Self-interpreting Bible

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Isaiah 51

1The righteous are exhorted by the example of Abraham to trust in God, who will comfort his church. 4The certainty of his salvation. 7The reproach of men should not be feared by the righteous. 9A call upon God's arm to exert itself as of old in redeeming his church. 12The vanity of fearing man, and distrusting his Maker's power. 17The prophet bewaileth the afflictions of Jerusalem, 21and promiseth deliverance.


1 HEARKEN to me, aye that follow after righteousness, ye that bseek the LORD: look unto cthe rock whence ye are *hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.

2 dLook unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called ehim alone, and blessed him, and increased him.

3 fFor the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all gher waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.

4 ¶Hearken unto me, hmy people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for ia law shall proceed from me, and I jwill make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.

5 kMy righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and lmine arms shall judge the people; mthe isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust.

6 nLift up your eyes to othe heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but pmy salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.

7 ¶Hearken unto me, ye that qknow righteousness, the people rin whose heart is my law; sfear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.

8 tFor the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: ubut my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.

9 ¶vAwake, awake, put on strength, wO arm of the LORD; awake, as xin the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut yRahab, and zwounded the *dragon?

10 Art thou not it which ahath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for bthe ransomed to pass over?

11 cTherefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

12 dI, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou eshouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made fas grass;

13 And gforgettest the LORD hthy maker, ithat hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and jhast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he 1were ready to destroy? and kwhere is the fury of the oppressor?

14 The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die lin the pit, nor that his bread should fail.

15 But I am the LORD thy God, that mdivided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name.

16 And nI have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that oI may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.

17 ¶pAwake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD qthe cup of his fury; rthou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.

18 sThere is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up.

19 tThese two things 2are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? 3desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee?

20 uThy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: vthey are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God.

21 ¶Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and wdrunken, but not with wine:

22 Thus saith xthy Lord the LORD, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, yBehold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again:

23 But zI will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, aBow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.