hope.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, And look attentively to the earth beneath, For the heavens have vanished as smoke, And the earth wears out as a garment, And its inhabitants die as gnats, And My salvation is for all time, And My righteousness is not broken.
7 Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, A people in whose heart [is] My law, Do not fear the reproach of men, And do not be frightened of their reviling,
8 For a moth eats them as a garment, And a worm eats them as wool, And My righteousness is for all time, And My salvation from generation to generation.”
9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of YHWH, Awake, as [in] days of old, generations of the ages, Are You not it that is hewing down Rahab, Piercing a dragon?
10 Are You not it that is drying up a sea, Waters of a great deep? That has made deep places of a sea A way for the passing of the redeemed?
11 And the ransomed of YHWH return, And they have come to Zion with singing, And continuous joy [is] on their head, They attain gladness and joy, Sorrow and sighing have fled away,
12 “I [am] He who comforts you, Who [are] you—and you are afraid of man? He dies! And of the son of man—he is made [like] grass!
13 And you forget YHWH your Maker, Who is stretching out the heavens, and founding earth, And you continually fear all the day, Because of the fury of the oppressor, As he has prepared to destroy. And where [is] the fury of the oppressor?
14 A wanderer has hurried to be loosed, And he does not die in the pit, And his bread is not lacking.
15 And I [am] your God YHWH, Quieting the sea when its billows roar, YHWH of Hosts [is] His Name.
16 And I put My words in your mouth, And have covered you with the shadow of My hand, To plant the heavens, and to found earth, And to say to Zion, You [are] My people.”
17 Stir yourself, stir yourself, rise, Jerusalem, You who have drunk from the hand of YHWH The cup of His fury, The goblet, the cup of trembling, you have drunk, You have wrung out.
18 There is not a leader to her Out of all the sons she has borne, And there is none laying hold on her hand Out of all the sons she has nourished.
19 These two are meeting you, Who is moved for you? Spoiling and destruction, famine and sword! By whom do I comfort you?
20 Your sons have been wrapped up, they have lain down, At the head of all out places, as an antelope [in] a dragnet, They are full of the fury of YHWH, The rebuke of Your God.
21 Therefore, please hear this, O afflicted and drunken one, and not with wine,
22 Thus said your Lord YHWH, and your God, He pleads [for] His people: “Behold, I have taken the cup of trembling out of your hand, The goblet, the cup of My fury, You do not add to drink it anymore.
23 And I have put it into the hand of those afflicting you, Who have said to your soul, Bow down, and we pass over, And you make your body as the earth, And as the street to those passing by!”
