A Message of Hope to the Judeans

Isaiah 51:1–11

ca. 1200–332 BCE

¹Listen to Me, you who pursue justice,

You who seek the Lord:

Look to the rock you were hewn from,

To the quarry you were dug from.

²Look back to Abraham your father

And to Sarah who brought you forth.

For he was only one when I called him,

But I blessed him and made him many.

³Truly the Lord has comforted Zion,

Comforted all her ruins;

He has made her wilderness like Eden,

Her desert like the Garden of the Lord.

Gladness and joy shall abide there,

Thanksgiving and the sound of music.

⁴Hearken to Me, My people,

And give ear to Me, O My nation,

For teaching shall go forth^a from Me,

My way for the light of peoples.

In a moment I will bring it:

⁵The triumph I grant is near,

The success I give has gone forth.

My arms shall provide for the peoples;

The coastlands shall trust in Me,

They shall look to My arm.

⁶Raise your eyes to the heavens,

And look upon the earth beneath:

Though the heavens should melt away like smoke,

And the earth wear out like a garment,

And its inhabitants die out as well,

My victory shall stand forever,

My triumph shall remain unbroken.

⁷Listen to Me, you who care for the right,

O people who lay My instruction to heart!

Fear not the insults of men,

And be not dismayed at their jeers;

⁸For the moth shall eat them up like a garment,

The worm shall eat them up like wool.

But My triumph shall endure forever,

My salvation through all the ages.

⁹Awake, awake, clothe yourself with splendor.

O arm of the Lord!

Awake as in days of old,

As in former ages!

It was you that hacked Rahab^b in pieces,

That pierced the Dragon.^b

¹⁰It was you that dried up the Sea,

The waters of the great deep;

That made the abysses of the Sea

A road the redeemed might walk.

¹¹So let the ransomed of the Lord return,

And come with shouting to Zion,

Crowned with joy everlasting.

Let them attain joy and gladness,

While sorrow and sighing flee.

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Notes

I.e., through My servant Israel.

Names of primeval monsters.

Credits

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.

A Message of Hope to the Judeans

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