Isaiah 51:1-11
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 51
Exhortation To Trust in the Lord[a]
1 Listen to me, you who pursue justice,
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 gave birth to you.
When I called him, he was but one,
but I blessed him and made him many.
3 The Lord will comfort Zion
and have pity on all her ruins.
He will make her deserts like Eden
and her wastelands into the garden of the Lord.
Joy and gladness will resound in her,
thanksgiving and the sound of music.
4 Listen attentively to me, my people,
and pay heed to me, my nation.
For the law will issue forth from me,
and my justice will serve as a light to the nations.
5 My justice will issue forth swiftly,
my salvation will appear,
and I will judge the nations with my arm.
The coastlands and the islands
will place their hope in me
and trust in my protection.
6 Raise your eyes to the heavens
and gaze down on the earth below.
For the heavens will vanish like smoke,
and the earth will wear out like a garment
as its inhabitants die like flies.
But my salvation will be everlasting
and my justice will never cease.
7 Listen to me,
you who truly comprehend the meaning of justice
and who have my teaching in your hearts.
Do not fear the reproach of others
or allow their reviling to dismay you.
8 For they will be like a garment eaten away by moths,
like wool devoured by grubs.
But my saving justice will be everlasting
and my deliverance for all generations.
9 Awake, awake, O arm of the Lord!
Clothe yourself in strength.
Awake as in the days of old,
in ages long past.
Was it not you who hacked Rahab[b] to pieces
and pierced the dragon through?
10 Was it not you who dried up the sea,
the waters of the great deep,
and turned the depths of the sea into a path
for the redeemed to pass over?
11 Therefore, those whom the Lord has redeemed will return
and enter Zion singing,
their heads crowned with everlasting joy.
They shall experience joy and gladness,
while sorrow and mourning will disappear.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 51:1 Forgetting henceforth Cyrus and his victories and passing over the destruction of Babylon, the prophet focuses his attention on a restored Jerusalem and on the new era of justice and of God’s favor.
- Isaiah 51:9 Rahab is a personification of Egypt (see Isa 30:7; Pss 87:4; 89:10). The dragon is the crocodile, the emblem of Egypt—allusion to the ten plagues.
