Isaiah 51
51
A Call to Trust the Lord
1“Listen to me, all who hope for deliverance—
all who seek the Lord!
Consider the rock from which you were cut,
the quarry from which you were mined.
2Yes, think about Abraham, your ancestor,
and Sarah, who gave birth to your nation.
Abraham was only one man when I called him.
But when I blessed him, he became a great nation.”
3The Lord will comfort Israel#51:3 Hebrew Zion; also in 51:16. again
and have pity on her ruins.
Her desert will blossom like Eden,
her barren wilderness like the garden of the Lord.
Joy and gladness will be found there.
Songs of thanksgiving will fill the air.
4“Listen to me, my people.
Hear me, Israel,
for my law will be proclaimed,
and my justice will become a light to the nations.
5My mercy and justice are coming soon.
My salvation is on the way.
My strong arm will bring justice to the nations.
All distant lands will look to me
and wait in hope for my powerful arm.
6Look up to the skies above,
and gaze down on the earth below.
For the skies will disappear like smoke,
and the earth will wear out like a piece of clothing.
The people of the earth will die like flies,
but my salvation lasts forever.
My righteous rule will never end!
7“Listen to me, you who know right from wrong,
you who cherish my law in your hearts.
Do not be afraid of people’s scorn,
nor fear their insults.
8For the moth will devour them as it devours clothing.
The worm will eat at them as it eats wool.
But my righteousness will last forever.
My salvation will continue from generation to generation.”
9Wake up, wake up, O Lord! Clothe yourself with strength!
Flex your mighty right arm!
Rouse yourself as in the days of old
when you slew Egypt, the dragon of the Nile.#51:9 Hebrew You slew Rahab; you pierced the dragon. Rahab is the name of a mythical sea monster that represents chaos in ancient literature. The name is used here as a poetic name for Egypt.
10Are you not the same today,
the one who dried up the sea,
making a path of escape through the depths
so that your people could cross over?
11Those who have been ransomed by the Lord will return.
They will enter Jerusalem#51:11 Hebrew Zion. singing,
crowned with everlasting joy.
Sorrow and mourning will disappear,
and they will be filled with joy and gladness.
12“I, yes I, am the one who comforts you.
So why are you afraid of mere humans,
who wither like the grass and disappear?
13Yet you have forgotten the Lord, your Creator,
the one who stretched out the sky like a canopy
and laid the foundations of the earth.
Will you remain in constant dread of human oppressors?
Will you continue to fear the anger of your enemies?
Where is their fury and anger now?
It is gone!
14Soon all you captives will be released!
Imprisonment, starvation, and death will not be your fate!
15For I am the Lord your God,
who stirs up the sea, causing its waves to roar.
My name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
16And I have put my words in your mouth
and hidden you safely in my hand.
I stretched out#51:16 As in Syriac version (see also 51:13); Hebrew reads planted. the sky like a canopy
and laid the foundations of the earth.
I am the one who says to Israel,
‘You are my people!’”
17Wake up, wake up, O Jerusalem!
You have drunk the cup of the Lord’s fury.
You have drunk the cup of terror,
tipping out its last drops.
18Not one of your children is left alive
to take your hand and guide you.
19These two calamities have fallen on you:
desolation and destruction, famine and war.
And who is left to sympathize with you?
Who is left to comfort you?#51:19 As in Dead Sea Scrolls and Greek, Latin, and Syriac versions; Masoretic Text reads How can I comfort you?
20For your children have fainted and lie in the streets,
helpless as antelopes caught in a net.
The Lord has poured out his fury;
God has rebuked them.
21But now listen to this, you afflicted ones
who sit in a drunken stupor,
though not from drinking wine.
22This is what the Sovereign Lord,
your God and Defender, says:
“See, I have taken the terrible cup from your hands.
You will drink no more of my fury.
23Instead, I will hand that cup to your tormentors,
those who said, ‘We will trample you into the dust
and walk on your backs.’”
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Isaiah 51: NLT
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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Isaiah 51
51
LI
1Hearken unto me, ye that follow after righteousness,
Ye that seek Jehovah:
Look unto the rock, from whence ye were hewn,
And to the hole of the pit, whence ye were digged.
2Look unto Abraham your father,
And unto Sarah, who bare you:
For I called him, being then one,
And blessed him, and multiplied him.
3For Jehovah shall comfort Zion;
He will comfort all her desolate places:
And He will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert like the garden of Jehovah:
Joy and gladness shall be found in her,
Thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
4Attend unto me, my people;
And give ear unto me, O my nation:
For a law shall proceed from me,
And my judgment will I establish for a light of the people.
5My righteousness is near, my salvation is gone forth;
And mine arm shall judge the people;
The isles shall wait upon me,
And on mine arm shall they trust
6Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
And look upon the earth beneath:
For the heavens shall vanish away like smoke,
And the earth shall wax old like a garment,
And the inhabitants thereof shall die off like insects;
But my solvation shall be for ever,
And my righteousness shall not be abolished.
7Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness,
The people in whose heart is my law;
Fear ye not the reproach of men,
Neither be ye borne down by their revilings:
8For the moth shall eat them up like a garment,
And the worm shall eat them like wool:
But my righteousness shall be for ever,
And my salvation from generation to generation.
9Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of Jehovah!
Awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old.
Art thou not it that cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?
10Art thou not it which dried the sea, the waters of the great deep?
That made the depths of the sea a path for the redeemed to pass over?
11Thus shall the ransomed of Jehovah return,
And come with singing unto Zion;
And everlasting joy shall be upon their head:
They shall obtain gladness and joy,
And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
12I, even I, am he that comforteth you:
Who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of man that shall die,
And of the son of man, who shall be made as grass?
13And shouldest forget Jehovah thy maker,
Who hath stretched out the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth;
And shouldest fear continually, every day,
Because of the fury of the oppressor,
As if he were ready to destroy:
And where is the fury of the oppressor?
14The bound prisoner shall soon be released:
He shall not die in the pit,
Neither shall his bread fail.
15For I am Jehovah thy God,
He who setteth the sea in commotion, so that the waves thereof roar:
Jehovah of hosts is his name.
16I have put my words in thy mouth,
And with the shadow of my hand have I covered thee:
That I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth,
And say unto Zion: Thou art my people.
17Awake, awake; stand up, O Jerusalem!
Which hast drunk from the hand of Jehovah the cup of his fury:
The dregs of the cup of dizziness, hast thou drunk; thou hast wrung them out.
18There is not one to guide her of all the sons which she hath brought forth;
Neither is there one to support her by the hand, of all the sons which she hath brought up.
19These two things have befallen thee, who shall bemoan thee?
Desolation and destruction; and the famine and the sword; by whom shall I comfort thee?
20Thy sons have fainted away; they lie down at the head of all the streets,
As a stag in a net;
They are full of the fury of Jehovah, the rebuke of thy God.
21Wherefore hear now this, thou afflicted,
And drunken, but not with wine.
22Thus saith thy Lord, Jehovah,
And thy God, who pleadeth the cause of his people;
Behold! I take from thy hand the cup of dizziness,
The dregs of the cup of my fury;
Thou shalt no more drink it again.
23But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee,
Who have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over:
And thou madest thy back as the ground,
And as the street, to them that passed over.
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Translated by Rev John Jones (Ioan Tegid).Published at Oxford in 1830, second edition 1842.