Isaiah 51

The Lord Comforts Zion

51“Listen to Me, ^ayou who ¹follow after righteousness,

You who seek the Lord:

Look to the rock from which you were hewn,

And to the hole of the pit from which you were dug.

^2bLook to Abraham your father,

And to Sarah who bore you;

^cFor I called him alone,

And ^dblessed him and increased him.”

³For the Lord will ^ecomfort Zion,

He will comfort all her waste places;

He will make her wilderness like Eden,

And her desert ^flike the garden of the Lord;

Joy and gladness will be found in it,

Thanksgiving and the voice of melody.

⁴“Listen to Me, My people;

And give ear to Me, O My nation:

^gFor law will proceed from Me,

And I will make My justice rest

^hAs a light of the peoples.

⁵ⁱMy righteousness is near,

My salvation has gone forth,

^jAnd My arms will judge the peoples;

^kThe coastlands will wait upon Me,

And ^lon My arm they will trust.

^6mLift up your eyes to the heavens,

And look on the earth beneath.

For ⁿthe heavens will vanish away like smoke,

^oThe earth will grow old like a garment,

And those who dwell in it will die in like manner;

But My salvation will be ^pforever,

And My righteousness will not be ²abolished.

⁷“Listen to Me, you who know righteousness,

You people ^qin whose heart is My law:

^rDo not fear the reproach of men,

Nor be afraid of their insults.

⁸For ^sthe moth will eat them up like a garment,

And the worm will eat them like wool;

But My righteousness will be forever,

And My salvation from generation to generation.”

^9tAwake, awake, ^uput on strength,

O arm of the Lord!

Awake ^vas in the ancient days,

In the generations of old.

^wAre You not the arm that cut ^xRahab apart,

And wounded the ^yserpent?

¹⁰Are You not the One who ^zdried up the sea,

The waters of the great deep;

That made the depths of the sea a road

For the redeemed to cross over?

¹¹So ^athe ransomed of the Lord shall return,

And come to Zion with singing,

With everlasting joy on their heads.

They shall obtain joy and gladness;

Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

¹²“I, even I, am He ^bwho comforts you.

Who are you that you should be afraid

^cOf a man who will die,

And of the son of a man who will be made ^dlike grass?

¹³And ^eyou forget the Lord your Maker,

^fWho stretched out the heavens

And laid the foundations of the earth;

You have feared continually every day

Because of the fury of the oppressor,

When he has prepared to destroy.

^gAnd where is the fury of the oppressor?

¹⁴The captive exile hastens, that he may be loosed,

^hThat he should not die in the pit,

And that his bread should not fail.

¹⁵But I am the Lord your God,

Who ⁱdivided the sea whose waves roared—

The Lord of hosts is His name.

¹⁶And ^jI have put My words in your mouth;

^kI have covered you with the shadow of My hand,

^lThat I may ³plant the heavens,

Lay the foundations of the earth,

And say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’ ”

God’s Fury Removed

^17mAwake, awake!

Stand up, O Jerusalem,

You who ⁿhave drunk at the hand of the Lord

The cup of His fury;

You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling,

And drained it out.

¹⁸There is no one to guide her

Among all the sons she has brought forth;

Nor is there any who takes her by the hand

Among all the sons she has brought up.

^19oThese two things have come to you;

Who will be sorry for you?—

Desolation and destruction, famine and sword—

^pBy whom will I comfort you?

^20qYour sons have fainted,

They lie at the head of all the streets,

Like an antelope in a net;

They are full of the fury of the Lord,

The rebuke of your God.

²¹Therefore please hear this, you afflicted,

And drunk ^rbut not with wine.

²²Thus says your Lord,

The Lord and your God,

Who ^spleads the cause of His people:

“See, I have taken out of your hand

The cup of trembling,

The dregs of the cup of My fury;

You shall no longer drink it.

^23tBut I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you,

Who have said to ⁴you,

‘Lie down, that we may walk over you.’

And you have laid your body like the ground,

And as the street, for those who walk over.”