Isaiah 51
Expanded Bible
Jerusalem Will Be Saved
51 The Lord says, “Listen to me,
those of you who ·try to live right [L pursue righteousness] and ·follow [seek] the Lord.
Look ·at [or to] the rock from which you were cut;
look ·at [or to] the stone quarry from which you were dug [C referring to their ancestors Abraham and Sarah; see v. 2].
2 Look at Abraham, your ·ancestor [father],
and Sarah, who gave birth to ·your ancestors [L you].
Abraham ·had no children [was just one person; L was one] when I called him [Gen. 12:1–3],
but I blessed him and ·gave him many descendants [L made him many].
3 So the Lord will comfort ·Jerusalem [L Zion; C the location of the Temple];
he will ·show mercy to [comfort] ·those who live in [L all] her ruins.
He will change her ·deserts [wilderness] into ·a garden like Eden [L Eden];
he will make her ·empty lands [desert; arid plains] like the garden of the Lord.
·People there will be very happy [L Joy and gladness will be found in her];
·they will give thanks and sing songs [L thanksgiving and the voice of song].
4 “My people, listen to me;
my nation, pay attention to me.
·I will give the people my teachings [L Law/Instruction/Torah will go out from me],
and my ·decisions [justice] will be like a light to the ·people [nations].
5 ·I will soon show that I do what is right [L My righteousness/justice draws near].
·I will soon save you [L My salvation goes out].
·I will use my power and [L My arms will] judge the nations.
The ·faraway places [or islands; or coastlands] are ·waiting for [looking to; hoping in] me;
they wait for my ·power to help them [L arm].
6 ·Look up [L Lift your eyes] to the heavens [40:26].
Look at the earth below.
The skies will disappear like clouds of smoke.
The earth will ·become useless [wear out] like old clothes [Ps. 102:26],
and its people will die like flies.
But my salvation will continue forever,
and my ·goodness [righteousness] will never end.
7 “You people who know ·what is right [righteousness] should listen to me;
you people who ·follow my teachings [have my law/L Torah in your heart] should hear what I say.
Don’t be afraid of the ·evil things people say [L reproach/scorn of people],
and don’t be ·upset [discouraged; dismayed] by their insults.
8 Moths will eat those people as if they were clothes,
and worms will eat them as if they were wool.
But my goodness will continue forever,
and my salvation ·will continue from now on [L from generation to generation].”
9 Wake up, wake up, and ·use your [clothe yourself with] strength,
·powerful [L arm of the] Lord.
Wake up as you did in the ·old times [ancient days],
as you did ·a long time ago [L in generations everlasting].
·With your own power, you [L Were you not the one who…?] cut Rahab [C a mythical sea monster symbolizing chaos; 30:7; Ps. 89:10] into pieces
and ·killed [pierced] that ·sea monster [serpent; dragon; 27:1; Ps. 74:13–14].
10 ·You dried [L Did you not dry…?] up the sea
and the waters of the deep ocean.
You made a road through the deepest parts of the sea
for your ·people to cross over and be saved [or redeemed people to cross over; 43:16; Ex. 14:21; Ps. 106:9].
11 The people the Lord has ·freed [rescued; ransomed] will return
and enter ·Jerusalem [L Zion; v. 3] with ·joy [singing].
·Their happiness will last forever [L Everlasting joy will crown them/be on their head].
They will ·have [be overwhelmed/overtaken with] joy and gladness,
and all sadness and sorrow will ·be gone far [flee] away [35:10].
12 The Lord says, “·I [L I, even I] am the one who ·comforts you [40:1].
So why should you be afraid of people, who die?
·Why should you fear people [L …or the son of man; C human beings] who ·die [L is given up] like the grass [40:6]?
13 Have you forgotten the Lord who made you,
who stretched out the ·skies [heavens]
and ·made [L laid the foundations of] the earth [48:13]?
Why are you always afraid
of ·those angry people who trouble you [the anger/wrath of the oppressor]
and who ·want [seek; plan] to destroy?
But where ·are those angry people [is the anger/wrath of the oppressor] now?
14 ·People in prison [L Those who are burdened/stooped over] will soon be set free;
they will not die in prison,
and they will ·have enough food [not lack bread].
15 I am the Lord your God,
who stirs the sea and makes the waves roar.
My name is the Lord ·All-Powerful [Almighty; of Heaven’s Armies; T of hosts].
16 I will ·give you the words I want you to say [L put my words in your mouth].
I will cover you with ·my hands and protect you [L the shadow of my hand].
I ·made [established] the heavens and [L laid the foundation of] the earth,
and I say to ·Jerusalem [L Zion; v. 3], ‘You are my people.’”
God Punished Israel
17 Awake! Awake!
Get up, Jerusalem.
·The Lord was very angry with you;
your punishment was like wine in a cup.
The Lord made you drink that wine [L You have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath];
you ·drank the whole cup [L drained the goblet to its dregs] until you stumbled.
18 ·Though Jerusalem had many people [L Among all the children she bore],
there was not one to lead her.
Of all the people ·who grew up there [she raised],
no one was there to ·guide her [L take her by the hand].
19 ·Troubles [Calamities] came to you two by two,
but no one will ·feel sorry for [or console] you.
There was ruin and ·disaster [destruction], ·great hunger [famine] and ·fighting [L sword].
·No one [L But who…?] can comfort you.
20 Your ·people [L children; sons] have ·become weak [fainted].
They fall down and lie ·on every street corner [L at the head of every street],
like ·animals [L antelope] caught in a net.
