Blessings in Store for God's People

1Listen to me, you that pursue righteousness,

you that 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 he was but one when I called him,

but I blessed him and made him many.

3For the LORD will comfort Zion;

he will comfort all her waste places,

and will make her wilderness like Eden,

her desert like the garden of the LORD;

joy and gladness will be found in her,

thanksgiving and the voice of song.

4Listen to me, my people,

and give heed to me, my nation;

for a teaching will go out from me,

and my justice for a light to the peoples.

5I will bring near my deliverance swiftly,

my salvation has gone out

and my arms will rule the peoples;

the coastlands wait for me,

and for my arm they hope.

6Lift up your eyes to the heavens,

and look at the earth beneath;

for the heavens will vanish like smoke,

the earth will wear out like a garment,

and those who live on it will die like gnats;51.6 Or in like manner

but my salvation will be for ever,

and my deliverance will never be ended.

7Listen to me, you who know righteousness,

you people who have my teaching in your hearts;

do not fear the reproach of others,

and do not be dismayed when they revile you.

8For the moth will eat them up like a garment,

and the worm will eat them like wool;

but my deliverance will be for ever,

and my salvation to all generations.

9Awake, awake, put on strength,

O arm of the LORD!

Awake, as in days of old,

the generations of long ago!

Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces,

who pierced the dragon?

10Was it not you who dried up the sea,

the waters of the great deep;

who made the depths of the sea a way

for the redeemed to cross over?

11So the ransomed of the LORD shall return,

and come to Zion with singing;

everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;

they shall obtain joy and gladness,

and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

12I, I am he who comforts you;

why then are you afraid of a mere mortal who must die,

a human being who fades like grass?

13You have forgotten the LORD, your Maker,

who stretched out the heavens

and laid the foundations of the earth.

You fear continually all day long

because of the fury of the oppressor,

who is bent on destruction.

But where is the fury of the oppressor?

14The oppressed shall speedily be released;

they shall not die and go down to the Pit,

nor shall they lack bread.

15For I am the LORD your God,

who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—

the LORD of hosts is his name.

16I have put my words in your mouth,

and hidden you in the shadow of my hand,

stretching out51.16 Syr: Heb planting the heavens

and laying the foundations of the earth,

and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’

17Rouse yourself, rouse yourself!

Stand up, O Jerusalem,

you who have drunk at the hand of the LORD

the cup of his wrath,

who have drunk to the dregs

the bowl of staggering.

18There is no one to guide her

among all the children she has borne;

there is no one to take her by the hand

among all the children she has brought up.

19These two things have befallen you—

who will grieve with you?—

devastation and destruction, famine and sword—

who will comfort you?51.19 Q Ms Gk Syr Vg: MT how may I comfort you?

20Your children have fainted,

they lie at the head of every street

like an antelope in a net;

they are full of the wrath of the LORD,

the rebuke of your God.

21Therefore hear this, you who are wounded,51.21 Or humbled

who are drunk, but not with wine:

22Thus says your Sovereign, the LORD,

your God who pleads the cause of his people:

See, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering;

you shall drink no more

from the bowl of my wrath.

23And I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,

who have said to you,

‘Bow down, that we may walk on you’;

and you have made your back like the ground

and like the street for them to walk on.