Isaiah 51:9–52:6

9  uAwake, awake, vput on strength,

O warm of the Lord;

awake, xas in days of old,

the generations of long ago.

Was it not you who cut yRahab in pieces,

who pierced zthe dragon?

10  aWas it not you who dried up the sea,

the waters of the great deep,

who made the depths of the sea a way

for the redeemed to pass over?

11  bAnd the ransomed of the Lord shall return

and come to Zion with singing;

everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;

they shall obtain gladness and joy,

and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

12  “I, I am he cwho comforts you;

who are you that you are afraid of dman who dies,

of the son of man who is made elike grass,

13  and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,

fwho stretched out the heavens

and glaid the foundations of the earth,

and you fear continually all the day

because of the wrath of hthe oppressor,

when he sets himself to destroy?

And where is the wrath of hthe oppressor?

14  iHe who is bowed down shall speedily be released;

he shall not die and go down jto the pit,

neither shall his bread be lacking.

15  I am the Lord your God,

kwho stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—

the Lord of hosts is his name.

16  lAnd I have put my words in your mouth

mand covered you in the shadow of my hand,

nestablishing3 the heavens

and olaying the foundations of the earth,

and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’ ”

17  pWake yourself, wake yourself,

stand up, O Jerusalem,

qyou who have drunk from the hand of the Lord

the cup of his wrath,

who have drunk to the dregs

the bowl, rthe cup of staggering.

18  sThere is none to guide her

among all the sons she has borne;

there is none to take her by the hand

among all the sons she has brought up.

19  tThese two things have happened to you—

who will console you?—

devastation and destruction, famine and sword;

who will comfort you?4

20  uYour sons have fainted;

they lie at the head of every street

like an vantelope win a net;

they are full of the wrath of the Lord,

the rebuke of your God.

21  xTherefore hear this, you who are afflicted,

who are drunk, but not with wine:

22  Thus says your Lord, the Lord,

your God ywho pleads the cause of his people:

“Behold, I have taken from your hand rthe cup of staggering;

the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more;

23  zand I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,

awho have said to you,

‘Bow down, that we may pass over’;

and byou have made your back like the ground

and like the street for them to pass over.”

The Lord’s Coming Salvation

52 cAwake, awake,

put on your strength, O Zion;

dput on your beautiful garments,

O Jerusalem, ethe holy city;

ffor there shall no more come into you

the uncircumcised and the unclean.

2  gShake yourself from the dust and arise;

be seated, O Jerusalem;

hloose the bonds from your neck,

O captive daughter of Zion.

3 For thus says the Lord: i“You were sold for nothing, and jyou shall be redeemed without money.” 4 For thus says the Lord God: k“My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing.1 5 Now therefore what have I here,” declares the Lord, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail,” declares the Lord, “and lcontinually all the day my name is despised. 6 Therefore my people shall know my name. mTherefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here I am.”