51 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.