Isaiah 51

¹ Listen to me, you who pursue saving justice, you who seek Yahweh. Consider the rock from which youwere hewn, the quarry from which you were dug.

² Consider Abraham your father and Sarah who gave you birth. When I cal ed him he was the only onebut I blessed him and made him numerous.

³ Yes, Yahweh has pity on Zion, has pity on al her ruins; he wil turn her desert into an Eden and herwastelands into the garden of Yahweh. Joy and gladness wil be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound ofmusic.

⁴ Pay attention to me, my people, listen to me, my nation, for a law will come from me, and I shall makemy saving justice the light of peoples.

⁵ My justice is suddenly approaching, my salvation appears, my arm is about to judge the peoples. Thecoasts and islands wil put their hope in me and put their trust in my arm.

⁶ Raise your eyes to the heavens, look down at the earth; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, theearth wear out like clothing and its inhabitants die like vermin, but my salvation wil last for ever and my savingjustice remain inviolable.

⁷ Listen to me, you who know what saving justice means, a people who take my laws to heart: do notfear people's taunts, do not be alarmed by their insults,

⁸ for the moth wil eat them like clothing, the grub wil devour them like wool, but my saving justice willast for ever and my salvation for al generations.

⁹ Awake, awake! Clothe yourself in strength, arm of Yahweh. Awake, as in the olden days, generationslong ago! Was it not you who split Rahab in half, who pierced the Dragon through?

¹⁰ Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great Abyss; who made the sea-bed into a roadfor the redeemed to go across?

¹¹ This is why those whom Yahweh has ransomed wil return, they wil enter Zion shouting for joy, theirheads crowned with a joy unending; joy and gladness wil escort them and sorrow and sighing wil take flight.

¹² I, I am your consoler. Why then should you be afraid of mortal human beings, of a child of man, whosefate is that of the grass?

¹³ You forget about Yahweh your Creator who spread out the heavens and laid the earth's foundations;you have never stopped trembling al day long before the fury of the oppressor when he was bent on destruction.Where is the oppressor's fury now?

¹⁴ The despairing captive is soon to be set free; he will not die in the dungeon, nor wil his food run out.

¹⁵ I am Yahweh your God who stirs up the sea, making its waves roar -- Yahweh Sabaoth is my name.

¹⁶ I put my words into your mouth, I hid you in the shadow of my hand, to spread out the heavens andlay the earth's foundations and say to Zion, 'You are my people.'

¹⁷ Awake, awake! To your feet, Jerusalem! You who from Yahweh's hand have drunk the cup of hiswrath. The chalice, the stupefying cup, you have drained to the dregs.

¹⁸ There is no one to guide her of al the children she has borne, no one to grasp her hand of al thechildren she has reared.

¹⁹ Double disaster has befal en you -- who is there to sympathise? Pillage and ruin, famine and sword --who is there to console you?

²⁰ Your children are lying helpless at the end of every street like an antelope trapped in a net; they arefilled to the brim with Yahweh's wrath, with the rebuke of your God.

²¹ So listen to this, afflicted one, drunk, though not with wine.

²² Thus says your Lord Yahweh, your God, defender of your people: Look, I am taking the stupefyingcup from your hand, the chalice, the cup of my wrath, you wil not have to drink again.

²³ I shal hand it to your tormentors who used to say to you, 'On the ground! So that we can walk overyou!' And you would flatten your back like the ground, like a street for them to walk on.