1 »Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek Jehovah. Look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug out.
2 »Look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was only one. I blessed him and made him many.«
3 Jehovah will surely comfort Zion. He will look with compassion on all her ruins. He will make her deserts like Eden and her wastelands like the garden of Jehovah. Joy and gladness will be found in her along with thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
4 »Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation. The law will go out from me. My justice will become a light to the nations.
5 »My righteousness is near. My salvation is on the way and my arm power will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to me and wait in hope for my arm power.
6 »Lift up your eyes to the heavens. Look at the earth below. The heavens will vanish like smoke and the earth will wear out like a garment. Its inhabitants die like flies gnats. But my salvation will last forever! My righteousness will never fail.
7 »Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have my law in your hearts. Do not fear the reproach of men or be terrified by their insults.
8 »The moth will eat them up like a garment. The worm will devour them like wool. But my righteousness will last forever! My salvation will last through all generations.«
9 Awake, awake! Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of Jehovah. Awake, as in days gone by, as in generations of old. Was it not you who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced that monster through?
10 Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed might cross over?
11 Jehovahs ransomed will return. They will enter Zion with singing! Everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
12 »I, even I, am the one who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mortal men? The sons of men are like grass!
13 »You forget Jehovah your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. Will you live in constant terror of the human oppressor, who is bent on your destruction? Will you fear your enemies from morning until night?
14 »The cowering prisoners will soon be set free. They will not die in their dungeon, nor will they lack bread.
15 »I am Jehovah your God, who churns up the sea so that its waves roar. Jehovah of Hosts is his name.
16 »I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand protection of my power, Holy Spirit. I set the heavens in place and laid the foundations of the earth. Yet I say to Zion: You are my people!«
17 Awake, awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of Jehovah the cup of his wrath, you who have drained to its dregs the goblet that makes men stagger.
18 Of all the sons she bore there was none to guide her; of all the sons she reared there was none to take her by the hand.
19 These double calamities have come upon you. Who can comfort you? You experience ruin and destruction, famine and sword. Who can console you?
20 Your sons have fainted. They lie at the head of every street. They are like antelope caught in a net. They are filled with the rage of Jehovah and the rebuke of your God.
21 Therefore hear this, you afflicted one, made drunk, but not with wine.
22 This is what your Lord Jehovah says, your God, who defends his people: »See, I have taken out of your hand the cup that made you stagger. You will never drink from that cup, that cup of wrath, again.
23 »I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, who said to you: Lie down that we may walk all over you. You made your back like the ground like a street to be walked over.«