VerseAI

NIV

Isaiah 51

  1. 1<pb/><t>“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness</t> <t>and who seek the LORD:</t> <t>Look to the rock from which you were cut</t> <t>and to the quarry from which you were hewn;</t>
  2. 2<t>look to Abraham, your father,</t> <t>and to Sarah, who gave you birth.</t> <t>When I called him he was only one man,</t> <t>and I blessed him and made him many.</t>
  3. 3<t>The LORD will surely comfort Zion</t> <t>and will look with compassion on all her ruins;</t> <t>he will make her deserts like Eden,</t> <t>her wastelands like the garden of the LORD.</t> <t>Joy and gladness will be found in her,</t> <t>thanksgiving and the sound of singing. <pb/></t>
  4. 4<t>“Listen to me, my people;</t> <t>hear me, my nation:</t> <t>Instruction will go out from me;</t> <t>my justice will become a light to the nations.</t>
  5. 5<t>My righteousness draws near speedily,</t> <t>my salvation is on the way,</t> <t>and my arm will bring justice to the nations.</t> <t>The islands will look to me</t> <t>and wait in hope for my arm.</t>
  6. 6<t>Lift up your eyes to the heavens,</t> <t>look at the earth beneath;</t> <t>the heavens will vanish like smoke,</t> <t>the earth will wear out like a garment</t> <t>and its inhabitants die like flies.</t> <t>But my salvation will last forever,</t> <t>my righteousness will never fail. <pb/></t>
  7. 7<t>“Hear me, you who know what is right,</t> <t>you people who have taken my instruction to heart:</t> <t>Do not fear the reproach of mere mortals</t> <t>or be terrified by their insults.</t>
  8. 8<t>For the moth will eat them up like a garment;</t> <t>the worm will devour them like wool.</t> <t>But my righteousness will last forever,</t> <t>my salvation through all generations.” <pb/></t>
  9. 9<t>Awake, awake, arm of the LORD,</t> <t>clothe yourself with strength!</t> <t>Awake, as in days gone by,</t> <t>as in generations of old.</t> <t>Was it not you who cut Rahab to pieces,</t> <t>who pierced that monster through?</t>
  10. 10<t>Was it not you who dried up the sea,</t> <t>the waters of the great deep,</t> <t>who made a road in the depths of the sea</t> <t>so that the redeemed might cross over?</t>
  11. 11<t>Those the LORD has rescued will return.</t> <t>They will enter Zion with singing;</t> <t>everlasting joy will crown their heads.</t> <t>Gladness and joy will overtake them,</t> <t>and sorrow and sighing will flee away. <pb/></t>
  12. 12<t>“I, even I, am he who comforts you.</t> <t>Who are you that you fear mere mortals,</t> <t>human beings who are but grass,</t>
  13. 13<t>that you forget the LORD your Maker,</t> <t>who stretches out the heavens</t> <t>and who lays the foundations of the earth,</t> <t>that you live in constant terror every day</t> <t>because of the wrath of the oppressor,</t> <t>who is bent on destruction?</t> <t>For where is the wrath of the oppressor?</t>
  14. 14<t>The cowering prisoners will soon be set free;</t> <t>they will not die in their dungeon,</t> <t>nor will they lack bread.</t>
  15. 15<t>For I am the LORD your God,</t> <t>who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—</t> <t>the LORD Almighty is his name.</t>
  16. 16<t>I have put my words in your mouth</t> <t>and covered you with the shadow of my hand—</t> <t>I who set the heavens in place,</t> <t>who laid the foundations of the earth,</t> <t>and who say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’ ”</t>
  17. 17<t>Awake, awake!</t> <t>Rise up, Jerusalem,</t> <t>you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD</t> <t>the cup of his wrath,</t> <t>you who have drained to its dregs</t> <t>the goblet that makes people stagger.</t>
  18. 18<t>Among all the children she bore</t> <t>there was none to guide her;</t> <t>among all the children she reared</t> <t>there was none to take her by the hand.</t>
  19. 19<t>These double calamities have come upon you—</t> <t>who can comfort you?—</t> <t>ruin and destruction, famine and sword—</t> <t>who can<f>[96]</f> console you?</t>
  20. 20<t>Your children have fainted;</t> <t>they lie at every street corner,</t> <t>like antelope caught in a net.</t> <t>They are filled with the wrath of the LORD,</t> <t>with the rebuke of your God. <pb/></t>
  21. 21<t>Therefore hear this, you afflicted one,</t> <t>made drunk, but not with wine.</t>
  22. 22<t>This is what your Sovereign LORD says,</t> <t>your God, who defends his people:</t> <t>“See, I have taken out of your hand</t> <t>the cup that made you stagger;</t> <t>from that cup, the goblet of my wrath,</t> <t>you will never drink again.</t>
  23. 23<t>I will put it into the hands of your tormentors,</t> <t>who said to you,</t> <t>‘Fall prostrate that we may walk on you.’</t> <t>And you made your back like the ground,</t> <t>like a street to be walked on.”</t>