They ·have felt the full anger [or are filled with the wrath] of the Lord
and have heard God’s ·angry shout [rebuke].
21 So listen to me, ·poor Jerusalem [L oppressed/afflicted one],
you who are drunk but not from wine.
22 Your God will ·defend [plead the case of] his people.
This is what the Lord your God says:
“·The punishment I gave you is like a cup of wine.
You drank it and could not walk straight.
But I am taking that cup of my anger away from you, [L Look/T Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering,
the dregs of the cup of my wrath]
and you will never ·be punished by my anger [L drink from it] again.
23 I will now give that cup of punishment to ·those who gave you pain [your tormentors; Jer. 25:17, 26, 28],
who told you,
‘Bow down so we can walk over you.’
·They [L You] made your back like dirt for them to walk on;
you were like a street for them to travel on.”
Isaiah 51
New American Standard Bible
Israel Exhorted
51 “(A)Listen to Me, you who (B)pursue righteousness,
Who seek the Lord:
Look to the (C)rock from which you were cut,
And to the [a]quarry from which you were dug.
2 Look to (D)Abraham your father
And to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain;
When he (E)was only one I called him,
Then I blessed him and multiplied him.”
3 Indeed, (F)the Lord will comfort Zion;
He will comfort all her (G)ruins.
And He will make her (H)wilderness like (I)Eden,
And her desert like the (J)garden of the Lord.
(K)Joy and gladness will be found in her,
Thanksgiving and the sound of a melody.
4 “(L)Pay attention to Me, My people,
And listen to Me, My [b]nation;
For a (M)law will go out from Me,
And I will bring My (N)justice as a (O)light of the peoples.
5 My (P)righteousness is near, My salvation has gone forth,
And My (Q)arms will judge the peoples;
The (R)coastlands will wait for Me,
And they will wait expectantly for My (S)arm.
6 (T)Raise your eyes to the sky,
Then look to the earth beneath;
For the (U)sky will vanish like smoke,
And the (V)earth will wear out like a garment
And its inhabitants will die [c]in the same way.
But My (W)salvation will be forever,
And My righteousness will not fail.
7 (X)Listen to Me, you who know righteousness,
A people in whose (Y)heart is My Law;
Do not fear the (Z)taunting of [d]people,
Nor be terrified of their abuses.
8 For the (AA)moth will eat them like a garment;
Yes, the (AB)moth will eat them like wool.
But My (AC)righteousness will be forever,
And My salvation to all generations.”
9 (AD)Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord;
Awake as in the (AE)days of old, the generations of long ago.
(AF)Was it not You who cut [e]Rahab in pieces,
Who pierced the (AG)dragon?
10 Was it not You who (AH)dried up the sea,
The waters of the great deep;
Who made the depths of the sea a pathway
For the (AI)redeemed to cross over?
11 And the (AJ)redeemed of the Lord will return
And come to Zion with joyful shouting,
And (AK)everlasting joy will be on their heads.
They will obtain gladness and joy,
And (AL)sorrow and sighing will flee away.
12 “I, I Myself, am He who (AM)comforts you.
Who are you that you are afraid of [f](AN)mortal man,
And of a son of man who is made like (AO)grass,
13 That you have (AP)forgotten the Lord your Maker,
Who (AQ)stretched out the heavens
And laid the foundations of the earth,
That you (AR)fear continually all day long because of the fury of the oppressor,
As he makes ready to destroy?
And where is the rage of the (AS)oppressor?
14 The [g](AT)exile will soon be set free, and will not die in the [h]dungeon, (AU)nor will his bread be lacking. 15 For I am the Lord your God, who (AV)stirs up the sea so that its waves roar (the Lord of armies is His name). 16 And I have (AW)put My words in your mouth and have (AX)covered you with the shadow of My hand, to [i](AY)establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”
17 (AZ)Pull yourself up! Pull yourself up! Arise, Jerusalem!
You who have (BA)drunk from the Lord’s hand the cup of His anger;
The [j]chalice of staggering you have drunk to the dregs.
18 There is (BB)no one to guide her among all the sons to whom she has given birth,
Nor is there anyone to take her by the hand among all the sons she has raised.
19 These two things have happened to you;
Who will mourn for you?
The (BC)devastation and destruction, famine and sword;
How shall I comfort you?
20 Your sons have fainted,
They (BD)lie helpless at the head of every street,
Like an (BE)antelope in a net,
Full of the wrath of the Lord,
The (BF)rebuke of your God.
21 Therefore, listen to this, you (BG)afflicted,
Who are (BH)drunk, but not with wine:
22 This is what your Lord, the Lord, your God
Who (BI)contends for His people says:
“Behold, I have taken from your hand the (BJ)cup of staggering,
The [k]chalice of My anger;
You will never drink it again.
23 I will (BK)put it into the hand of your tormentors,
Who have said to [l]you, ‘(BL)Lie down so that we may walk over you.’
You have also made your back like the ground,
And like the street for those who walk over it.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 51:1 Lit excavation of a pit
- Isaiah 51:4 Or people
- Isaiah 51:6 Another reading is like gnats
- Isaiah 51:7 Or mankind
- Isaiah 51:9 I.e., a sea monster, not to be confused with Rahab in Joshua 2
- Isaiah 51:12 Lit man who dies
- Isaiah 51:14 Lit one in chains
- Isaiah 51:14 Lit pit
- Isaiah 51:16 Lit plant
- Isaiah 51:17 Lit bowl of the cup of reeling
- Isaiah 51:22 Lit bowl of the cup of
- Isaiah 51:23 Lit your soul
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New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
