Words of encouragement and promise

Deliverance is near and sure

51 Hearken to me, you who yearn for redress,

who seek for the aid of the Lord;

look to the rock from which you were hewn,

to the quarry from which you were dug.

2 Look unto Abraham your father,

and Sarah - her who bore you:

for he was but one, when I called him,

yet I blessed him and increased him.

3 So the Lord has comforted Zion,

has comforted all her ruins,

her desert has made like the Lord’s own garden,

like Eden itself her wilderness.

There will joy and gladness be found,

giving of thanks and the sound of melody.

4 Give heed unto me, my people,

O nation of mine, listen;

for from me will direction go forth,

my law to enlighten the nations.

5 I will bring my deliverance swiftly;

my victory is now on the way,

my arms will judge the peoples.

For me do the islands wait,

they will set their hope in my arm.

6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens,

and look on the earth beneath;

for the heavens will vanish like smoke,

and the earth like a garment (will perish;

(the world) will crumble to pieces,

her people will die like gnats:

but eternal will be my salvation,

my triumph will not fail.

7 Hearken to me, you who care for the right,

you folk in whose heart is my teaching;

be not afraid of the insults of men,

let no their reviling dismay you:

8 for like a garment the moth will consume them,

the worm will consume them like wool;

but eternal will be my salvation,

my triumph from age to age.

Appeal to the Lord to show his ancient power

9 Awake, O arm of the Lord,

awake, and clothe you with might;

awake as in days of old,

as in ancient generations.

Are you not the arm that hewed Rahab in pieces,

and pierced the dragon through?

10 Are you not the arm that once dried up the sea,

the waters of mighty ocean,

that made the depths of the sea

a way for the ransomed to pass?

12 I, I am he comforts you:

how then should you be afraid

of frail man who will die, or of mortal

who passes away like the grass;

13 and forgets the Lord your maker,

who stretched forth the heavens and founded the earth;

and lives in ceaseless dread

of the fury of the oppressor?

Where is now the oppressor’s fury,

who aimed at your destruction?

14 Soon will the captive be freed,

he will not end in death and the pit,

nor suffer for lack of bread.

15 I am the Lord your God,

who stirs the sea into roaring waves:

the Lord of Hosts is my name.

16 And I put my words in your mouth,

in the shadow of my hand did I hide you,

when I stretched forth the heavens and founded the earth,

and said unto Zion, ‘My people are you.’

Jerusalem’s affliction: her speedy redemption and glory

17 Bestir you, bestir you; arise, O Jerusalem,

who have drunk at the hand of the Lord

the cup of his indignation,

and the bowl that bewilders have drained to the dregs.

18 Of all the sons you have borne

there is not man to guide you;

of all the sons you have reared

there is none to take your hand.

19 A twofold woe has befallen you;

who may with you condole?

Wreck and ruin, famine and sword –

and who may comfort you?

20 Your sons in a swoon were lying

like an antelope in a net,

filled full with the Lord’s fury

and with the rebuke of your God.

21 Therefore hear now this, you afflicted one,

drunken, but not with wine:

22 thus says your Lord the Lord,

your God who defends his people:

‘Behold, from your hand I have taken

the cup that brings bewilderment;

the chalice of my fury

you will never drink again.

23 I will hand it to your tormentors,

to those who afflicted you,

and commanded you to bow down

that they might pass over you:

yea, you made your back like the ground,

like a street for men to pass over.’

52 Awake, awake, O Zion,

put on your garment of strength;

put on your glorious raiment,

O holy city, Jerusalem:

for never will enter you more

the uncircumcised or unclean.

2 Shake yourself from the dust,

and arise, O captive Jerusalem;

loose you the bands of your neck,

O captive daughter of Zion.

3 For thus says the Lord, ‘You were sold for nothing and 4 without money you will be redeemed.’ For thus says the Lord the Lord, ‘My people went down at the first to Egypt to sojourn there; and Assyria oppressed them 5 without cause. And now,’ says the Lord, ‘wherein have I been advantaged here, in that my people have been taken away for nothing? See! Those who waited for me,’ says the Lord, ‘are become a byword, and my name is ever ceaselessly reviled. Therefore in that day will my people know my name, that it is I who have promised. Behold, it is I.’

7 How fair are the feet on the mountains

of him who proclaims good tidings,

the herald of peace and good tidings,

who brings the news of deliverance,

who says unto Zion,

‘Your God reigns.’

8 your watchmen lift up their voices

in jubilant cries together,

for eye to eye they look

on the Lord returning to Zion.

9 You ruins of wasted Jerusalem,

break into singing together:

for the Lord comforts his people,

he brings Jerusalem redemption.

10 In the sight of all nations the Lord

gas bared his holy arm;

and all the ends of the earth

will see how our God has saved us.

11 Away, away. get you hence,

and touch no unclean thing;

get you forth from her, make yourselves pure,

you who bear the vessels of the Lord.

12 Nor need you go forth in haste,

nor depart as though you were fugitives;

for the Lord goes before you,

and Israel’s God is your rear guard.