< Isaiah 51 >

1 Heare me, ye that follow after righteousnes, and ye that seeke the Lord: looke vnto the rocke, whence ye are hewen, and to the hole of the pit, whence ye are digged.
Listen to me, you that follow after righteousness, and seek the Lord: look to the solid rock, which you have hewn, and to the hole of the pit which you have dug.
2 Consider Abraham your father, and Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.
Look to Abraam your father, and to Sarrha that bore you: for he was alone when I called him, and blessed him, and loved him, and multiplied him.
3 Surely the Lord shall comfort Zion: he shall comfort all her desolations, and he shall make her desert like Eden, and her wildernes like the garden of the Lord: ioy and gladnesse shalbe founde therein: praise, and the voyce of singing.
And now I will comfort you, O Sion: and I have comforted all her desert places; and I will make her desert places as a garden, and her western places as the garden of the Lord; they shall find in her gladness and exultation, thanksgiving and the voice of praise.
4 Hearken ye vnto me, my people, and giue eare vnto me, O my people: for a Law shall proceede from me, and I will bring foorth my iudgement for the light of the people.
Hear me, hear me, my people; and you kings, listen to me: for a law shall proceed from me, and my judgment [shall be] for a light of the nations.
5 My righteousnes is neere: my saluation goeth foorth, and mine armes shall iudge the people: the yles shall waite for me, and shall trust vnto mine arme.
My righteousness speedily draws near, and my salvation shall go forth as light, and on mine arm shall the Gentiles trust: the isles shall wait for me, and on mine arm shall they trust.
6 Lift vp your eyes to the heauens, and looke vpon the earth beneath: for the heauens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall waxe olde like a garment, and they that dwell therein, shall perish in like maner: but my saluation shall be for euer, and my righteousnesse shall not bee abolished.
Lift up your eyes to the sky, and look on the earth beneath: for the sky was darkened like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and the inhabitants shall die in like manner: but my righteousness shall not fail.
7 Hearken vnto me, ye that know righteousnesse, the people in whose heart is my Lawe. Feare ye not the reproche of men, neither be ye afraide of their rebukes.
Hear me, you that know judgment, the people in whose heart is my law: fear not the reproach of men, and be not overcome by their contempt.
8 For the mothe shall eate them vp like a garment, and the worme shall eate them like wool: but my righteousnesse shalbe for euer, and my saluation from generation to generation.
For as a garment will be devoured by time, and as wool will be devoured by a moth, [so shall they be consumed]; but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation for all generations.
9 Rise vp, rise vp, and put on strength, O arme of the Lord: rise vp as in the olde time in the generations of the worlde. Art not thou the same, that hath cutte Rahab, and wounded the dragon?
Awake, awake, O Jerusalem, and put on the strength of your arm; awake as in the early time, as the ancient generation.
10 Art not thou the same, which hath dried the Sea, euen the waters of the great deepe, making the depth of the Sea a way for the redeemed to passe ouer?
Are you not it that dried the sea, the water, [even] the abundance of the deep; that made the depths of the sea a way of passage for the delivered and redeemed?
11 Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall returne, and come with ioy vnto Zion, and euerlasting ioy shalbe vpon their head: they shall obtaine ioy, and gladnesse: and sorow and mourning shall flee away.
for by [the help of] the Lord they shall return, and come to Sion with joy and everlasting exultation, for praise and joy shall come upon their head: pain, and grief, and groaning, have fled away.
12 I, euen I am he, that comfort you. Who art thou, that thou shouldest feare a mortall man, and the sonne of man, which shalbe made as grasse?
I, [even] I, am he that comforts you: consider who you are, that you were afraid of mortal man, and of the son of man, who are withered as grass.
13 And forgettest the Lord thy maker, that hath spred out the heauens, and layde the foundations of the earth? and hast feared continually all the day, because of the rage of the oppressour, which is readie to destroy? Where is now the rage of the oppressour?
And you have forgotten God who made you, who made the sky and founded the earth; and you were continually afraid because of the wrath of him that afflicted you: for [whereas] he counselled to take you away, yet now where is the wrath of him that afflicted you?
14 The captiue hasteneth to be loosed, and that hee should not die in the pitte, nor that his bread should faile.
For in your deliverance he shall not halt, nor wait;
15 And I am the Lord thy God that deuided the Sea, when his waues roared: the Lord of hostes is his Name.
for I am your God, that troubles the sea, and causes the waves thereof to roar: the Lord of hosts is my name.
16 And I haue put my wordes in thy mouth, and haue defended thee in the shadowe of mine hand, that I may plant the heauens, and lay the foundation of the earth, and say vnto Zion, Thou art my people.
I will put my words into your mouth, and I will shelter you under the shadow of mine hand, with which I fixed the sky, and founded the earth: and [the Lord] shall say to Sion, You are my people.
17 Awake, awake, and stande vp, O Ierusalem, which hast drunke at the hande of the Lord the cup of his wrath: thou hast drunken the dregges of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.
Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, that have drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury: for you have drunk out and drained the cup of calamity, the cup of wrath:
18 There is none to guide her among all the sonnes, whome she hath brought foorth: there is none that taketh her by the hand of all the sonnes that she hath brought vp.
and there was none to comfort you of all the children whom you bore; and there was none to take hold of your hand, not even of all the children whom you has reared.
19 These two thinges are come vnto thee: who will lament thee? desolation and destruction and famine, and the sworde: by whome shall I comfort thee?
Therefore these things are against you; who shall sympathize with you in your grief? downfall, and destruction, famine, and sword: who shall comfort you?
20 Thy sonnes haue fainted, and lye at the head of all the streetes as a wilde bull in a nette, and are full of the wrath of the Lord, and rebuke of thy God.
Your sons are the perplexed ones, that sleep at the top of every street as a half-boiled beet; they that are full of the anger of the Lord, caused to faint by the Lord God.
21 Therefore heare nowe this, thou miserable and drunken, but not with wine.
Therefore hear, you afflicted one, and drunken, [but] not with wine;
22 Thus saith thy Lord God, euen God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Beholde, I haue taken out of thine hande the cuppe of trembling, euen the dregges of the cuppe of my wrath: thou shalt drinke it no more.
thus says the Lord God that judges his people, Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of calamity, the cup of my wrath; and you shall not drink it any more.
23 But I will put it into their hande that spoile thee: which haue said to thy soule, Bowe downe, that wee may goe ouer, and thou hast layde thy bodie as the grounde, and as the streete to them that went ouer.
And I will give it into the hands of them that injured you, and them that afflicted you; who said to your soul, Bow down, that we may pass over: and you did level your body with the ground to them passing by without.

< Isaiah 51 >