Yahweh Comforts Zion

• who seek Yahweh.
• Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
  • and to the excavation of the pit from which you were quarried.
  • 2  and to Sarah; she brought you forth.
• For I called him[fn]
  • but[fn] I blessed him and made him numerous.”
  • 3  he will comfort all its sites of ruins.
• And he will[fn] its wilderness like Eden,
  • and its desert like the garden of Yahweh.
• Joy and gladness will be found in it,
  • thanksgiving and the[fn] of song.
  • 4  and my nation, listen to me!
• For a teaching will go out from me,
  • and I will cause my justice to rest for a light to the peoples.
  • 5 is near; my salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples.
• The coastlands wait for me,
  • and for my arm they wait.
  • 6  and look to the earth beneath,
• for the heavens will be torn to pieces like smoke,
  • and the earth will be worn out like a garment,
    • and those who inhabit her will die like gnats.
• But[fn] my salvation will be forever,
  • and my righteousness will not be broken to pieces.
  • 7  people who have my teaching in their heart;
• you must not fear the reproach of men,
  • or be terrified because of their abuse.
  • 8  a moth will devour[fn] them like wool,
• but[fn] my righteousness will be forever,
  • and my salvation for[fn]”
  • 9  Awake as in days of long ago,
    • the generations of a long time back!
• Are you not the one who cut Rahab in pieces,
  • the one who pierced the sea-dragon?
  • 10 the sea, the waters of the great deep,
• the one who[fn] the depths of the sea a way
  • for those who are redeemed to cross over?
  • 11 [fn] the redeemed ones of Yahweh shall return, and they shall come to Zion with singing,
    • and everlasting joy shall be on their heads.[fn]
• Joy and gladness shall[fn]
  • sorrow and sighing shall flee away!
• 12 “I, I am he who comforts you;who are you that[fn] you are afraid of man? He dies!
  • And of the son of humankind? He is[fn] as grass!
  • 13  who stretched out the heavens,
  • and founded the earth.
• And you tremble continually, all day,
  • because of the wrath of the oppressor
  • when he[fn] to destroy.
• But[fn] where is the wrath of the oppressor?
• 14 The fettered one shall make haste to be freed. And he shall not die in[fn] the pit,
  • and he shall not lack his bread.
• 15 For[fn] Iam Yahweh, your God,who stirs up[fn] the sea,
  • [fn] its waves roar;
• Yahweh of hosts is his name.
  • 16  and I have covered you in the shadow of my hand,
• to plant the heavens
  • and to found the earth,
    • saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’ ”
  • 17  Stand up, Jerusalem, who have drunk from the hand of Yahweh the cup of his wrath;
• you have drunk the goblet, the cup of staggering;
  • you have drained it out.
  • 18 [fn] all the children she has borne, and there is no one who grasps her by the hand among[fn] all the children she raised.
  • 19 things here have happened to you—who will[fn] for you?— devastation and destruction, famine and sword—who will comfort you?
  • 20  they lie at the head of all the streets, like an antelope in[fn] a snare,
• those who are full of the wrath of Yahweh,
  • the rebuke of your God.
  • 21 one and drunken one but[fn] not from wine.
  • 22 and your God pleads the cause of his people:
• “Look! I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering.
  • You shall not[fn] to drink the goblet, the cup of my wrath, any longer.
  • 23  who have said to[fn] ‘Bow down that[fn] we may[fn] over you!’
• And you have[fn] your back like the ground,
  • and like the street for those who[fn] over you.”