Isaiah 51
Words of Comfort to
Zion |
1 |
Hearken to me, ye that follow after
righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto
the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.
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2 |
Look unto Abraham your father, and unto
Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him,
and increased him.
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3 |
For the LORD shall
comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make
her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the
LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein,
thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
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4 |
Hearken unto me, my people; and give
ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I
will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.
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5 |
My righteousness is near; my
salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the
isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they
trust.
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6 |
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and
look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like
smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that
dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be
for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.
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7 |
Hearken unto me, ye that know
righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye
not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their
revilings.
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8 |
For the moth shall eat them up like a
garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness
shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to
generation.
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9 |
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of
the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the
generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?
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10 |
Art thou not it which hath dried
the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of
the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?
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11 |
Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion;
and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall
obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee
away.
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12 |
I, even I, am he that
comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid
of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass;
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13 |
and forgettest the LORD thy Maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens,
and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually
every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready
to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?
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14 |
The captive exile hasteneth that he may
be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread
should fail.
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15 |
But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves
roared: The LORD of hosts is his
name.
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16 |
And I have put my words in thy mouth, and
I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the
heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion,
Thou art my people.
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17 |
Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem,
which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the
cup of his fury; Rev. 14.10 ; 16.19 thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.
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18 |
There is none to guide her among
all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there
any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she
hath brought up.
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19 |
These two things are come unto
thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and
the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee?
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20 |
Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the
head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of
the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy
God.
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21 |
Therefore hear now this, thou
afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:
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22 |
thus saith thy Lord the LORD, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of
his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of
trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt
no more drink it again:
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23 |
but I will put it into the hand of them
that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we
may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the
street, to them that went over.
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