Isaiah 51:1–11

The Lord’s Comfort for Zion

51^d“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,

you who seek the Lord:

look to the rock from which you were hewn,

and to the quarry from which you were dug.

²Look to Abraham your father

and to Sarah who bore you;

for ^ehe was but one when I called him,

that I might bless him and multiply him.

³For the Lord ^fcomforts Zion;

he comforts all her waste places

and makes her wilderness like ^gEden,

her desert like ^hthe garden of the Lord;

ⁱjoy and gladness will be found in her,

thanksgiving and the voice of song.

^4j“Give attention to me, my people,

and give ear to me, my nation;

^kfor a law¹ will go out from me,

and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.

^5lMy righteousness draws near,

my salvation has gone out,

and my arms will judge the peoples;

^mthe coastlands hope for me,

and for my arm they wait.

⁶ⁿLift up your eyes to the heavens,

and look at the earth beneath;

^ofor the heavens vanish like smoke,

the earth will wear out like a garment,

and they who dwell in it will die in like manner;²

^pbut my salvation will be forever,

and my righteousness will never be dismayed.

^7q“Listen to me, you who know righteousness,

the people ^rin whose heart is my law;

^sfear not the reproach of man,

nor be dismayed at their revilings.

^8tFor the moth will eat them up like a garment,

and the worm will eat them like wool,

^pbut my righteousness will be forever,

and my salvation to all generations.”

^9uAwake, 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?

^10aWas 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?

^11bAnd 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.