Isaiæ 51
1 Audite me, qui sequimini quod justum est, et quæritis Dominum; attendite ad petram unde excisi estis, et ad cavernam laci de qua præcisi estis.
Listen to me, those of you who follow what is right, and who worship the Lord. Think about the rock from which you were cut, and to the quarry from which you were chiseled.
2 Attendite ad Abraham, patrem vestrum, et ad Saram, quæ peperit vos: quia unum vocavi eum, et benedixi ei, et multiplicavi eum.
Look back at Abraham your father, and Sarah who gave birth to you. When I called him, he was only one man, but then I blessed him and he had many descendants.
3 Consolabitur ergo Dominus Sion, et consolabitur omnes ruinas ejus: et ponet desertum ejus quasi delicias, et solitudinem ejus quasi hortum Domini. Gaudium et lætitia invenietur in ea, gratiarum actio et vox laudis.
The Lord will care for Zion and feel sorry about all her ruined places. He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert areas like the garden of the Lord. People there will have joy and happiness, giving thanks and singing sweet songs.
4 Attendite ad me, popule meus, et tribus mea, me audite: quia lex a me exiet, et judicium meum in lucem populorum requiescet.
Pay attention to me, my people; listen to me, my nation: I will send out my law, and my justice will be a light to the nations.
5 Prope est justus meus, egressus est salvator meus, et brachia mea populos judicabunt; me insulæ exspectabunt, et brachium meum sustinebunt.
My rule of right will arrive soon. My salvation is coming. My power will bring judgment to the nations. The distant lands are waiting for me and my power.
6 Levate in cælum oculos vestros, et videte sub terra deorsum: quia cæli sicut fumus liquescent, et terra sicut vestimentum atteretur, et habitatores ejus sicut hæc interibunt: salus autem mea in sempiternum erit, et justitia mea non deficiet.
Look up at the heavens, and look down at the earth beneath. The heavens will disappear like smoke, the earth will wear out like old clothes. The people living there will die like flies, but my salvation will last forever, and my way of goodness and right will never be destroyed.
7 Audite me, qui scitis justum, populus meus, lex mea in corde eorum: nolite timere opprobrium hominum, et blasphemias eorum ne metuatis:
Listen to me, you who know what's right, and who have really accepted my teachings. Don't be afraid of people's insults—they're just human—or be terrified by their abusive language.
8 sicut enim vestimentum, sic comedet eos vermis, et sicut lanam, sic devorabit eos tinea: salus autem mea in sempiternum erit, et justitia mea in generationes generationum.
Moths will eat them up like clothing; bugs will chew through them like wool. But my goodness will last forever, my salvation will endure for all generations.
9 Consurge, consurge, induere fortitudinem, brachium Domini! consurge sicut in diebus antiquis, in generationibus sæculorum. Numquid non tu percussisti superbum, vulnerasti draconem?
Please wake up, wake up! Use your strength, powerful Lord! Act as you used to in olden days, in former generations. Weren't you the one who cut Rahab to pieces, who killed that sea monster?
10 numquid non tu siccasti mare, aquam abyssi vehementis; qui posuisti profundum maris viam, ut transirent liberati?
Weren't you the one who dried up the sea, making a way through the deep waters for the redeemed to cross over?
11 Et nunc qui redempti sunt a Domino, revertentur, et venient in Sion laudantes, et lætitia sempiterna super capita eorum: gaudium et lætitiam tenebunt; fugiet dolor et gemitus.
Those the Lord has set free will return, singing as they enter Jerusalem, wearing crowns of everlasting joy. They are overcome with thankfulness and happiness; sorrow and sadness simply disappear.
12 Ego, ego ipse consolabor vos. Quis tu, ut timeres ab homine mortali, et a filio hominis qui quasi fœnum ita arescet?
It's me, yes, I am the one who comforts you. Why should you be afraid of mortals who die just like grass?
13 Et oblitus es Domini, factoris tui, qui tetendit cælos et fundavit terram; et formidasti jugiter tota die a facie furoris ejus qui te tribulabat, et paraverat ad perdendum. Ubi nunc est furor tribulantis?
You have forgotten the Lord, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and who laid the foundations of the earth! That's why you shake with fear all day long, because you're threatened by the anger of those who oppress you, wanting to destroy you. But where are your oppressors and their anger now?
14 Cito veniet gradiens ad aperiendum; et non interficiet usque ad internecionem, nec deficiet panis ejus.
The prisoners that are bowed down will soon be set free. They're not going to die; they won't go on being hungry.
15 Ego autem sum Dominus Deus tuus, qui conturbo mare, et intumescunt fluctus ejus: Dominus exercituum nomen meum.
For I am the Lord your God who whips up the sea so its waves roar. The Lord Almighty is his name.
16 Posui verba mea in ore tuo, et in umbra manus meæ protexi te, ut plantes cælos, et fundes terram, et dicas ad Sion: Populus meus es tu.
I have told you what to say, and I have protected you with my hand. I created the heavens and founded the earth, and told Zion, “You are my people.”
17 Elevare, elevare, consurge, Jerusalem, quæ bibisti de manu Domini calicem iræ ejus; usque ad fundum calicis soporis bibisti, et potasti usque ad fæces.
Wake up, wake up! Get up, Jerusalem! You have drunk from the cup of the Lord's anger he handed to you. You have drained it down to the bottom of the cup, the drink that makes people stagger around.
18 Non est qui sustentet eam, ex omnibus filiis quos genuit; et non est qui apprehendat manum ejus, ex omnibus filiis quos enutrivit.
Of all your children you had, there's not one left to guide you. Of all the children you raised, there's not one to take you by the hand.
19 Duo sunt quæ occurrerunt tibi; quis contristabitur super te? Vastitas, et contritio, et fames, et gladius; quis consolabitur te?
Two tragedies have struck you: devastation caused by famine, and destruction caused by war. Who is going to sympathize with you? Who is going to comfort you?
20 Filii tui projecti sunt, dormierunt in capite omnium viarum sicut oryx illaqueatus, pleni indignatione Domini, increpatione Dei tui.
Your children have collapsed, lying in every street like antelopes caught in a trap. They experienced the full anger of the Lord, the condemnation of your God.
21 Idcirco audi hoc, paupercula, et ebria non a vino.
So please listen to this, you poor people, sitting there in a drunken state, but not from drinking wine.
22 Hæc dicit dominator tuus Dominus, et Deus tuus, qui pugnabit pro populo suo: Ecce tuli de manu tua calicem soporis, fundum calicis indignationis meæ: non adjicies ut bibas illum ultra.
This is what your Lord God says, your God, who defends his people's cause: Look! I have taken away from you the cup that made you stagger around. You will never again have to drink from that cup, the cup of my anger.
23 Et ponam illum in manu eorum qui te humiliaverunt, et dixerunt animæ tuæ: Incurvare, ut transeamus; et posuisti ut terram corpus tuum, et quasi viam transeuntibus.
Instead I will give that cup to the people who tormented you, to those who said to you, “Lie face down so we can walk all over you.” You had to make your backs like the ground, like a street to be walked on.
