Isaiah
51 “Listen to me, you who are pursuing righteousness,
You who are seeking Jehovah.
Look to the rock from which you were hewn
And to the quarry from which you were dug.
3 For Jehovah will comfort Zion.+
He will bring comfort to all her ruins,+
And he will make her wilderness like Eʹden+
And her desert plain like the garden of Jehovah.+
Exultation and rejoicing will be found in her,
Thanksgiving and melodious song.+
5 My righteousness draws near.+
6 Raise your eyes to the heavens,
And look at the earth below.
For the heavens will disperse in fragments like smoke;
The earth will wear out like a garment,
And its inhabitants will die like gnats.
Do not be afraid of the taunts of mortal men,
And do not be terrified because of their insults.
But my righteousness will last forever,
And my salvation for all generations.”+
Awake as in the days of long ago, as in past generations.
10 Are you not the one who dried up the sea, the waters of the vast deep?+
The one who made the depths of the sea a roadway for the repurchased ones to cross?+
11 The redeemed ones of Jehovah will return.+
Exultation and rejoicing will be theirs,
And grief and sighing will flee away.+
12 “I myself am the One comforting you.+
Why should you be afraid of a mortal man who will die+
And of a son of man who will wither like green grass?
13 Why do you forget Jehovah your Maker,+
The One who stretched out the heavens+ and laid the foundation of the earth?
And all day long you were in constant fear of the rage of the oppressor,*
As though he were in a position to bring you to ruin.
Where, now, is the rage of the oppressor?
14 The one bent over in chains will soon be set free;+
He will not die and go into the pit,
Nor will his bread be lacking.
15 But I am Jehovah your God,
Who stirs up the sea and makes its waves boisterous+
—Jehovah of armies is his name.+
16 I will put my words in your mouth,
And with the shadow of my hand I will cover you,+
In order to plant the heavens and to lay the foundation of the earth+
And to say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’+
17 Awake! Awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem,+
You who have drunk from the hand of Jehovah his cup of wrath.
You have drunk the goblet;
You have drained out the cup causing staggering.+
18 Not one of all the sons whom she bore is there to guide her,
And not one of all the sons whom she raised has taken hold of her hand.
19 These two things have befallen you.
Who will sympathize with you?
Destruction and devastation, hunger and sword!+
Who will comfort you?+
They lie down at every street corner*
Like wild sheep in the net.
They are full of the wrath of Jehovah, the rebuke of your God.”
21 So please listen to this,
O woman afflicted and drunk, though not with wine.
22 This is what your Lord Jehovah says, your God who defends his people:
“Look! I will take from your hand the cup causing staggering,+
The goblet, my cup of wrath;
You will never drink it again.+
23 I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,+
Those who said to you,* ‘Bow down so that we may walk over you!’
So you made your back like the ground,
Like a street for them to walk on.”