< 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.
Hearken unto Me, ye pursuing righteousness, Seeking Jehovah, Look attentively unto the rock — ye have been hewn, And unto the hole of the pit — ye have been digged.
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 attentively unto Abraham your father, And unto Sarah — she bringeth you forth, For — one — I have called him, And I bless him, and multiply 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 Jehovah hath comforted Zion, He hath comforted all her wastes, And He setteth her wilderness as Eden, And her desert as a garden of Jehovah, Joy, yea, gladness is found in her, Confession, and the voice of song.
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.
Attend unto Me, O My people, And, O My nation, unto Me give ear. For a law from Me goeth out, And My judgment to the light, Peoples I do cause to rest.
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.
Near [is] My righteousness, Gone out hath My salvation and Mine arms, Peoples they judge, on Me isles do wait, Yea, on Mine arm they do wait with hope.
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 ye up to the heavens your eyes, And look attentively unto the earth beneath, For the heavens as smoke have vanished, And the earth as a garment weareth out, And its inhabitants as gnats do die, And My salvation is to the age, And My righteousness is not broken.
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.
Hearken unto Me, ye who know righteousness, A people, in whose heart [is] My law, Fear ye not the reproach of men, And for their reviling be not affrighted,
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 as a garment eat them doth a moth, And as wool eat them doth a worm, And My righteousness is to the age, And My salvation to all generations.
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 Jehovah, Awake, as [in] days of old, generations of the ages, Art not Thou it that is hewing down Rahab, Piercing a 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?
Art not Thou it that is drying up a sea, Waters of a great deep? That hath made deep places of a sea A way for the passing of the redeemed?
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.
And the ransomed of Jehovah turn back, And they have come to Zion with singing, And joy age-during [is] on their head, Gladness and joy they attain, Fled away have sorrow and sighing,
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 — I [am] He — your comforter, Who [art] thou — and thou art afraid of man? he dieth! And of the son of man — grass he is made!
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 thou dost forget Jehovah thy maker, Who is stretching out the heavens, and founding earth, And thou dost fear continually all the day, Because of the fury of the oppressor, As he hath prepared 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.
Hastened hath a wanderer to be loosed, And he doth not die at the pit, And his bread is not lacking.
15 For I am Yahweh your God, who churns up the sea so that its waves roar—Yahweh of hosts is his name.
And I [am] Jehovah thy God, Quieting the sea, when its billows roar, Jehovah 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 put My words in thy mouth, And with the shadow of My hand have covered thee, To plant the heavens, and to found earth, And to say to Zion, 'My people [art] thou.'
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.
Stir thyself, stir thyself, rise, Jerusalem, Who hast drunk from the hand of Jehovah The cup of His fury, The goblet, the cup of trembling, thou hast drunk, Thou hast wrung 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 not a leader to her Out of all the sons she hath borne, And there is none laying hold on her hand Out of all the sons she hath nourished.
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 are meeting thee, who is moved for thee? Spoiling and destruction — Famine and sword, who — I comfort thee?
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.
Thy sons have been wrapped up, they have lain down, At the head of all out places, as a wild ox [in] a net, They are full of the fury of Jehovah, The rebuke of Thy God.
21 But now hear this, you oppressed one and drunken one, but not drunk with wine:
Therefore, hear, I pray thee, this, O afflicted and drunken one, and 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 said thy Lord Jehovah, and thy God, He pleadeth [for] his people: 'Lo, I have taken out of thy hand the cup of trembling, The goblet, the cup of My fury, Thou dost not add to drink it any more.
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.”
And I have put it into the hand of those afflicting thee, Who have said to thy soul, Bow down, and we pass over, And thou makest as the earth thy body, And as the street to those passing by!'