Passage Resources Hebrew/Greek Your Content
Previous Next
Add parallel Print Page Options
Close LEB

Isaiah 51
Lexham English Bible

Yahweh Comforts Zion

51 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
    who seek Yahweh.
Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
    and to the excavation of the pit from which you were quarried.
2 Look to Abraham your father,
    and to Sarah; she brought you forth.
For I called him alone,[a]
    but[b] I blessed him and made him numerous.”
3 For Yahweh will comfort Zion;
    he will comfort all its sites of ruins.
And he will make[c] its wilderness like Eden,
    and its desert like the garden of Yahweh.
Joy and gladness will be found in it,
    thanksgiving and the sound[d] of song.
4 “Listen attentively to me, my people,
    and my nation, listen to me!
For a teaching will go out from me,
    and I will cause my justice to rest for a light to the peoples.
5 My righteousness is near; my salvation has gone out,
    and my arms will judge the peoples.
The coastlands wait for me,
    and for my arm they wait.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens
    and look to the earth beneath,
for the heavens will be torn to pieces like smoke,
    and the earth will be worn out like a garment,
        and those who inhabit her will die like gnats.
But[e] my salvation will be forever,
    and my righteousness will not be broken to pieces.
7 Listen to me, you who know righteousness,
    people who have my teaching in their heart;
you must not fear the reproach of men,
    or be terrified because of their abuse.
8 For a moth will eat them like garments;
    a moth will devour[f] them like wool,
but[g] my righteousness will be forever,
    and my salvation for generation after generation.[h]”
9 Awake! Awake; put on strength, O arm of Yahweh!
    Awake as in days of long ago,
        the generations of a long time back!
Are you not the one who cut Rahab in pieces,
    the one who pierced the sea-dragon?
10 Are you not the one who dried up the sea,
    the waters of the great deep,
the one who made[i] the depths of the sea a way
    for those who are redeemed to cross over?
11 So[j] the redeemed ones of Yahweh shall return,
    and they shall come to Zion with singing,
        and everlasting joy shall be on their heads.[k]
Joy and gladness shall appear;[l]
    sorrow and sighing shall flee away!
12 “I, I am he who comforts you;
    who are you that[m] you are afraid of man? He dies!
    And of the son of humankind? He is sacrificed[n] as grass!
13 And you have forgotten Yahweh, your maker,
    who stretched out the heavens,
    and founded the earth.
And you tremble continually, all day,
    because of the wrath of the oppressor
    when he takes aim[o] to destroy.
But[p] where is the wrath of the oppressor?
14     The fettered one shall make haste to be freed.
And he shall not die in[q] the pit,
    and he shall not lack his bread.
15 For[r] I am Yahweh, your God,
    who stirs up[s] the sea, so that[t] its waves roar;
    Yahweh of hosts is his name.
16 And I have put my words in your mouth,
    and I have covered you in the shadow of my hand,
to plant the heavens
    and to found the earth,
        saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”
17 Rouse yourself! Rouse yourself!
    Stand up, Jerusalem, who have drunk from the hand of Yahweh the cup of his wrath;
you have drunk the goblet, the cup of staggering;
    you have drained it out.
18 There is no one who guides her among[u] all the children she has borne,
    and there is no one who grasps her by the hand among[v] all the children she raised.
19 Two things here have happened to you—who will show sympathy[w] for you?—
    devastation and destruction, famine and sword—who will comfort you?
20 Your children have fainted;
    they lie at the head of all the streets, like an antelope in[x] a snare,
those who are full of the wrath of Yahweh,
    the rebuke of your God.
21 Therefore hear now this afflicted one
    and drunken one but[y] not from wine.
22 Thus says your Lord, Yahweh,
    and your God pleads the cause of his people:
“Look! I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering.
    You shall not continue[z] to drink the goblet, the cup of my wrath, any longer.
23 And I will put it in the hand of your tormenters,
    who have said to you,[aa] ‘Bow down that[ab] we may pass[ac] over you!’
And you have made[ad] your back like the ground,
    and like the street for those who pass[ae] over you.”

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 51:2 Literally “one”
  2. Isaiah 51:2 Or “and”
  3. Isaiah 51:3 Literally “put”
  4. Isaiah 51:3 Literally “voice”
  5. Isaiah 51:6 Or “And”
  6. Isaiah 51:8 Or “eat”
  7. Isaiah 51:8 Or “and”
  8. Isaiah 51:8 Literally “generation of generations”
  9. Isaiah 51:10 Literally “placed”
  10. Isaiah 51:11 Or “And”
  11. Isaiah 51:11 Hebrew “head”
  12. Isaiah 51:11 Literally “reach”
  13. Isaiah 51:12 Or “and”
  14. Isaiah 51:12 Literally “given”
  15. Isaiah 51:13 Literally “sets up”
  16. Isaiah 51:13 Or “And”
  17. Isaiah 51:14 Or “to”
  18. Isaiah 51:15 Or “And”
  19. Isaiah 51:15 Or “stirring up”
  20. Isaiah 51:15 Or “and”
  21. Isaiah 51:18 Or “from”
  22. Isaiah 51:18 Or “from”
  23. Isaiah 51:19 Literally “wander”
  24. Isaiah 51:20 Or “of”
  25. Isaiah 51:21 Or “and”
  26. Isaiah 51:22 Literally “do again”
  27. Isaiah 51:23 Literally “your inner self”
  28. Isaiah 51:23 Or “and”
  29. Isaiah 51:23 Or “stride”
  30. Isaiah 51:23 Literally “placed”
  31. Isaiah 51:23 Or “stride”
Close CEB

