Isaiah 51
51 1Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek
Jehovah: look unto the rock whence ye were hewn, and to the hold of the pit
whence ye were digged.
2Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah
that bare you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and
made him many.
3For Jehovah hath comforted Zion; he hath comforted all
her waste places, and hath made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like
the garden of Jehovah; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving,
and the voice of melody.
4Attend unto me, O my people; and give ear unto
me, O my nation: for a law shall go forth from me, and I will establish my
justice for a light of the peoples.
5My righteousness is near, my
salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the peoples; the isles
shall wait for me, and on mine arm shall they trust.
6Lift up your eyes
to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish
away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment; and they that
dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever,
and my righteousness shall not be abolished.
7Hearken unto me, ye that
know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the
reproach of men, neither be ye dismayed at their revilings.
8For the moth
shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but
my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation unto all generations.
9Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of Jehovah; awake, as in the days
of old, the generations of ancient times. Is it not thou that didst cut Rahab
in pieces, that didst pierce the monster?
10Is it not thou that driedst
up the sea, the waters of the great deep; that madest the depths of the sea a
way for the redeemed to pass over?
11And the ransomed of Jehovah shall
return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon
their heads: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and
sighing shall flee away.
12I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art
thou, that thou art afraid of man that shall die, and of the son of man that
shall be made as grass;
13and hast forgotten Jehovah thy Maker, that
stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and
fearest continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he
maketh ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?
14The
captive exile shall speedily be loosed; and he shall not die and go
down into the pit, neither shall his bread fail.
15For I am Jehovah
thy God, who stirreth up the sea, so that the waves thereof roar: Jehovah of
hosts is his name.
16And I have put my words in thy mouth, and have
covered thee in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay
the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.
17Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, that hast drunk at the hand of
Jehovah the cup of his wrath; thou hast drunken the bowl of the cup of
staggering, and drained it.
18There is none to guide her among all the
sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the
hand among all the sons that she hath brought up.
19These two things are
befallen thee, who shall bemoan thee? desolation and destruction, and the
famine and the sword; how shall I comfort thee?
20Thy sons have fainted,
they lie at the head of all the streets, as an antelope in a net; they are
full of the wrath of Jehovah, the rebuke of thy God.
21Therefore hear now
this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but now with wine:
22Thus saith thy
Lord Jehovah, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I
have taken out of thy hand the cup of staggering, even the bowl of the cup of
my wrath; thou shalt no more drink it again:
23and I will put it into the
hand of them that afflict thee, that have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we
may go over; and thou hast laid thy back as the ground, and as the street, to
them that go over.