Isaiah 51:3–23
3 For 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.
4 j“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.
5 lMy 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.
6 nLift 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.
7 q“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.
8 tFor 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.”
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.
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,
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
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.”