¹“Listen to me , you who follow after righteousness ,

you who seek the LORD .

Look to the rock you were cut from ,

and to the quarry you were dug from .

²Look to Abraham your father,

and to Sarah who bore you ;

for when he was but one I called him ,

I blessed him ,

and made him many .

³For the LORD has comforted Zion .

He has comforted all her waste places ,

and has made her wilderness like Eden ,

and her desert like the garden of the LORD .

Joy and gladness will be found in them ,

thanksgiving , and the voice of melody .

⁴“Listen to me , my people ;

and hear me , my nation ,

for a law will go out from me ,

and I will establish my justice for a light to the peoples .

⁵My righteousness is near .

My salvation has gone out ,

and my arms will judge the peoples .

The islands will wait for me ,

and they will trust my arm .

⁶Lift up your eyes to the heavens ,

and look at the earth beneath ;

for the heavens will vanish away like smoke ,

and the earth will wear out like a garment.

Its inhabitants will die in the same way ,

but my salvation will be forever ,

and my righteousness will not be abolished .

⁷“Listen to me , you who know righteousness ,

the people in whose heart is my law .

Don’t fear the reproach of men ,

and don’t be dismayed at their insults .

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

and the worm will eat them like wool ;

but my righteousness will be forever ,

and my salvation to all generations .”

⁹Awake , awake , put on strength , arm of the LORD !

Awake , as in the days of old ,

the generations of ancient times .

Isn’t it you who cut Rahab in pieces ,

who pierced the monster ?

¹⁰Isn’t it you 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 over ?

¹¹Those ransomed by the LORD will return ,

and come with singing to Zion .

Everlasting joy shall be on their heads .

They will obtain gladness and joy .

Sorrow and sighing shall flee away .

¹²“I , even I , am he who comforts you .

Who are you , that you are afraid of man who shall die ,

and of the son of man who will be made as grass ?

¹³Have you forgotten the LORD your Maker ,

who stretched out the heavens ,

and laid the foundations of the earth ?

Do you live in fear continually all day because of the fury of the oppressor ,

when he prepares to destroy ?

Where is the fury of the oppressor ?

¹⁴The captive exile will speedily be freed.

He will not die and go down into the pit .

His bread won’t fail .

¹⁵For I am the LORD your God , who stirs up the sea

so that its waves roar .

the LORD of Armies is his name .

¹⁶I have put my words in your mouth

and have covered you in the shadow of my hand ,

that I may plant the heavens ,

and lay the foundations of the earth ,

and tell Zion , ‘You are my people .’”

¹⁷Awake , awake !

Stand up , Jerusalem ,

you who have drunk from the LORD ’s hand the cup of his wrath .

You have drunken the bowl of the cup of staggering,

and drained it .

¹⁸There is no one to guide her amongst all the sons to whom she has given birth ;

and there is no one who takes her by the hand amongst all the sons whom she has brought up .

¹⁹These two things have happened to you —

who will grieve with you ?—

desolation and destruction ,

and famine and the sword .

How can I comfort you ?

²⁰Your sons have fainted .

They lie at the head of all the streets ,

like an antelope in a net .

They are full of the LORD ’s wrath ,

the rebuke of your God .

²¹Therefore now hear this , you afflicted ,

and drunken , but not with wine :

²²Your Lord GOD ,

your God who pleads the cause of his people , says ,

“Behold , I have taken out of your hand the cup of staggering,

even the bowl of the cup of my wrath .

You will not drink it any more .

²³I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you ,

who have said to your soul , ‘Bow down , that we may walk over you ;’

and you have laid your back as the ground,

like a street to those who walk over .”