Comfort for Zion: Remember Abraham; God's Salvation
Isaiah 51:1-16
1Hear me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD. Look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the hole of the pit from which you were dug.2Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you, for I called him when he was one and I blessed him and multiplied him.3For the LORD has comforted Zion; he has comforted all her desolations and has made her wilderness like Eden and her Arabah like the garden of the LORD. Rejoicing and joy will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.4Listen to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation, for instruction will come out from me and my justice as a light to the peoples; I will give rest.5My righteousness is near; my salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples. The coastlands await me and wait for my arm.6Lift your eyes to the heavens and look to the land beneath, for the heavens will dissipate like smoke and the land will become old like a garment, and those who dwell in her will die like a gnat; yet my salvation will be forever and my righteousness will not be dismayed.7Hear me, you who know righteousness, people in whose heart is my instruction. Do not fear the reproach of man and do not be dismayed by their reviling.8For the moth will eat them like a garment and the moth will eat them like wool, but my righteousness will be forever and my salvation to all generations.9Awake, awake, clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the LORD; awake as in the days of old, the generations of eternity. Are you not the one who hewed Rahab, who bore the Dragon?10Are you not the one who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass through?11The ransomed of the LORD will return and come to Zion with singing, and everlasting joy will be upon their heads. Rejoicing and joy will overtake them; sorrow and sighing will flee away.12I, I am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mortal man and the son of man who is given as grass?13You have forgotten the LORD your maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and you have dreaded continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor, as when he prepared destruction; and where is the fury of the oppressor?14The one who hastens will soon be released, and he will not die in the pit nor will his bread be lacking.15I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; the LORD of Hosts is his name.16I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand, to plant the heavens and to found the earth and to say to Zion, You are my people.