Isaiah 51:1–15

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.