Isaiah

¹ “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn;

² and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was but one, and I blessed him and made him many.

³ and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.

⁴ hear me, my nation: The law will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations.

⁵ my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to me and wait in hope for my arm.

⁶ look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail.

⁷ you people who have my law in your hearts: Do not fear the reproach of men or be terrified by their insults.

⁸ the worm will devour them like wool. But my righteousness will last forever, my salvation through all generations.”

⁹ O arm of the Lord; 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 the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed might cross over?

¹¹ 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 Who are you that you fear mortal men, the sons of men, who are but grass,

¹³ who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, that you live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction? For where is the wrath of the oppressor?

¹⁴ they will not die in their dungeon, nor will they lack bread.

¹⁵ who churns up the sea so that its waves roar— the Lord Almighty is his name.

¹⁶ and covered you with the shadow of my hand— I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”

¹⁷ Awake, awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, you who have drained to its dregs the goblet that makes men stagger.

¹⁸ there was none to guide her; of all the sons she reared there was none to take her by the hand.

¹⁹ who can comfort you?— ruin and destruction, famine and sword— who can console you?

²⁰ they lie at the head of every street, like antelope caught in a net. They are filled with the wrath of the Lord and the rebuke of your God.

²¹ made drunk, but not with wine.

²² your God, who defends his people: “See, I have taken out of your hand the cup that made you stagger; from that cup, the goblet of my wrath, you will never drink again.

²³ who said to you, ‘Fall prostrate that we may walk over you.’ And you made your back like the ground, like a street to be walked over.”