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12 “I, yes I, am the one who comforts you.
    So why are you afraid of mere humans,
    who wither like the grass and disappear?
13 Yet you have forgotten the Lord, your Creator,
    the one who stretched out the sky like a canopy
    and laid the foundations of the earth.
Will you remain in constant dread of human oppressors?
    Will you continue to fear the anger of your enemies?
Where is their fury and anger now?
    It is gone!
14 Soon all you captives will be released!
    Imprisonment, starvation, and death will not be your fate!
15 For I am the Lord your God,
    who stirs up the sea, causing its waves to roar.
    My name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
16 And I have put my words in your mouth
    and hidden you safely in my hand.
I stretched out[a] the sky like a canopy
    and laid the foundations of the earth.
I am the one who says to Israel,
    ‘You are my people!’”

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Footnotes

  1. 51:16 As in Syriac version (see also 51:13); Hebrew reads planted.

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[a] the heavens, founding the earth,
    and saying to Zion, “You are my people.”

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 51:16 Or planting