Isaiah 51

Revised Geneva Translation

51 “Hear Me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek the LORD. Look to the rock from which you are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you are dug.

² “Consider Abraham, your father, and Sarah, who bore you. For I called him alone and blessed him and increased him.”

³ Surely the LORD shall comfort Zion. He shall comfort all her desolations, and He shall make her wastelands like Eden, and her wilderness like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness, praise, and the voice of singing shall be found therein.

⁴ “Listen to Me, My people. And give ear to Me, O My people. For a Law shall proceed from Me. And I will bring forth My Judgment for the light of the people.

⁵ My righteousness is near. My salvation goes forth. And My Arm shall judge the people. The isles shall wait for Me, and shall trust in My Arm.

⁶ “Lift up your eyes to the heavens and look upon the Earth beneath. For the heavens shall vanish away like smoke. And the Earth shall grow old like a garment. And those who dwell therein shall perish in the same way. But My salvation shall be forever. And My righteousness shall not be abolished.

⁷ “Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My Law. Do not fear the reproach of men or be afraid of their rebukes.

⁸ “For the moth shall eat them up like a garment. And the worm shall eat them like wood. But My righteousness shall be forever. And My salvation from generation to generation.”

⁹ Rise up! Rise up and put on strength, O Arm of the LORD! Rise up, as long ago in the generations of the world. Are not You the same One Who has cut Rahab to pieces and wounded the dragon?

¹⁰ Are not You the same One Who has dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, making the depth of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?

¹¹ Therefore, the redeemed of the LORD shall return and come with joy to Zion. And everlasting joy shall be upon their head. They shall obtain joy and gladness. Sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

¹² “I, even I, Am He Who comforts you. Who are you that you should fear a mortal man, and the son of man, who shall be made like grass?

¹³ “And you have forgotten the LORD, your Maker—Who has spread out the heavens and laid the foundations of the Earth—and you have feared continually, all day, because of the rage of the oppressor who is ready to destroy. Where is the rage of the oppressor now?

¹⁴ “The captive’s exile hastens, so that he may be freed and not die in the pit and that his bread would not fail.

¹⁵ “And I am the LORD your God, Who divided the sea when its waves roared. The LORD of Hosts is His Name.

¹⁶ “And I have put My Words in your mouth and have defended you in the shadow of My Hand, so that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundation of the Earth, and say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”

¹⁷ Awaken! Awaken and stand up, O Jerusalem, who has drunk the cup of the LORD’s wrath from His Hand. You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling and wrung them out.

¹⁸ There is no one to guide her among all her sons whom she has brought forth. There is no one who takes her by the hand, of all the sons whom she has brought up.

¹⁹ These two things have come to you. Who will lament you? Desolation and destruction and famine and the sword, by whom shall I comfort you?

²⁰ Your sons have fainted and lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net. They are full of the wrath of the LORD, the rebuke of your God.

²¹ Therefore, now hear this, you miserable and drunken (but not with wine).

²² Thus says your LORD God, even God Who pleads the cause of His people, “Behold, I have taken the cup of trembling out of your hand, the dregs of the cup of My wrath. You shall drink it no more.

²³ “But I will put it into the hand of those who plunder you, who have said to your soul, ‘Bow down so that we may go over.’ And you have laid your body down as the ground, and as the streets, to those who went over.”