Isaiah 51:1-8

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.”

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Footnotes

Isaiah 51:4 Or for teaching; also verse 7
Isaiah 51:6 Or will die like gnats

Isaiah 51:11-12

English Standard Version

¹¹^(A)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 ^(B)who comforts you;
who are you that you are afraid of ^(C)man who dies,
of the son of man who is made ^(D)like grass,

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Isaiah 51:14-16

English Standard Version

¹⁴^(A)He who is bowed down shall speedily be released;
    he shall not die and go down ^(B)to the pit,
    neither shall his bread be lacking.
¹⁵I am the Lord your God,
    ^(C)who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
    the Lord of hosts is his name.
¹⁶^(D)And I have put my words in your mouth
    ^(E)and covered you in the shadow of my hand,
^(F)establishing^[a] the heavens
    and ^(G)laying the foundations of the earth,
    and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”