Isaiah 51:1-13 ▼

1 LISTEN to me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek the LORD; look to the mountain from which you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you were digged.

2 Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who conceived you; for he was alone, and I called him and blessed him and multiplied him.

3 For the LORD will build Zion; he will build all her waste places; he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be heard in the midst of her, thanksgiving and the voice of singing.

4 Hearken to me, O people; and give ear to me, O nations; for a law shall go forth from me, and my justice is a light to the Gentiles.

5 My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth and my arms shall judge the peoples; the islands shall wait for me and on my arm shall they trust.

6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look also upon the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it shall perish in like manner; but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not pass away.

7 Hearken to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear not the reproach of men, neither be afraid of their revilings.

8 For the moth shall eat them up like wool and like a garment; 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, as in the generations of old. Surely it was thou that didst decree a severe sentence that didst slay the dragon.

10 It was thou that didst dry the sea, the waters of the great deep; that didst make the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over.

11 Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

12 I, even I, am he that comforts you, says the LORD; who are you, that you should be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man that dries up like grass;

13 And you have forgotten the LORD your Maker, who stretched forth the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth; and have been afraid continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, who was ready to destroy? And now where is the fury of the oppressor?