Isaiah

The book of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 51, New English Translation and King James Version

Chapter 51 New English Translation

There is Hope for the Future

   1 "Listen to me, you who pursue godliness, who seek the LORD! Look at the rock from which you were chiseled, at the quarry from which you were dug!
   2 Look at Abraham, your father, and Sarah, who gave you birth. When I summoned him, he was a lone individual, but I blessed him and gave him numerous descendants.
   3 Certainly the LORD will console Zion; he will console all her ruins. He will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the Garden of the LORD. Happiness and joy will be restored to her, thanksgiving and the sound of music.
   4 Pay attention to me, my people! Listen to me, my people! For I will issue a decree, I will make my justice a light to the nations.
   5 I am ready to vindicate, I am ready to deliver, I will establish justice among the nations. The coastlands wait patiently for me; they wait in anticipation for the revelation of my power.
   6 Look up at the sky! Look at the earth below! For the sky will dissipate like smoke, and the earth will wear out like clothes; its residents will die like gnats. But the deliverance I give is permanent; the vindication I provide will not disappear.
   7 Listen to me, you who know what is right, you people who are aware of my law! Don't be afraid of the insults of men; don't be discouraged because of their abuse!
   8 For a moth will eat away at them like clothes; a clothes moth will devour them like wool. But the vindication I provide will be permanent; the deliverance I give will last."
   9 Wake up! Wake up! Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the LORD! Wake up as in former times, as in antiquity! Did you not smash the Proud One? Did you not wound the sea monster?
   10 Did you not dry up the sea, the waters of the great deep? Did you not make a path through the depths of the sea, so those delivered from bondage could cross over?
   11 Those whom the LORD has ransomed will return; they will enter Zion with a happy shout. Unending joy will crown them, happiness and joy will overwhelm them; grief and suffering will disappear.
   12 "I, I am the one who consoles you. Why are you afraid of mortal men, of mere human beings who are as short-lived as grass?
   13 Why do you forget the LORD, who made you, who stretched out the sky and founded the earth? Why do you constantly tremble all day long at the anger of the oppressor, when he makes plans to destroy? Where is the anger of the oppressor?
   14 The one who suffers will soon be released; he will not die in prison, he will not go hungry.
   15 I am the LORD your God, who churns up the sea so that its waves surge. The LORD who commands armies is his name!

Zion's Time to Celebrate

   16 I commission you as my spokesman; I cover you with the palm of my hand, to establish the sky and to found the earth, to say to Zion, 'You are my people.'"
   17 Wake up! Wake up! Get up, O Jerusalem! You drank from the cup the LORD passed to you, which was full of his anger! You drained dry the goblet full of intoxicating wine.
   18 There was no one to lead her among all the children she bore; there was no one to take her by the hand among all the children she raised.
   19 These double disasters confronted you. But who feels sorry for you? Destruction and devastation, famine and sword. But who consoles you?
   20 Your children faint; they lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a snare. They are left in a stupor by the LORD's anger, by the battle cry of your God.
   21 So listen to this, oppressed one, who is drunk, but not from wine!
   22 This is what your sovereign master, the LORD your God, says: "Look, I have removed from your hand the cup of intoxicating wine, the goblet full of my anger. You will no longer have to drink it.
   23 I will put it into the hand of your tormentors who said to you, 'Lie down, so we can walk over you.' You made your back like the ground, and like the street for those who walked over you."

King James Version

   1 Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.
   2 Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.
   3 For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
   4 ¶ Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.
   5 My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust.
   6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.
   7 ¶ Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.
   8 For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.
   9 ¶ Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?
   10 Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?
   11 Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.
   12 I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass;
   13 And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?
   14 The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.
   15 But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name.
   16 And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.
   17 ¶ Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.
   18 There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up.
   19 These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee?
   20 Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God.
   21 ¶ Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:
   22 Thus saith thy Lord the LORD, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again:
   23 But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.