Isaiah 51
English Standard Version
The Lord's Comfort for Zion
51 (A)“Listen 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 Look to Abraham your father
and to Sarah who bore you;
for (B)he was but one when I called him,
that I might bless him and multiply him.
3 For the Lord (C)comforts Zion;
he comforts all her waste places
and makes her wilderness like (D)Eden,
her desert like (E)the garden of the Lord;
(F)joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the voice of song.
4 (G)“Give attention to me, my people,
and give ear to me, my nation;
(H)for a law[a] will go out from me,
and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.
5 (I)My righteousness draws near,
my salvation has gone out,
and my arms will judge the peoples;
(J)the coastlands hope for me,
and for my arm they wait.
6 (K)Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
and look at the earth beneath;
(L)for the heavens vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment,
and they who dwell in it will die in like manner;[b]
(M)but my salvation will be forever,
and my righteousness will never be dismayed.
7 (N)“Listen to me, you who know righteousness,
the people (O)in whose heart is my law;
(P)fear not the reproach of man,
nor be dismayed at their revilings.
8 (Q)For the moth will eat them up like a garment,
and the worm will eat them like wool,
(R)but my righteousness will be forever,
and my salvation to all generations.”
9 (S)Awake, awake, (T)put on strength,
O (U)arm of the Lord;
awake, (V)as in days of old,
the generations of long ago.
Was it not you who cut (W)Rahab in pieces,
who pierced (X)the dragon?
10 (Y)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 pass over?
11 (Z)And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
12 “I, I am he (AA)who comforts you;
who are you that you are afraid of (AB)man who dies,
of the son of man who is made (AC)like grass,
13 and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,
(AD)who stretched out the heavens
and (AE)laid the foundations of the earth,
and you fear continually all the day
because of the wrath of (AF)the oppressor,
when he sets himself to destroy?
And where is the wrath of (AG)the oppressor?
14 (AH)He who is bowed down shall speedily be released;
he shall not die and go down (AI)to the pit,
neither shall his bread be lacking.
15 I am the Lord your God,
(AJ)who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
the Lord of hosts is his name.
16 (AK)And I have put my words in your mouth
(AL)and covered you in the shadow of my hand,
(AM)establishing[c] the heavens
and (AN)laying the foundations of the earth,
and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”
17 (AO)Wake yourself, wake yourself,
stand up, O Jerusalem,
(AP)you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord
the cup of his wrath,
who have drunk to the dregs
the bowl, (AQ)the cup of staggering.
18 (AR)There is none to guide her
among all the sons she has borne;
there is none to take her by the hand
among all the sons she has brought up.
19 (AS)These two things have happened to you—
who will console you?—
devastation and destruction, famine and sword;
who will comfort you?[d]
20 (AT)Your sons have fainted;
they lie at the head of every street
like an (AU)antelope (AV)in a net;
they are full of the wrath of the Lord,
the rebuke of your God.
21 (AW)Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted,
who are drunk, but not with wine:
22 Thus says your Lord, the Lord,
your God (AX)who pleads the cause of his people:
“Behold, I have taken from your hand (AY)the cup of staggering;
the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more;
23 (AZ)and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,
(BA)who have said to you,
‘Bow down, that we may pass over’;
and (BB)you have made your back like the ground
and like the street for them to pass over.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 51:4 Or for teaching; also verse 7
- Isaiah 51:6 Or will die like gnats
- Isaiah 51:16 Or planting
- Isaiah 51:19 Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; Masoretic Text how shall I comfort you
Yeshayah 51
Orthodox Jewish Bible
51 Pay heed to Me, ye that pursue tzedek, ye that seek Hashem; look unto the Tzur from where ye are cut, and to the quarry from where ye were hewn.
2 Look unto Avraham Avichem, and unto Sarah that gave birth to you; for I called him as one alone, and put a brocha on him, and made him many.
