“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.” (Isaiah 51:1-23 AV)