Isaiah 51:1-16

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.
²Look 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.
³For 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,
¹³and 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.
¹⁵I 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.’”