The Bursting Forth of Salvation, and Turning Away of the Cup of Wrath.
1. Hearken to me, ye that are in pursuit of righteousness, ye that seek Jehovah. Look up to the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hollow of the pit whence ye are dug. 2. Look who bare you, that he was one when I called him, and blessed him, and multiplied him. 3. For Jehovah hath comforted Zion, comforted all her ruins, and turned her desert like Eden, and her steppe as the garden of God; joy and gladness are found in her, thanksgiving and sounding music.
4. Hearken unto Me, My people, and give ear unto Me, O My congregation! for instruction will go forth from Me, and I make a place for My right, to be a light of the nations. 5. My salvation is near, My salvation is drawn out, and My arms will judge nations: the hoping of the islands looks to Me, and for Mine arm is their waiting. 6. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens will pass away like smoke, and the earth fall to pieces like a garment, and[1] its inhabitants die out like a nonentity; and My salvation will last for ever, and My righteousness does not go to ruin.
7. Hearken unto Me, ye that know about righteousness, thou people with My law in the heart; fear ye not the reproach of mortals, and be ye not alarmed at their revilings. 8. For the moth will devour them like a garment, and the worm devour them like woollen cloth; and My righteousness shall stand for ever, and My salvation to distant generations.
9. Awake, awake, clothe thyself in might, O arm of Jehovah; awake, as in the days of ancient time, the ages of the olden world! Was it not Thou that didst split Rahab in pieces, and pierced the dragon? 10. Was it not Thou that didst dry up the sea, the waters of the great billow; that didst turn the depths of the sea into a way for the redeemed to pass through? 11. And[2] the emancipated of Jehovah will return, and come to Zion with shouting, and everlasting joy upon their head; they grasp at gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing flees away.
12. I, I am your comforter: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man who will die, and of a son of man who is made a blade of grass; 13. that thou shouldest forget Jehovah thy Creator, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth; that thou shouldest be afraid continually all the day of the fury of the tormentor, as he aims to destroy? and where is the fury of the tormentor left? 14. He[3] that is bowed down is quickly set loose, and does not die to the grave, and his bread does not fail him; 15. as truly as I Jehovah am thy God, who frighteneth up the sea, so that its waves roar; Jehovah of hosts is His name. 16. And I put My words into thy mouth, and in the shadow of My hand have I covered thee, to plant heavens, and to found on earth, and to say to Zion, Thou art My people.
17. Wake thyself up, stand up, O Jerusalem; thou that hast drunk out of the hand of Jehovah the goblet of His fury; the goblet-cup of reeling hast thou drunk, sipped out. 18. There was none who guided her of all the children she had brought forth; and none who took her by the hand of all the children she had brought up. 19. There were two things that happened to thee; who should console thee?[4] Desolation, and ruin, and famine, and the sword: how should I comfort thee? 20. Thy children were benighted, lay at the corners of all the streets like a snared antelope: as those who were full of the fury of Jehovah, the rebuke of thy God. 21. Therefore hearken to this, O wretched and drunken, but not with wine: 22. Thus saith thy Lord, Jehovah, and thy God that defendeth His people, Behold, I take out of thy hand the goblet-cup of My fury: thou shalt not continue to drink it any more. 23. And I put it into the hand of thy tormentors; who said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over; and thou madest thy back like the ground, and like a public way for those who go over it.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] And her inhabitants, as in like manner, shall die.—Kay.
[2] So, Kay, Birks. Even so, Arnold. Thus, Jones.