Isaiah 51

New King James Version

The Lord Comforts Zion^(A)

51 “Listen to Me, ^(B)you who ^[a]follow after righteousness,
You who seek the Lord:
Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
And to the hole of the pit from which you were dug.
²^(C)Look to Abraham your father,
And to Sarah who bore you;
^(D)For I called him alone,
And ^(E)blessed him and increased him.”

³For the Lord will ^(F)comfort Zion,
He will comfort all her waste places;
He will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert ^(G)like the garden of the Lord;
Joy and gladness will be found in it,
Thanksgiving and the voice of melody.

⁴“Listen to Me, My people;
And give ear to Me, O My nation:
^(H)For law will proceed from Me,
And I will make My justice rest
^(I)As a light of the peoples.
⁵^(J)My righteousness is near,
My salvation has gone forth,
^(K)And My arms will judge the peoples;
^(L)The coastlands will wait upon Me,
And ^(M)on My arm they will trust.
⁶^(N)Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
And look on the earth beneath.
For ^(O)the heavens will vanish away like smoke,
^(P)The earth will grow old like a garment,
And those who dwell in it will die in like manner;
But My salvation will be ^(Q)forever,
And My righteousness will not be ^[b]abolished.

⁷“Listen to Me, you who know righteousness,
You people ^(R)in whose heart is My law:
^(S)Do not fear the reproach of men,
Nor be afraid of their insults.
⁸For ^(T)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 from generation to generation.”

⁹^(U)Awake, awake, ^(V)put on strength,
O arm of the Lord!
Awake ^(W)as in the ancient days,
In the generations of old.
^(X)Are You not the arm that cut ^(Y)Rahab apart,
And wounded the ^(Z)serpent?

¹⁰Are You not the One who ^(AA)dried up the sea,
The waters of the great deep;
That made the depths of the sea a road
For the redeemed to cross over?
¹¹So ^(AB)the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
And come to Zion with singing,
With everlasting joy on their heads.
They shall obtain joy and gladness;
Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

¹²“I, even I, am He ^(AC)who comforts you.
Who are you that you should be afraid
^(AD)Of a man who will die,
And of the son of a man who will be made ^(AE)like grass?
¹³And ^(AF)you forget the Lord your Maker,
^(AG)Who stretched out the heavens
And laid the foundations of the earth;
You have feared continually every day
Because of the fury of the oppressor,
When he has prepared to destroy.
^(AH)And where is the fury of the oppressor?
¹⁴The captive exile hastens, that he may be loosed,
^(AI)That he should not die in the pit,
And that his bread should not fail.
¹⁵But I am the Lord your God,
Who ^(AJ)divided the sea whose waves roared—
The Lord of hosts is His name.
¹⁶And ^(AK)I have put My words in your mouth;
^(AL)I have covered you with the shadow of My hand,
^(AM)That I may ^[c]plant the heavens,
Lay the foundations of the earth,
And say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’ ”

God’s Fury Removed

¹⁷^(AN)Awake, awake!
Stand up, O Jerusalem,
You who ^(AO)have drunk at the hand of the Lord
The cup of His fury;
You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling,
And drained it out.
¹⁸There is no one to guide her
Among all the sons she has brought forth;
Nor is there any who takes her by the hand
Among all the sons she has brought up.
¹⁹^(AP)These two things have come to you;
Who will be sorry for you?—
Desolation and destruction, famine and sword—
^(AQ)By whom will I comfort you?
²⁰^(AR)Your sons have fainted,
They lie at the head of all the streets,
Like an antelope in a net;
They are full of the fury of the Lord,
The rebuke of your God.

²¹Therefore please hear this, you afflicted,
And drunk ^(AS)but not with wine.
²²Thus says your Lord,
The Lord and your God,
Who ^(AT)pleads the cause of His people:
“See, I have taken out of your hand
The cup of trembling,
The dregs of the cup of My fury;
You shall no longer drink it.
²³^(AU)But I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you,
Who have said to ^[d]you,
‘Lie down, that we may walk over you.’
And you have laid your body like the ground,
And as the street, for those who walk over.”