The Lord Comforts Zion
“Listen to Me, ayou who follow after righteousness,
You who seek the Lord:
Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
And to the hole of the pit from which you were dug.
2 aLook to Abraham your father,
And to Sarah who bore you;
bFor I called him alone,
And cblessed him and increased him.”
3 For the Lord will acomfort Zion,
He will comfort all her waste places;
He will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert blike the garden of the Lord;
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:
aFor law will proceed from Me,
And I will make My justice rest
bAs a light of the peoples.
5 aMy righteousness is near,
My salvation has gone forth,
bAnd My arms will judge the peoples;
cThe coastlands will wait upon Me,
And don My arm they will trust.
6 aLift up your eyes to the heavens,
And look on the earth beneath.
For bthe heavens will vanish away like smoke,
cThe earth will grow old like a garment,
And those who dwell in it will die in like manner;
But My salvation will be dforever,
And My righteousness will not be abolished.
7 “Listen to Me, you who know righteousness,
You people ain whose heart is My law:
bDo not fear the reproach of men,
Nor be afraid of their insults.
8 For athe 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 aAwake, awake, bput on strength,
O arm of the Lord!
Awake cas in the ancient days,
In the generations of old.
dAre You not the arm that cut eRahab apart,
And wounded the fserpent?
10 Are You not the One who adried 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 So athe ransomed of the Lord shall 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, even I, am He awho comforts you.
Who are you that you should be afraid
bOf a man who will die,
And of the son of a man who will be made clike grass?
13 And ayou forget the Lord your Maker,
bWho stretched out the heavens
And laid the foundations of the earth;
You have feared continually every day
Because of the fury of the oppressor,
When he has prepared to destroy.
cAnd where is the fury of the oppressor?
14 The captive exile hastens, that he may be loosed,
aThat he should not die in the pit,
And that his bread should not fail.
15 But I am the Lord your God,
Who adivided the sea whose waves roared—
The Lord of hosts is His name.
16 And aI have put My words in your mouth;
bI have covered you with the shadow of My hand,
cThat I may plant the heavens,
Lay the foundations of the earth,
And say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’ ”
God’s Fury Removed
17 aAwake, awake!
Stand up, O Jerusalem,
You who bhave drunk at the hand of the Lord
The cup of His fury;
You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling,
And drained it out.
18 There is no one to guide her
Among all the sons she has brought forth;
Nor is there any who takes her by the hand
Among all the sons she has brought up.
19 aThese two things have come to you;
Who will be sorry for you?—
Desolation and destruction, famine and sword—
bBy whom will I comfort you?
20 aYour 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 the Lord,
The rebuke of your God.
21 Therefore please hear this, you afflicted,
And drunk abut not with wine.
22 Thus says your Lord,
The Lord and your God,
Who apleads 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 aBut 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.”
The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson.
All rights reserved.