Isaiah 51
51
The Lord’s Saving Power for Zion Lasts Forever
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 toward 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 forever.
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 forever.
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 forever 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.”
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Isaiah 51: NIrV
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Isaiah 51
51
Israel Exhorted
1“Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness (right standing with God),
Who seek and inquire of the Lord:
Look to the rock from which you were cut
And to the excavation of the quarry from which you were dug.
2Look to Abraham your father
And to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain;
For I called him when he was but one,
Then I blessed him and made him many.”
3For the Lord will comfort Zion [in her captivity];
He will comfort all her ruins.
And 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 voice of a melody.
4“Listen carefully to Me [says the Lord], O My people,
And hear Me, O My nation;
For a [divine] law will go forth from Me,
And I will quickly establish My justice as a light to the peoples.
5My righteousness (justice) is near, My salvation has gone forth,
And My arms will judge the peoples;
The islands and coastlands will wait for Me,
And they will wait with hope and confident expectation for My arm.
6Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
Then look to the earth beneath;
For the heavens will be torn to pieces and vanish like smoke,
And the earth will wear out like a garment
And its inhabitants will die in like manner.
But My salvation will be forever,
And My righteousness (justice) [and faithfully fulfilled promise] will not be broken.
7Listen to Me, you who know righteousness (right standing with God),
The people in whose heart is My law and instruction;
Do not fear the reproach and taunting of man,
Nor be distressed at their reviling.
8For the moth will eat them like a garment,
And the worm will eat them like wool.
But My righteousness and justice [faithfully promised] will exist forever,
And My salvation to all generations.”
9Awake, awake, put on strength and might, O arm of the Lord;
Awake as in the ancient days, as in the generations of long ago.
Was it not You who cut Rahab (Egypt) in pieces,
Who pierced the dragon [of Egypt]?
10Was it not You who dried up the [Red] Sea,
The waters of the great deep,
Who made the depths of the sea a pathway
For the redeemed to cross over?
11So the redeemed of the Lord will return
And come with joyful shouting to Zion;
Everlasting joy will be on their heads.
They will obtain gladness and joy,
And sorrow and sighing will flee away.
12“I, even I, am He who comforts you.
Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies
And of a son of man who is made [as destructible] as grass,
13That you have forgotten the Lord your Maker,
Who stretched out the heavens
And laid the foundations of the earth,
That you continually tremble with fear all day long because of the rage of the oppressor,
As he takes aim to destroy?
And where is the rage of the oppressor?
14The [captive] exile will soon be set free, and will not die in the dungeon, nor will his food be lacking. 15For I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the Lord of hosts is His name. 16I have put My words in your mouth and have covered you with the shadow of My hand, to #Lit plant.establish the [renewed] heavens and lay the foundations of the [renewed] earth, and to say to Zion (Jerusalem), ‘You are My people.’ ”
17Wake yourself up! Wake yourself up! Stand up, O Jerusalem,
You who have drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of His wrath,
You who have drunk the cup of staggering and intoxication to the dregs [leaving only sediment].
18There is no one to guide her among all the sons she has borne,
Nor is there anyone to take her by the hand among all the sons she has reared.
19These two tragedies have befallen you;
Who will show sympathy for you and mourn with you?
The desolation and destruction [on the land and city], famine and sword [on the inhabitants];
How shall I comfort you?
20Your sons have fainted;
They lie helpless at the head of every street,
Like an antelope in a net,
Full [from drinking] of the wrath of the Lord,
The rebuke of your God.
21Therefore, now hear this, you who are afflicted,
Who are drunk, but not with wine [but overwhelmed by the wrath of God].
22So says your Lord, the Lord, who is also your God
Who pleads the cause of His people,
“Listen carefully, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering and intoxication,
The cup of My wrath;
You shall never drink it again.
23I will put it into the hands of your tormentors,
Who have said to you, ‘Lie down so that we may walk over you.’
You have even made your back like the ground
And like the street for those who walk over it.”
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