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51. Everlasting Salvation for Zion

¹ “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness
   and who seek the LORD:
Look to the rock from which you were cut
   and to the quarry from which you were hewn;
² look to Abraham, your father,
   and to Sarah, who gave you birth.
When I called him he was only one man,
   and I blessed him and made him many.
³ The LORD will surely comfort Zion
   and will look with compassion on all her ruins;
he will make her deserts like Eden,
   her wastelands like the garden of the LORD.
Joy and gladness will be found in her,
   thanksgiving and the sound of singing.

    ⁴ “Listen to me, my people;
   hear me, my nation:
Instruction will go out from me;
   my justice will become a light to the nations.
⁵ My righteousness draws near speedily,
   my salvation is on the way,
   and my arm will bring justice to the nations.
The islands will look to me
   and wait in hope for my arm.
⁶ Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
   look at the earth beneath;
the heavens will vanish like smoke,
   the earth will wear out like a garment
   and its inhabitants die like flies.
But my salvation will last forever,
   my righteousness will never fail.

    ⁷ “Hear me, you who know what is right,
   you people who have taken my instruction to heart:
Do not fear the reproach of mere mortals
   or be terrified by their insults.
⁸ For the moth will eat them up like a garment;
   the worm will devour them like wool.
But my righteousness will last forever,
   my salvation through all generations.”

    ⁹ Awake, awake, arm of the LORD,
   clothe yourself with strength!
Awake, as in days gone by,
   as in generations of old.
Was it not you who cut Rahab to pieces,
   who pierced that monster through?
¹⁰ Was it not you who dried up the sea,
   the waters of the great deep,
who made a road in the depths of the sea
   so that the redeemed might cross over?
¹¹ Those the LORD has rescued will return.
   They will enter Zion with singing;
   everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
   and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

    ¹² “I, even I, am he who comforts you.
   Who are you that you fear mere mortals,
   human beings who are but grass,
¹³ that you forget the LORD your Maker,
   who stretches out the heavens
   and who lays the foundations of the earth,
that you live in constant terror every day
   because of the wrath of the oppressor,
   who is bent on destruction?
For where is the wrath of the oppressor?
    ¹⁴ The cowering prisoners will soon be set free;
they will not die in their dungeon,
   nor will they lack bread.
¹⁵ For I am the LORD your God,
   who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
   the LORD Almighty is his name.
¹⁶ I have put my words in your mouth
   and covered you with the shadow of my hand—
I who set the heavens in place,
   who laid the foundations of the earth,
   and who say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”

The Cup of the LORD’s Wrath

    ¹⁷ Awake, awake!
   Rise up, Jerusalem,
you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD
   the cup of his wrath,
you who have drained to its dregs
   the goblet that makes people stagger.
¹⁸ Among all the children she bore
   there was none to guide her;
among all the children she reared
   there was none to take her by the hand.
¹⁹ These double calamities have come upon you—
   who can comfort you?—
ruin and destruction, famine and sword—
   who can Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; Masoretic Text / how can I console you?
²⁰ Your children have fainted;
   they lie at every street corner,
   like antelope caught in a net.
They are filled with the wrath of the LORD,
   with the rebuke of your God.

    ²¹ Therefore hear this, you afflicted one,
   made drunk, but not with wine.
²² This is what your Sovereign LORD says,
   your God, who defends his people:
“See, I have taken out of your hand
   the cup that made you stagger;
from that cup, the goblet of my wrath,
   you will never drink again.
²³ I will put it into the hands of your tormentors,
   who said to you,
   ‘Fall prostrate that we may walk on you.’
And you made your back like the ground,
   like a street to be walked on.”

5. My righteousness is near. He confirms the former doctrine. The “righteousness” of the Lord has relation to men, who know by experience that he is “righteous.” While the people were oppressed by cruel bondage, they knew, indeed, that they were justly punished for their sins; but they might wonder that they were so much forsaken, because the worship of God ceased, and his name was blasphemed by wicked men, who pursued their wicked career without punishment. In order, therefore, to bring them some consolation, he promises that God will speedily assist them, so that all shall acknowledge that he is faithful and just. By the word “righteous” the Prophet does not mean that he renders to every one a “righteous” reward, but that he yields the best protection, and dispenses the largest kindness to his people, that he faithfully performs his promises to all believers, when he delivers them and does not suffer them to be finally overwhelmed.

This appears more clearly from the following clause, in which, for the purpose of explanation, he adds, My salvation hath gone forth; for the “righteousness” of God shone brightly in the deliverance of the people. Now, the captivity in which the Jews were held in Babylon was a kind of death, in consequence of which that deliverance is here called “Salvation.”

My arms shall judge the peoples. By “arms” he means the wide exercise of his power. That figure of speech which describes God under forms of expression drawn from the human frame occurs frequently in Scripture. Because God’s government appeared to be confined within narrow limits, or rather was not at all visible, on this account he mentions arms, by which he means that he will spread his kingdom far and wide.