A Message of Hope to the Judeans

Isaiah 51:1–11

Biblical Period

1Listen to Me, you who pursue justice,
You who seek the Lord:
Look to the rock you were hewn from,
To the quarry you were dug from.
2Look back to Abraham your father
And to Sarah who brought you forth.
For he was only one when I called him,
But I blessed him and made him many.
3Truly the Lord has comforted Zion,
Comforted all her ruins;
He has made her wilderness like Eden,
Her desert like the Garden of the Lord.
Gladness and joy shall abide there,
Thanksgiving and the sound of music.
4Hearken to Me, My people,
And give ear to Me, O My nation,
For teaching shall go fortha from Me,
My way for the light of peoples.
In a moment I will bring it:
5The triumph I grant is near,
The success I give has gone forth.
My arms shall provide for the peoples;
The coastlands shall trust in Me,
They shall look to My arm.
6Raise your eyes to the heavens,
And look upon the earth beneath:
Though the heavens should melt away like smoke,
And the earth wear out like a garment,
And its inhabitants die out as well,
My victory shall stand forever,
My triumph shall remain unbroken.
7Listen to Me, you who care for the right,
O people who lay My instruction to heart!
Fear not the insults of men,
And be not dismayed at their jeers;
8For the moth shall eat them up like a garment,
The worm shall eat them up like wool.
But My triumph shall endure forever,
My salvation through all the ages.
9Awake, awake, clothe yourself with splendor.
O arm of the Lord!
Awake as in days of old,
As in former ages!
It was you that hacked Rahabb in pieces,
That pierced the Dragon.b
10It was you that dried up the Sea,
The waters of the great deep;
That made the abysses of the Sea
A road the redeemed might walk.
11So let the ransomed of the Lord return,
And come with shouting to Zion,
Crowned with joy everlasting.
Let them attain joy and gladness,
While sorrow and sighing flee.

Notes

I.e., through My servant Israel.

Names of primeval monsters.

Credits

Reprinted from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.

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