3 For Hashem shall comfort Tziyon; He will comfort all her ruins; and He will make her midbar like Eden, and her ruins like the Gan (Garden) of Hashem; sasson and simchah shall be found therein, todah, and the kol zimrah (the sound of singing).
4 Pay heed unto Me, O My people; and give ear unto Me, O My Nation; for torah [42:4] shall go forth from Me, and I will set at rest [establish] My mishpat as Ohr Amim (Light for the Nations).
5 My tzedek is near; My Salvation is gone forth, and Mine zero’a shall judge the Ammim; the iyim shall wait upon Me, and on Mine zero’a [Moshiach; See 53:1] shall they trust.
6 Lift up your eyes to Shomayim, and look upon ha’aretz beneath; for Shomayim shall vanish like ashan (smoke), and ha’aretz shall wear out like a beged, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner; but My Yeshuah (Salvation) shall be l’olam, and My tzedakah shall not be dismayed.
7 Pay heed unto Me, ye that know tzedek, Am torati velibam (the People with My torah in their heart); fear ye not the cherpat enosh (the reproach, reviling of man) neither be ye afraid of their giddufot (insults, scorn).
8 For the ahsh (moth) shall eat them up like a beged, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but My tzedakah shall be l’olahm, and My Yeshuah (Salvation) l’odor dorim (from generation to generation).
9 Awake, awake, clothe thyself with oz, O zero’a Hashem [Moshiach; see Isaiah 53:1]; awake, as in the yemei kedem, in the dorot olamim. Art thou not it that hath cut Rachav to pieces, and pierced Tannin [See 27:1].
10 Art thou not the One Who hath dried the yam, the waters of the tehom rabbah; that hath made the depths of the yam a derech for the ge’ulim (redeemed ones) to cross over?
11 Therefore the Redeemed of Hashem shall return, and come with singing unto Tziyon; and simchat olam shall be upon their rosh; they shall obtain sasson and simchah; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.
12 I, even I, am He that comforteth you. Who art thou, that thou shouldest fear enosh that shall die, and ben adam which shall be made as khatzir (grass);
13 And forgettest Hashem Osehcha [thy Maker], that hath stretched out Shomayim, and laid the foundations of Eretz; and thou art terrified tamid (constantly), kol hayom, because of the fury of the oppressor when he is ready to destroy? And where is the fury of the oppressor?
14 The tzo’eh (the one stooped [in the Golus]) hasteneth that he may be set free, and that he should not die in shachat, nor that his lechem should fail.
15 But I am Hashem Eloheicha Who stirs up the yam, whose waves roar; Hashem Tzva’os Shmo.
16 And I put My words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the tzel (shadow) of Mine yad, that I may set Shomayim in place, and lay the foundations of Eretz, and say unto Tziyon, Thou art My people.
17 Awake, awake, rise up, O Yerushalayim, which hast drunk at the Yad Hashem the kos of His fury; thou hast drunk to the dregs and drained dry the Kos HaTarelah (Cup of Reeling).
18 Among kol banim whom she hath given birth to, there is none to guide her; neither is there any that taketh her by the yad of kol banim that she hath reared.
19 These two are come upon thee. Who shall grieve for thee? Shod and shever and ra’av (famine) and cherev; with whom shall I console thee?
20 Thy banim have fainted, they lie at the rosh of all the streets, like a wild bull in a net; they are full of the chamat Hashem, the rebuke of thy G-d.
21 Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted one, thou drunken one, but not with yayin;
22 Thus saith thy L-rd Hashem, and thy G-d that pleadeth the cause of His people, Hinei, I have taken out of thine yad the Kos HaTarelah (Cup of Reeling, the Cup that causes reeling) even the dregs of the cup of My fury; thou shalt no more drink it again;
23 But I will put it into the yad of them that torment thee; which have said to thy nefesh, Bow down, that we may walk over; and thou hast laid thy gev (back) like the ground and like the street, to them that walked over.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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