THE
BOOK OF ISAIAH
Isaiah Chapter 51
1
¶ Listen to me, you who are seeking righteousness, and seek the LORD: look to
the rock from which you are hewn, and to the quarry from which
you were dug.
2
Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you: for he was only
one when I called him, but I blessed him, and made him many.
3
For the LORD will comfort
4
¶ Listen to me, my people; and pay attention to me, O my nation: for a law will
proceed from me, and I will establish my justice as a light for the nations.
5
My righteousness is near; my salvation has gone forth, and my arm will
judge the people; the isles will wait for me, and place their confidence in my
arm.
6
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the
heavens will disappear like smoke, the earth will grow old like a garment, and
those who dwell on it will die like gnats: but my salvation will be for ever,
and my righteousness will never end.
7
Pay attention to me, you who know righteousness, you people who have my law in
your heart; do not be afraid of the taunts of men, or afraid of their
condemnation.
8
For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will devour them
like wool: but my righteousness will last for ever, and my salvation for all
generations.
9
¶ Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as you did long ago,
in the generations of old. Was it not you who cut Rahab to pieces, and
wounded the dragon?
10
Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; that
made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to cross over?
11
Therefore the redeemed of the LORD will return, and come to Zion with singing;
and they will be crowned with everlasting joy: they will be happy and
delighted; and sorrow and sadness will flee away.
12
I, even I, am he who comforts you: who are you, that you
should fear mortal man, or a son of man who is made like grass;
13
And forget, that the LORD your maker has stretched out the heavens, and laid
the foundations of the earth. You are in constant dread all day long because of
the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? but where is
the fury of the oppressor?
14
His cowering prisoner will soon be set free, he will not die and go down to the
pit, or lack food.
15
But I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea, and makes its waves
roar: The LORD of hosts is his name.
16
And I have put my words in your mouth, and I have covered you with the shadow
of my hand, that I may stretch out a new heavens, and lay the
foundations of a new earth, and say to Zion, You are my people.
17
¶ Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drank the cup of the LORD’S
fury from his hand; and have drained the cup of trembling, and cleaned it
out.
18
Among all the sons that she brought forth, there was none to guide her;
nor is there any among all the sons that she raised who can take
her by the hand.
19
These two things have happened to you; will anyone feel sorry for you?
desolation and destruction, and famine and the sword: will anyone comfort you?
20
Your sons have fainted, they lie exhausted at every street corner, like
an antelope in a net: they are drunk with the LORD’S anger, with the rebuke of
your God.
21
So listen to this, you who suffer, you who are drunken, but not with wine:
22
Your master, the LORD your God who pleads the cause of his people, says,
Behold, I have removed the cup of trembling from your hand, the cup of my fury;
you will not drink it again:
23
But I will put it into the hand of those who made you suffer; who said to you,
get down on the ground, so that we may walk on you: and you laid your body on
the ground, like a street, for them to walk on.