The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Isaiah 51
1 “Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness,
you who seek Yahweh. Look to the rock you were cut from,
and to the quarry you were dug from.
2 Look to Abraham your father,
and to Sarah who bore you;
for when he was but one I called him,
I blessed him, and made him many.
3 For Yahweh has comforted Zion.
He has comforted all her waste places,
and has made her wilderness like
Eden, and her desert like the garden of Yahweh.
Joy and gladness will be found in them,
thanks giving, and the voice of melody.
4 “Listen to me, my people;
and hear me, my nation,
for a law will go out from me,
and I will establish my justice for a
light to the peoples.
5 My righteousness is near.
My salvation has gone out,
and my arms will judge the peoples.
The islands will wait for me,
and they will trust my arm.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
and look at the earth beneath;
for the heavens will vanish away like
smoke and the earth will wear out like a garment.
Its inhabitants will die in the same way,
but my salvation will be forever,
and my righteousness will not be abolished.
7 “Listen to me, you who know righteousness,
the people in whose heart is my law.
Don’t fear the reproach of men,
and don’t be dismayed at their insults.
8 For 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.
9 Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of
Yahweh! Awake, as in the days of old,
the generations of ancient times.
Isn’t it you who cut Rahab in pieces,
who pierced the monster?
10 Isn’t it 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?
11 Those ransomed by Yahweh will return,
and come with singing to Zion.
Everlasting joy shall be on their heads.
They will obtain gladness and joy.
Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
12 “I, even I, am he who comforts you.
Who are you, that you are afraid of
man who shall die, and of the son of man who will be
made as grass?
13 Have you forgotten Yahweh your Maker,
who stretched out the heavens,
and laid the foundations of the earth?
Do you live in fear continually all day
because of the fury of the oppressor,
when he prepares to destroy?
Where is the fury of the oppressor?
14 The captive exile will speedily be freed.
He will not die and go down into the
pit. His bread won’t fail.
15 For I am Yahweh your God, who stirs up
the sea so that its waves roar.
Yahweh of Armies is his name.
16 I have put my words in your mouth
and have covered you in the shadow
of my hand, that I may plant the heavens,
and lay the foundations of the earth,
and tell Zion, ‘You are my people.
17 Awake, awake! Stand up, Jerusalem,
you who have drunk from Yahweh’s
hand the cup of his wrath.
You have drunken the bowl of the cup of
staggering, and drained it.
18 There is no one to guide her among
all the sons to whom she has given
birth; and there is no one who takes her by
the hand among all the sons whom
she has brought up.
19 These two things have happened to
you who will grieve with you?—
desolation and destruction,
and famine and the sword.
How can I comfort you?
20 Your sons have fainted.
They lie at the head of all the streets,
like an antelope in a net.
They are full of Yahweh’s wrath,
the rebuke of your God.
21 Therefore now hear this, you afflicted,
and drunken, but not with wine:
22 Your Lord Yahweh, your God who pleads the cause of his
people, says, “Behold, I have taken out of your hand the
cup of staggering, even the bowl of the cup of my wrath.
You will not drink it any more.
23 I will put it into the hand of those who
afflict you, who have said to your soul, ‘Bow
down, that we may walk over you;’
and you have laid your back as the
ground, like a street to those who walk over.”