Isaiah 51:1-52:12

Everlasting Salvation for Zion 1“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the LORD : Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn;

2look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was only one man, and I blessed him and made him many.

3The LORD will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD . Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.

4“Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation: Instruction will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations.

5My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to me and wait in hope for my arm.

6Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail.

7“Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have taken my instruction to heart: Do not fear the reproach of mere mortals or be terrified by their insults.

8For the moth will eat them up like a garment; the worm will devour them like wool. But my righteousness will last forever, my salvation through all generations.”

9Awake, awake, arm of the LORD, clothe yourself with strength! Awake, as in days gone by, as in generations of old. Was it not you who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced that monster through?

10Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed might cross over?

11Those the LORD has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

12“I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mere mortals, human beings who are but grass,

13that you forget the LORD your Maker, who stretches out the heavens and who lays the foundations of the earth, that you live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction? For where is the wrath of the oppressor?

14The cowering prisoners will soon be set free; they will not die in their dungeon, nor will they lack bread.

15For I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the LORD Almighty is his name.

16I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand— I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’ ”

The Cup of the LORD’s Wrath 17Awake, awake! Rise up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of his wrath, you who have drained to its dregs the goblet that makes people stagger.

18Among all the children she bore there was none to guide her; among all the children she reared there was none to take her by the hand.

19These double calamities have come upon you— who can comfort you?— ruin and destruction, famine and sword— who can Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; Masoretic Text / how can I console you?

20Your children have fainted; they lie at every street corner, like antelope caught in a net. They are filled with the wrath of the LORD, with the rebuke of your God.

21Therefore hear this, you afflicted one, made drunk, but not with wine.

22This is what your Sovereign LORD says, your God, who defends his people: “See, I have taken out of your hand the cup that made you stagger; from that cup, the goblet of my wrath, you will never drink again. 23I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, who said to you, ‘Fall prostrate that we may walk on you.’ And you made your back like the ground, like a street to be walked on.”

1Awake, awake, Zion, clothe yourself with strength! Put on your garments of splendor, Jerusalem, the holy city. The uncircumcised and defiled will not enter you again.

2Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck, Daughter Zion, now a captive.

3For this is what the LORD says: “You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed.”

4For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “At first my people went down to Egypt to live; lately, Assyria has oppressed them.

5“And now what do I have here?” declares the LORD . “For my people have been taken away for nothing, and those who rule them mock, Dead Sea Scrolls and Vulgate; Masoretic Text wail ” declares the LORD . “And all day long my name is constantly blasphemed.

6Therefore my people will know my name; therefore in that day they will know that it is I who foretold it. Yes, it is I.”

7How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

8Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy. When the LORD returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes.

9Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.

10The LORD will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.

11Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the articles of the LORD ’s house.

12But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the LORD will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard.