1The LORD says, ‘Listen to me, you who want to do what is right. Pay attention, you who look to me. Consider the rock you were cut out of. Think about the rock pit you were dug from.2Consider Abraham. He is the father of your people. Think about Sarah. She is your mother. When I chose Abraham, he did not have any children. But I blessed him and gave him many of them.3You can be sure that I will comfort Zion’s people. I will look with loving concern on all their destroyed buildings. I will make their deserts like Eden. I will make their dry and empty land like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be there. People will sing and give thanks to me.4‘Listen to me, my people. Pay attention, my nation. My instruction will go out to the nations. I make everything right. That will be a guiding light for them.5The time for me to set you free is near. I will soon save you. My powerful arm will make everything right among the nations. The islands will put their hope in me. They will wait for my powerful arm to act.6Look up towards the heavens. Then look at the earth. The heavens will vanish like smoke. The earth will wear out like clothes. Those who live there will die like flies. But I will save you for ever. My saving power will never end.7‘Listen to me, you who know what is right. Pay attention, you who have taken my instruction to heart. Do not be afraid when mere human beings make fun of you. Do not be terrified when they laugh at you.8They will be like clothes that moths have eaten up. They will be like wool that worms have chewed up. But my saving power will last for ever. I will save you for all time to come.’9Wake up, arm of the LORD! Wake up! Dress yourself with strength as if it were your clothes! Wake up, just as you did in the past. Wake up, as you did long ago. Didn’t you cut Rahab to pieces? Didn’t you stab that sea monster to death?10Didn’t you dry up the Red Sea? Didn’t you dry up those deep waters? You made a road on the bottom of that sea. Then those who were set free went across.11Those the LORD has saved will return to their land. They will sing as they enter the city of Zion. Joy that lasts for ever will be like beautiful crowns on their heads. They will be filled with gladness and joy. Sorrow and sighing will be gone.12The LORD says to his people, ‘I comfort you because of who I am. Why are you afraid of mere human beings? They are like grass that dries up.13How can you forget me? I made you. I stretch out the heavens. I lay the foundations of the earth. Why are you terrified every day? Is it because those who are angry with you are crushing you? Is it because they are trying to destroy you? Their anger can’t harm you anymore.14You prisoners who are so afraid will soon be set free. You will not die in your prison cells. You will not go without food.15I am the LORD your God. I stir up the ocean. I make its waves roar. My name is the LORD Who Rules Over All.16I have put my words in your mouth. I have kept you safe in the palm of my hand. I set the heavens in place. I laid the foundations of the earth. I say to Zion, “You are my people.” ’
The cup of the Lord’s great anger
17Wake up, Jerusalem! Wake up! Get up! The LORD has handed you the cup of his great anger. And you have drunk from it. That cup makes people unsteady on their feet. And you have drunk from it to the very last drop.18Among all the children who were born to you there was none to guide you. Among all the children you brought up there was none to lead you by the hand.19Nothing but trouble has come to you. You have been wiped out and destroyed. And you have suffered hunger and war. No one feels sorry for you. No one can comfort you.20Your children have fainted. They lie helpless at every street corner. They are like antelope that have been caught in a net. They have felt the full force of the LORD’s great anger. Jerusalem, your God had to warn them strongly.21So listen to me, you suffering people of Jerusalem. You have been made drunk, but not by drinking wine.22Your LORD and King speaks. He is your God. He stands up for his people. He says, ‘I have taken from you the cup of my great anger. It made you unsteady on your feet. But you will never drink from that cup again.23Instead, I will give it to those who made you suffer. They said to you, “Fall down flat on the ground. Then we can walk all over you.” And that is exactly what you did. You made your back like a street to be walked on.’
Isaiah 51
English Standard Version
The Lord’s Comfort for Zion
1“Listen 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. (Isa 51:7)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. (Eze 33:24)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. (Ge 2:8; Ge 13:10; Isa 35:10; Isa 40:1; Isa 52:9; Eze 28:13; Eze 31:9; Joe 2:3)4“Give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation; for a law[1] will go out from me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples. (Ps 78:1; Isa 2:3)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. (Isa 11:11; Isa 46:13)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;[2] but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed. (Ps 102:26; Ps 102:27; Isa 40:26; Mt 24:25; 2Pe 3:10; Re 21:1)7“Listen 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. (Ps 37:31; Isa 41:14; Isa 51:1; Mt 10:28)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.” (Isa 50:9; Isa 51:6)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? (Ps 44:1; Ps 74:13; Ps 93:1; Isa 27:1; Isa 30:7; Isa 40:10; Isa 51:17; Isa 52:1; Isa 52:10; Isa 53:1; Eze 29:3; Lu 1:51)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? (Ex 14:21; Ps 106:9; Isa 43:16)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. (Isa 35:10)12“I, 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, (Ps 118:6; Isa 40:1; Isa 40:6; Isa 66:13)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? (Isa 14:4; Isa 40:22; Isa 48:13)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. (Isa 45:13; Zec 9:11)15I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the Lord of hosts is his name. (Jer 31:35)16And I have put my words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of my hand, establishing[3] the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’” (Isa 40:22; Isa 48:13; Isa 49:2; Isa 50:4; Isa 59:21)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. (Job 21:20; Ps 60:3; Isa 51:9; Isa 52:1; Jer 25:15; Zec 12:2; Mt 20:22; Mt 26:39; Mt 26:42; Mr 10:38; Mr 14:36; Lu 22:42; Joh 18:11)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. (Ps 74:9; Jer 5:31)19These two things have happened to you— who will console you?— devastation and destruction, famine and sword; who will comfort you?[4] (Isa 47:9)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. (De 14:5; Ps 141:10; La 2:11)21Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted, who are drunk, but not with wine: (Isa 54:11)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; (Isa 49:25; Isa 51:17; Jer 50:34)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.” (Isa 47:6; Isa 52:2; Jer 25:17; Jer 25:26; Jer 25:28)