51
1 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, who seek the LORD.
Look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry pit from which you were dug.
2 Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you.
For I called him when he was but one, and I blessed him and multiplied him.”
3 For the LORD will comfort Zion;
he will comfort all her ruins.
He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the LORD.
Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
4 “Pay attention to me, my people;
give ear to me, my nation.
For instruction will go out from me, and I will establish my justice as a light for the peoples.
5 My righteousness is near;
my salvation has gone forth, and my arms will judge the peoples.
The islands will wait for me and hope in my arm.
6 Lift your eyes to the heavens and look at the earth below.
For the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its inhabitants will die in the same way.
But my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will not be broken.
7 Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people with my instruction in their hearts.
Do not fear human insults or be dismayed at their taunts.
8 For the moth will eat them like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool.
But my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation from generation to generation.”
9 Awake, awake, clothe yourself with strength, arm of the LORD!
Awake as in days of old, the generations of long ago.
Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces and pierced the sea monster?
10 Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a road for the redeemed to cross?
11 The ransomed of the LORD will return and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy upon their heads.
They will obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing will flee.
12 “I, I am the one who comforts you.
Who are you that you fear a mortal man, a son of man who is made like grass?
13 You have forgotten the LORD your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundation of the earth.
You fear continually, all day long, because of the fury of the oppressor as he prepares to destroy.
But where is the fury of the oppressor?
14 The one bowed down will soon be released;
he will not die in the pit, nor will his bread be lacking.
15 For I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar;
the LORD of hosts is his name.
16 I have put my words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of my hand, to plant the heavens, lay the foundation of the earth, and say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’ ”
17 Awake, awake, rise up, Jerusalem!
You have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of his wrath;
you have drunk the bowl, the cup of staggering, and drained it.
18 Among all the sons she has borne there is no one to guide her;
among all the sons she has raised there is no one to take her by the hand.
19 These two things have befallen you—who will grieve with you?—devastation and destruction, famine and sword.
By whom shall I comfort you?
20 Your sons have fainted;
they lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a net, filled with the wrath of the LORD and the rebuke of your God.
21 Therefore hear this now, you afflicted one, drunk, but not with wine:
22 This is what your Lord, the LORD, and your God, who pleads his people’s cause, says: “Look, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering, the bowl, the cup of my wrath.
You will never drink it again.
23 I will put it in the hand of your tormentors, who said to you, ‘Bow down so that we may walk over you.’ You made your back like the ground, like a street for those who passed over.”