Isaiah 51

¹Listen 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 he was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him.

³For the Lord comforts Zion ; he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden , her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song .

⁴Give attention to me, my people , and give ear to me, my nation ; for a law will go out from me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples .

⁵My righteousness draws near , my salvation has gone out , and my arms will judge the peoples ; the coastlands hope for me, and for my arm they wait .

⁶Lift up your eyes to the heavens , and look at the earth beneath ; for the heavens vanish like smoke , the earth will wear out like a garment , and they who dwell in it will die in like manner ; but my salvation will be forever , and my righteousness will never be dismayed .

⁷Listen to me, you who know righteousness , the people in whose heart is my law ; fear not the reproach of man , nor be dismayed at their revilings .

⁸For the 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 to all generations .

⁹Awake , awake , put on strength , O arm of the Lord; awake , as in days of old , the generations of long ago . Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces , who pierced the dragon ?

¹⁰Was 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 ?

¹¹And 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 .

¹²I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies , of the son of man who is made like grass ,

¹³and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker , who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth , and you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor , when he sets himself to destroy ? And where is the wrath of the oppressor ?

¹⁴He who is bowed down shall speedily be released ; he shall not die and go down to the pit , neither shall his bread be lacking .

¹⁵I am the Lord your God , who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar — the Lord of hosts is his name .

¹⁶And I have put my words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of my hand , establishing the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth , and saying to Zion , You are my people .

¹⁷Wake yourself , wake yourself , stand up , O Jerusalem , you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath , who have drunk to the dregs the bowl , the cup of staggering .

¹⁸There 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 .

¹⁹These two things have happened to you— who will console you?— devastation and destruction , famine and sword ; who will comfort you?

²⁰Your sons have fainted ; they lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a net ; they are full of the wrath of the Lord, the rebuke of your God .

²¹Therefore hear this , you who are afflicted , who are drunk , but not with wine :

²²Thus says your Lord , the Lord, your God who pleads the cause of his people : Behold , I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering ; the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more ;

²³and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors , who have said to you , Bow down , that we may pass over ; and you have made your back like the ground and like the street for them to pass over .