The Lord Comforts Zion
1 “Listen to Me,you who follow after righteousness,
You who seek theLord:
Look to the rockfromwhichyou were hewn,
And to the hole of the pitfromwhichyou were dug.
2 Look to Abraham your father,
And to Sarahwhobore you;
# For I called him alone,
# Andblessed him and increased him.”
3 For theLordwillcomfort Zion,
He will comfort all her waste places;
He will make her wilderness like Eden,
# And her desertlike the garden of theLord;
Joy and gladness will be found in it,
Thanksgiving and the voice of melody.
4 “Listen to Me, My people;
And give ear to Me, O My nation:
# For law will proceed from Me,
And I will make My justice rest
# As a light of the peoples.
5 My righteousnessisnear,
My salvation has gone forth,
# And My arms will judge the peoples;
# The coastlands will wait upon Me,
# Andon My arm they will trust.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
And look on the earth beneath.
# Forthe heavens will vanish away like smoke,
# The earth will grow old like a garment,
And those who dwell in it will die in like manner;
# But My salvation will beforever,
And My righteousness will not be abolished.
7 “Listen to Me, you who know righteousness,
# You peoplein whose heartisMy law:
# Do not fear the reproach of men,
Nor be afraid of their insults.
8 Forthe moth will eat them up like a garment,
And the worm will eat them like wool;
But My righteousness will be forever,
And My salvation from generation to generation.”
9 Awake, awake,put on strength,
O arm of theLord!
# Awakeas in the ancient days,
In the generations of old.
# AreYou notthearmthat cutRahab apart,
# Andwounded theserpent?
10 AreYou nottheOnewhodried up the sea,
The waters of the great deep;
That made the depths of the sea a road
For the redeemed to cross over?
11 Sothe ransomed of theLordshall return,
And come to Zion with singing,
With everlasting joy on their heads.
They shall obtain joy and gladness;
Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
12 “I,evenI,amHewho comforts you.
Whoareyou that you should be afraid
# Of a manwhowill die,
# And of the son of a manwhowill be madelike grass?
13 Andyou forget theLordyour Maker,
# Who stretched out the heavens
And laid the foundations of the earth;
You have feared continually every day
Because of the fury of the oppressor,
Whenhehasprepared to destroy.
# And whereisthe fury of the oppressor?
14 The captive exile hastens, that he may be loosed,
# That he should not die in the pit,
And that his bread should not fail.
15 But IamtheLordyour God,
# Whodivided the sea whose waves roared—
TheLordof hostsisHis name.
16 AndI have put My words in your mouth;
# I have covered you with the shadow of My hand,
# That I may plant the heavens,
Lay the foundations of the earth,
And say to Zion, ‘YouareMy people.’ ”
God’s Fury Removed
17 Awake, awake!
Stand up, O Jerusalem,
# You whohave drunk at the hand of theLord
The cup of His fury;
You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling,
Anddraineditout.
18 Thereisno one to guide her
Among all the sons she has brought forth;
Noristhereanywho takes her by the hand
Among all the sons she has brought up.
19 These twothingshave come to you;
Who will be sorry for you?—
Desolation and destruction, famine and sword—
# By whom will I comfort you?
20 Your sons have fainted,
They lie at the head of all the streets,
Like an antelope in a net;
They are full of the fury of theLord,
The rebuke of your God.
21 Therefore please hear this, you afflicted,
# And drunkbut not with wine.
22 Thus says your Lord,
TheLordand your God,
# Whopleads the cause of His people:
“See, I have taken out of your hand
The cup of trembling,
The dregs of the cup of My fury;
You shall no longer drink it.
23 But I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you,
Who have said to you,
‘Lie down, that we may walk over you.’
And you have laid your body like the ground,
And as the street, for those who walk over.”