Salvation for Zion
1 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
you who seek the Lord.
Look to the rock from which you were cut
and to the quarry from which you were dug.
2 Look to Abraham your father
and to Sarah who gave birth to you,
for when Israel was only one, I called him,
I blessed him
and made him numerous.
3 For the Lord has comforted Zion.
He has comforted all her wastelands
and has made her wilderness like Eden
and her desert like the garden of the Lord.
Joy and gladness will be found in them,
thanksgiving and the sound of melodies.
4 Listen to me, my people,
and hear me, my nation,
for I will give my instruction
and establish my justice as a light to the nations.
5 My righteousness is near.
My salvation is coming,
and my arms will judge the nations.
The islands will wait for me,
and they will trust in my strength.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens
and look at the earth beneath,
for the heavens will vanish away like smoke,
and the earth will wear out like a garment.
Its inhabitants will die in the same way,
but my salvation will be forever,
and my righteousness will not be abolished.
7 Listen to me, you who understand righteousness,
the people who hold my law in their hearts.
Do not fear the reproach of men
and do not be surprised by their insults.
8 For the moth will consume them like a garment,
and the worm will consume them like wool,
but my righteousness will be forever
and my salvation to all generations.”
9 Wake up, wake up, arm of the Lord!
Suite yourself up in strength.
Wake up, as in the days of old,
the generations of ancient times.
Is it not you who cut Rahab in pieces,
who pierced the monster?
10 Is it not you who dried up the sea,
the waters of the great deep,
who made, in the depths of the sea,
a way for the redeemed to cross over?
11 Those ransomed by the Lord will return
and come with singing to Zion.
Everlasting joy shall be on their heads.
Gladness and joy will be theirs
and sorrow and grief will vanish.
12 I, yes I, am he who comforts you.
Who are you, that you are afraid of man who shall die
and of the son of man who withers like the grass?
13 Have you forgotten the Lord your Maker,
who stretched out the heavens
and laid the foundations of the earth?
Do you live in constant, daily dread
because of the wrath of the oppressor,
whose purpose is destruction?
Where is the wrath of this oppressor?
14 The captive exile will soon be freed.
He will not die and go down into the pit.
His bread will not fail.
15 For I am the Lord your God,
who stirs up the sea
so that its waves roar.
The Lord of Hosts is his name.
16 I have put my words in your mouth
and have covered you in the shadow of my hand,
that I may plant the heavens
and lay the foundations of the earth
and tell Zion, ‘You are my people.’ ”
The Cup of Wrath
17 Wake up! Wake up! Stand up, Jerusalem,
who has drunk the cup of wrath,
at the hand of the Lord.
You have drunk to the bottom of the bowl,
from the cup of staggering, and drained it.
18 Among all the sons whom she has produced,
not one can guide her.
Among all the sons who she has brought up,
not one takes her by the hand to lead her.
19 These two things have happened to you—
who will grieve with you?—
desolation and destruction,
and famine and the sword.
How can I comfort you?
20 Your sons have fainted.
They lie in the streets
like an antelope caught in a net.
They are full of the Lord’s wrath,
the rebuke of your God.
21 Therefore now hear this, you who are afflicted,
and drunken, but not with wine.
22 This is what the Lord says–your Lord Yahweh,
and your God who pleads the cause of his people,
“I have taken out of your hand, the cup of staggering,
and the bowl from the cup of my wrath,
and you will never drink it again.
23 I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,
who have said to you, ‘Bow down, that we may walk over you,’
and you have laid your back like the ground,
like a street for them to walk on.”