Isaiah 51

Blessings in Store for God’s People

1 # v 7 ; Ps 94.15Listen 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.

2 # Gen 12.1; 24.35; Rom 4.16; Heb 11.11, 12 Look to Abraham your father

and to Sarah, who bore you,

for he was but one when I called him,

but I blessed him and made him many.

3 # Gen 13.10; Isa 40.1; 52.9; 66.10; Joel 2.3 For the Lord will comfort Zion;

he will comfort all her waste places

and will make 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.

4 # Ps 50.7; Isa 2.3; 42.4, 6 Listen to me, my people,

and give heed to me, my nation,

for a teaching will go out from me

and my justice for a light to the peoples.

5 # Isa 40.10; 42.4; 46.13; 63.5 I will bring near my deliverance swiftly;

my salvation has gone out,

and my arms will rule the peoples;

the coastlands wait for me,

and for my arm they hope.

6 # Ps 102.26; Isa 40.26; 45.17; Mt 24.35; 2 Pet 3.10 Lift up your eyes to the heavens

and look at the earth beneath,

for the heavens will vanish like smoke,

the earth will wear out like a garment,

and those who live on it will die like gnats,#51.6 Or in like manner

but my salvation will be forever,

and my deliverance will never be ended.

7 # v 1 ; Ps 37.31; Mt 5.11; Acts 5.41Listen to me, you who know righteousness,

you people who have my teaching in your hearts;

do not fear the reproach of others,

and do not be dismayed when they revile you.

8 # v 6 ; Isa 50.9For the moth will eat them up like a garment,

and the worm will eat them like wool,

but my deliverance will be forever

and my salvation to all generations.

9 # Deut 4.34; Ps 74.13; 89.10; Isa 52.1; Ezek 29.3 Awake, 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?

10 # Ex 14.21; Isa 43.16; 63.9, 16 Was 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 cross over?

11 # Isa 35.10; 60.19; Rev 7.17; 22.3 So the ransomed of the Lord shall return

and come to Zion with rejoicing;

everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;

they shall obtain joy and gladness,

and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

12 # v 3 ; Ps 118.6; Isa 40.6, 7; 2 Cor 1.3; 1 Pet 1.24I, I am he who comforts you;

why then are you afraid of a mere mortal who must die,

a human being who fades like grass?

13 # Job 9.8; Ps 104.2; Isa 7.4; 17.10; 40.22; 49.26 You have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,

who stretched out the heavens

and laid the foundations of the earth.

You fear continually all day long

because of the fury of the oppressor,

who is bent on destruction.

But where is the fury of the oppressor?

14 # Isa 38.18; 49.10; 52.2 The oppressed shall speedily be released;

they shall not die and go down to the Pit,

nor shall they lack bread.

15 # Jer 31.35 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 # Deut 18.18; Isa 49.2; 59.21; 65.17 I have put my words in your mouth

and hidden you in the shadow of my hand,

stretching out#51.16 Syr: Heb planting the heavens

and laying the foundations of the earth

and saying to Zion, “You are my people.”

17 # Job 21.20; Isa 52.1; Jer 25.15 Rouse yourself, rouse yourself!

Stand up, O Jerusalem,

you who have drunk at the hand of the Lord

the cup of his wrath,

who have drunk to the dregs

the cup of staggering.

18 # Isa 59.21 There is no one to guide her

among all the children she has borne;

there is no one to take her by the hand

among all the children she has brought up.

19 # Isa 9.20 These two things have befallen you

—who will grieve with you?—

devastation and destruction, famine and sword.

Who will comfort you?#51.19 Q ms Gk Syr Vg: MT how may I comfort you?

20 # Isa 5.25; 42.25; 66.15 Your children 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.

21 # Isa 29.9; 54.11 Therefore hear this, you who are wounded,#51.21 Or humbled

who are drunk but not with wine:

22 # v 17 ; Jer 50.34Thus says your Sovereign, the Lord,

your God who pleads the cause of his people:

See, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering;

you shall drink no more

from the cup of my wrath.

23 # Josh 10.24; Jer 25.15–17, 26, 28; Zech 12.2 And I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,

who have said to you,

“Bow down, that we may walk on you,”

and you have made your back like the ground

and like the street for them to walk on.

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Isaiah 51: NRSVUE

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Learn More About New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 2021

Isaiah 51

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.

Learn More About Isaiah 1830, 1842 (John Jones alias Ioan Tegid)