< Isaiah 51 >

1 Here ye me, that suen that that is iust, and seken the Lord. Take ye hede to the stoon, fro whennys ye ben hewun doun, and to the caue of the lake, fro which ye ben kit doun.
Listen to me, you that follow after righteousness, and seek the Lord: look to the solid rock, which you have hewn, and to the hole of the pit which you have dug.
2 Take ye heede to Abraham, youre fadir, and to Sare, that childide you; for Y clepide hym oon, and Y blesside hym, and Y multipliede hym.
Look to Abraam your father, and to Sarrha that bore you: for he was alone when I called him, and blessed him, and loved him, and multiplied him.
3 Therfor the Lord schal coumforte Sion, and he schal coumforte alle the fallyngis therof; and he schal sette the desert therof as delices, and the wildirnesse therof as a gardyn of the Lord; ioie and gladnesse schal be foundun therynne, the doyng of thankyngis and the vois of heriyng.
And now I will comfort you, O Sion: and I have comforted all her desert places; and I will make her desert places as a garden, and her western places as the garden of the Lord; they shall find in her gladness and exultation, thanksgiving and the voice of praise.
4 Mi puple, take ye heede to me, and, my lynage, here ye me; for whi a lawe schal go out fro me, and my doom schal reste in to the liyt of puplis.
Hear me, hear me, my people; and you kings, listen to me: for a law shall proceed from me, and my judgement [shall be] for a light of the nations.
5 My iust man is nyy, my sauyour is gon out, and myn armes schulen deme puplis; ilis schulen abide me, and schulen suffre myn arm.
My righteousness speedily draws near, and my salvation shall go forth as light, and on mine arm shall the Gentiles trust: the isles shall wait for me, and on mine arm shall they trust.
6 Reise youre iyen to heuene, and se ye vndur erthe bynethe; for whi heuenes schulen melte awei as smoke, and the erthe schal be al to-brokun as a cloth, and the dwelleris therof schulen perische as these thingis; but myn helthe schal be withouten ende, and my riytfulnesse schal not fayle.
Lift up your eyes to the sky, and look on the earth beneath: for the sky was darkened like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and the inhabitants shall die in like manner: but my righteousness shall not fail.
7 Ye puple, that knowen the iust man, here me, my lawe is in the herte of hem; nyle ye drede the schenschipe of men, and drede ye not the blasfemyes of hem.
Hear me, you that know judgement, the people in whose heart is my law: fear not the reproach of men, and be not overcome by their contempt.
8 For whi a worm schal ete hem so as a cloth, and a mouyte schal deuoure hem so as wolle; but myn helthe schal be withouten ende, and my riytfulnesse in to generaciouns of generaciouns.
For as a garment will be devoured by time, and as wool will be devoured by a moth, [so shall they be consumed]; but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation for all generations.
9 Rise thou, rise thou, arm of the Lord, be thou clothyd in strengthe; rise thou, as in elde daies, in generaciouns of worldis. Whether thou smytidist not the proude man, woundidist not the dragoun?
Awake, awake, O Jerusalem, and put on the strength of your arm; awake as in the early time, as the ancient generation.
10 Whether thou driedist not the see, the watir of the greet depthe, which settidist the depthe of the see a weie, that men `that weren delyuered, schulden passe?
Are you not it that dried the sea, the water, [even] the abundance of the deep; that made the depths of the sea a way of passage for the delivered and redeemed?
11 And now thei that ben ayenbouyt of the Lord schulen turne ayen, and schulen come heriynge in to Syon, and euerlastynge gladnesse on the heedis of hem; thei schulen holde ioie and gladnesse, sorewe and weilyng schal fle awei.
for by [the help of] the Lord they shall return, and come to Sion with joy and everlasting exultation, for praise and joy shall come upon their head: pain, and grief, and groaning, have fled away.
12 `Y my silf schal coumforte you; what art thou, that thou drede of a deedli man, and of the sone of man, that schal wexe drie so as hei?
I, [even] I, am he that comforts you: consider who you are, that you were afraid of mortal man, and of the son of man, who are withered as grass.
13 And thou hast foryete `the Lord, thi creatour, that stretchide abrood heuenes, and foundide the erthe; and thou dreddist contynueli al dai of the face of his woodnesse, that dide tribulacioun to thee, and made redi for to leese. Where is now the woodnesse of the troblere?
And you have forgotten God who made you, who made the sky and founded the earth; and you were continually afraid because of the wrath of him that afflicted you: for [whereas] he counselled to take you away, yet now where is the wrath of him that afflicted you?
14 Soone he schal come, goynge for to opene; and he schal not sle til to deth, nether his breed schal faile.
For in your deliverance he shall not halt, nor wait;
15 Forsothe Y am thi Lord God, that disturble the see, and the wawis therof wexen greet; the Lord of oostis is my name.
for I am your God, that troubles the sea, and causes the waves thereof to roar: the Lord of hosts is my name.
16 Y haue put my wordis in thi mouth, and Y defendide thee in the schadewe of myn hond; that thou plaunte heuenes, and founde the erthe, and seie to Sion, Thou art my puple.
I will put my words into your mouth, and I will shelter you under the shadow of mine hand, with which I fixed the sky, and founded the earth: and [the Lord] shall say to Sion, You are my people.
17 Be thou reisid, be thou reisid, rise thou, Jerusalem, that hast drunke of the hond of the Lord the cuppe of his wraththe; thou hast drunke `til to the botme of the cuppe of sleep, thou hast drunke of `til to the drastis.
Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, that have drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury: for you have drunk out and drained the cup of calamity, the cup of wrath:
18 Noon is that susteyneth it, of alle the sones whiche it gendride; and noon is that takith the hond therof, of alle the sones whiche it nurshide.
and there was none to comfort you of all the children whom you bore; and there was none to take hold of your hand, not even of all the children whom you has reared.
19 Twei thingis ben that camen to thee; who schal be sori on thee? distriyng, and defoulyng, and hungur, and swerd. Who schal coumforte thee?
Therefore these things are against you; who shall sympathise with you in your grief? downfall, and destruction, famine, and sword: who shall comfort you?
20 Thi sones ben cast forth, thei slepten in the heed of alle weies, as the beeste orix, takun bi a snare; thei ben ful of indignacioun of the Lord, of blamyng of thi God.
Your sons are the perplexed ones, that sleep at the top of every street as a half-boiled beet; they that are full of the anger of the Lord, caused to faint by the Lord God.
21 Therfor, thou pore, and drunkun, not of wyn, here these thingis.
Therefore hear, you afflicted one, and drunken, [but] not with wine;
22 Thi lordli gouernour, the Lord, and thi God, that fauyt for his puple, seith these thingis, Lo! Y haue take fro thyn hond the cuppe of sleep, the botme of the cuppe of myn indignacioun; Y schal not leie to, that thou drynke it ony more.
thus says the Lord God that judges his people, Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of calamity, the cup of my wrath; and you shall not drink it any more.
23 And Y schal sette it in the hond of hem that maden thee low, and seiden to thi soule, Be thou bowid that we passe; and thou hast set thi bodi as erthe, and as a weye to hem that goen forth.
And I will give it into the hands of them that injured you, and them that afflicted you; who said to your soul, Bow down, that we may pass over: and you did level your body with the ground to them passing by without.

< Isaiah 51 >