_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.