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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.”

11 Therefore the redeemed by Jehovah shall return. He now describes more plainly what he had briefly remarked; for, after having related the magnificent works of God, by which he formerly displayed his power in Egypt, in order to deliver his people, he concludes that neither the sea, nor the lofty rocks, nor the whirlpools, nor even hell itself, can prevent him from leading forth his people out of Babylon. And in order to confirm it more fully, and to apply that example, he calls them “redeemed,” that they may know that, when God calls himself the deliverer of his people, this belongs to them, and that they may not doubt that, in delivering them, he will produce such an example as had been already exhibited; for the reason is the same.

Shall come to Zion. Namely, to that place where he wished that men should call on his name, that the temple may be rebuilt and the pure worship of God restored; for, since the Jews, during the Babylonish captivity, ought to expect the same aid as had been obtained by their fathers, because God was in like manner the Redeemer of the children also, they were superior to the fathers in one respect, that God had at that time chosen Mount Zion, in which he had promised that his rest would be eternal. (Psalm 132:14.) But since the work of God, which Isaiah promises, was worthy of admiration, on this account, he exhorts the people to praise and thanksgiving.

With a song. רנה (rinnah) may indeed be taken simply for “rejoicing;” but, as it frequently denotes the praise which is rendered to God when we acknowledge his benefits, I prefer to take it in that sense in this passage. ²⁷²⁷ “J’aime mieux le prendre pour cantique en cest endroit-ci.” “I prefer to take it for a song in this passage.” The meaning is, that there will be a great and unexpected change, so that they shall have very abundant ground of joy and thanksgiving. When he says that joy shall be on their head, he alludes to the chaplets of flowers with which they were wont to adorn themselves at banquets. He adds that “they shall obtain joy,” which denotes that their enjoyment shall be solid and lasting. Lastly, for the purpose of amplification, he adds that all sorrow shall be banished, that they may not dread what frequently happens, that joy, by a sudden change, shall give place to mourning. (Proverbs 14:13.) Yet the Prophet instructs them, though they groan and are sorrowful, to wait patiently for that issue which he promises.