Isaiah 51
Common English Bible

Look to Abraham and Sarah

51 Listen to me,
    you who look for righteousness,
    you who seek the Lord:
Look to the rock from which you were cut
    and to the quarry where you were dug.
2 Look to Abraham your ancestor,
    and to Sarah, who gave you birth.
They were alone when I called them,
    but I blessed them and made them many.
3 The Lord will comfort Zion;
    he will comfort all her ruins.
He will make her desert like Eden
    and her wilderness like the Lord’s garden.
Happiness and joy will be found in her—
    thanks and the sound of singing.

Salvation endures forever

4 Pay attention to me, my people;
    listen to me, my nation,
        for teaching will go out from me,
        my justice, as a light to the nations.
5     I will quickly bring my victory.
My salvation is on its way,
    and my arm will judge the peoples.
    The coastlands hope for me;
    they wait for my judgment.[a]
6 Look up to the heavens,
        and gaze at the earth beneath.
    The heavens will disappear like smoke,
    the earth will wear out like clothing,
    and its inhabitants will die like gnats.
But my salvation will endure forever,
    and my righteousness will be unbroken.
7 Listen to me, you who know what is right,
    people who carry my teaching in your heart:
    Don’t fear human scorn,
    and don’t be upset when they abuse you.
8 The moth will eat them as if they were clothing,
    and the worm will eat them like wool,
    but my righteousness is forever,
    and my salvation for all generations.

Awake, arm of the Lord

9 Awake, awake, put on strength,
    arm of the Lord.
Awake as in times past,
    generations long ago.
Aren’t you the one who crushed Rahab,
    who pierced the dragon?
10 Didn’t you dry up the sea,
    the waters of the great deep?
    And didn’t you make the redeemed a road to cross
    through the depths of the sea,
    a road for the redeemed to pass?
11 Then let those ransomed by the Lord return
    and come to Zion with singing
    and with everlasting joy upon their heads.
Let happiness and joy overwhelm them;
    let grief and groaning flee.

12 I, I am the one who comforts you.
Why should you fear humans who will die,
    mortals who are treated like grass?
13 You forgot the Lord your maker,
    the one who stretched out the heavens
    and founded the earth.
    You were continually afraid, all day long,
    on account of the oppressor’s wrath—
    a fear by which they intend to destroy you.
    Where now is the oppressor’s wrath?
14 The imprisoned ones will soon be released;
    they won’t die in the pit
    or even lack bread.
15 I am the Lord your God,
    who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
    the Lord of heavenly forces is his name.
16 I put my words in your mouth
    and hid you in the shadow of my hand,
    stretching out[b] the heavens, founding the earth,
    and saying to Zion, “You are my people.”

Wake yourself, Jerusalem

17 Wake yourself, wake yourself!
    Rise up, Jerusalem,
    who drank the cup of wrath from the Lord’s hand.
    You drank; you drained the goblet of reeling.
18     There’s no one to guide her among all the children she bore;
    there’s no one to take her by the hand among all the children she raised.
19 These two things have happened to you—
    Who will be sorry for you?[c]—
        destruction and devastation,
        famine and sword—
    who will comfort you?[d]
20 Your children passed out;
    they lay at the head of every street like antelope in a net,
    filled with the Lord’s wrath,
    with the rebuke of your God.

21 Therefore, hear this, suffering one,
    who is drunk, but not from wine.
22 The Lord, your Lord and your God,
    who contends for his people, says:
    Look, I have taken the cup of reeling,
    the goblet of my wrath, from your hand.
    You will no longer drink from it.
23 I will put it in the hand of your tormentors,
    who said to you,
    “Lie down so that we can walk on you.
    Make your back like the ground,
    like a street for those walking on it.”

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 51:5 Or for my arm
  2. Isaiah 51:16 Or planting
  3. Isaiah 51:19 DSS (1QIsaa), LXX, Vulg; MT How will I
  4. Isaiah 51:19 Or how will I comfort you?
Next
Isaiah 50
Isaiah 52
Next
dropdown
Lexham English Bible (LEB)

2012 by Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software

Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible