Isaiah 51

1 Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek Yahweh: look at the rock from which you were chiseled and to the quarry from which you were cut.

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.

2 Look at Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who bore you; for when he was a lone individual, I called him. I blessed him and made him many.

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

3 Yes, Yahweh will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places; her wilderness he made like Eden, and her desert plains beside the Jordan River valley like the garden of Yahweh; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving, and the sound of singing.

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.

4 “Be attentive to me, my people; and listen to me, my people! For I will issue a decree, and I will make my justice to be a light for the nations.

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.

5 My righteousness is near; my salvation will go out, and my arm will judge the nations; the coastlands will wait for me; for my arm they will eagerly wait.

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.

6 Lift up your eyes to the sky, and look at the earth beneath, for the heavens will vanish away like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its inhabitants will die like flies. But my salvation will continue forever, and my righteousness will never stop working.

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.

7 Listen to me, you who know what is right, you people who have my law in your heart: Do not fear the insults of men, nor be disheartened by their abuse.

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.

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

9 Awake, awake, clothe yourself with strength, arm of Yahweh. Awake as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Is it not you who crushed Rahab, you who pierced the monster?

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?

10 Did you not dry up the sea, the waters of the great deep, and make the depths of the sea into a way for the redeemed to pass through?

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?

11 The ransomed of Yahweh will return and come to Zion with cries of joy and with gladness forever on their heads; and gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and mourning will flee away.

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.

12 “I, I, am he who comforts you. Why are you afraid of men, who will die, the sons of mankind, who are made like grass?

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;

13 Why have you forgotten Yahweh your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth? You are in constant dread every day because of the hot fury of the oppressor when he decides to destroy. Where is the fury of the oppressor?

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?

14 The one who is bent down, Yahweh will hurry to release; he will not die and go down to the pit, nor will he lack bread.

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

15 For I am Yahweh your God, who churns up the sea so that its waves roar—Yahweh of hosts is his name.

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

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

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.

17 Awake, awake, stand up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk out of the hand of Yahweh from the bowl of his anger; you who have drunk out of the bowl, down to the dregs from the cup of staggering.

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.

18 There is no one among all the sons she has born to guide her; there is no one among all the sons that she has raised to take her by the hand.

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.

19 These two troubles happened to you—who will grieve with you?— desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword. Who will comfort you?

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?

20 Your sons have fainted; they lie at every street corner, like an antelope in a net; they are filled with the anger of Yahweh, the rebuke of your God.

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.

21 But now hear this, you oppressed one and drunken one, but not drunk with wine:

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

22 Your Lord Yahweh, your God, who pleads the cause of his people, says this, “See, I have taken the cup of staggering from your hand— the bowl, which is the cup of my anger—so that you will not drink it again.

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:

23 I will put it into the hand of your tormentors, those who have said to you, 'Lie down, that we may walk over you'; you made your back like the ground and like the street for them to walk on.”

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.