An exhortation to trust in Christ. He shall protect the children of his church.
51:1. Give ear to me, you that follow that which is just, and you that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence you are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you are dug out.
51:2. Look unto Abraham your father, and to Sara that bore you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and multiplied him.
51:3. The Lord therefore will comfort Sion, and will comfort all the ruins thereof: and he will make her desert as a place of pleasure, and her wilderness as the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of praise.
51:4. Hearken unto me, O my people, and give ear to me, O my tribes: for a law shall go forth from me, and my judgment shall rest to be a light of the nations.
51:5. My just one is near at hand, my saviour is gone forth, and my arms shall judge the people: the islands shall look for me, and shall patiently wait for my arm.
51:6. Lift up your eyes to heaven, and look down to the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish like smoke, and the earth shall be worn away like a garment, and the inhabitants thereof shall perish in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my justice shall not fail.
51:7. Hearken to me, you that know what is just, my people who have my law in your heart: fear ye not the reproach of men, and be not afraid of their blasphemies.
51:8. For the worm shall eat them up as a garment: and the moth shall consume them as wool: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my justice from generation to generation.
51:9. Arise, arise, put on strength, O thou arm of the Lord, arise as in the days of old, in the ancient generations. Hast not thou struck the proud one, and wounded the dragon?
51:10. Hast not thou dried up the sea, the water of the mighty deep, who madest the depth of the sea a way, that the delivered might pa.s.s over?
51:11. And now they that are redeemed by the Lord, shall return, and shall come into Sion singing praises, and joy everlasting shall be upon their heads, they shall obtain joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning shall flee away.
51:12. I myself will comfort you: who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a mortal man, and of the son of man, who shall wither away like gra.s.s?
51:13. And thou hast forgotten the Lord thy maker, who stretched out the heavens, and founded the earth: and thou hast been afraid continually all the day at the presence of his fury who afflicted thee, and had prepared himself to destroy thee: where is now the fury of the oppressor?
51:14. He shall quickly come that is going to open unto you, and he shall not kill unto utter destruction, neither shall his bread fail.
51:15. But I am the Lord thy G.o.d, who trouble the sea, and the waves thereof swell: the Lord of hosts is my name.
51:16. I have put my words in thy mouth, and have protected thee in the shadow of my hand, that thou mightest plant the heavens, and found the earth: and mightest say to Sion: Thou art my people.
51:17. Arise, arise, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath; thou hast drunk even to the bottom of the cup of dead sleep, and thou hast drunk even to the dregs.
51:18. There is none that can uphold her among all the children that she hath brought forth: and there is none that taketh her by the hand among all the children that she hath brought up.
51:19. There are two things that have happened to thee: who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword, who shall comfort thee?
51:20. Thy children are cast forth, they have slept at the head of all the ways, and the wild ox that is snared: full of the indignation of the Lord, of the rebuke of thy G.o.d.
51:21. Therefore hear this, thou poor little one, and thou that art drunk but not with wine.
51:22. Thus saith thy Sovereign the Lord, and thy G.o.d, who will fight for his people: Behold I have taken out of thy hand the cup of dead sleep, the dregs of the cup of my indignation, thou shalt not drink it again any more.
51:23. And I will put it in the hand of them that have oppressed thee, and have said to thy soul: Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as a way to them that went over.
Isaias Chapter 52
Under the figure of the deliverance from the Babylonish captivity, the church is invited to rejoice for her redemption from sin. Christ"s kingdom shall be exalted.
52:1. Arise, arise, put on thy strength, O Sion, put on the garments of thy glory, O Jerusalem, the city of the Holy One: for henceforth the uncirc.u.mcised, and unclean shall no more pa.s.s through thee.
52:2. Shake thyself from the dust, arise, sit up, O Jerusalem: loose the bonds from off thy neck, O captive daughter of Sion.
52:3. For thus saith the Lord: You were sold gratis, and you shall be redeemed, without money.
52:4. For thus saith the Lord G.o.d: My people went down into Egypt at the beginning to sojourn there: and the a.s.syrian hath oppressed them without any cause at all.
52:5. And now what have I here, saith the Lord: for my people is taken away gratis. They that rule over them treat them unjustly, saith the Lord, and my name is continually blasphemed all the day long.
52:6. Therefore my people shall know my name in that day: for I myself that spoke, behold I am here.
52:7. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, and that preacheth peace: of him that sheweth forth good, that preacheth salvation, that saith to Sion: Thy G.o.d shall reign!
52:8. The voice of thy watchmen: they have lifted up their voice, they shall praise together: for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall convert Sion.
52:9. Rejoice, and give praise together, O ye deserts of Jerusalem: for the Lord hath comforted his people: he hath redeemed Jerusalem.
52:10. The Lord hath prepared his holy arm in the sight of all the Gentiles: and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our G.o.d.
52:11. Depart, depart, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing: go out of the midst of her, be ye clean, you that carry the vessels of the Lord.
52:12. For you shall not go out in a tumult, neither shall you make haste by flight: for the Lord will go before you, and the G.o.d of Israel will gather you together.
52:13. Behold my servant shall understand, he shall be exalted, and extolled, and shall be exceeding high.
52:14. As many have been astonished at thee, so shall his visage be inglorious among men, and his form among the sons of men.
52:15. He shall sprinkle many nations, kings shall shut their mouth at him: for they to whom it was not told of him, have seen: and they that heard not, have beheld.
Isaias Chapter 53
A prophecy of the pa.s.sion of Christ.
53:1. Who a hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
53:2. And he shall grow up as a tender plant before him, and as a root out of a thirsty ground: there is no beauty in him, nor comeliness: and we have seen him, and there was no sightliness, that we should be desirous of him:
53:3. Despised, and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity: and his look was as it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed him not.
53:4. Surely he hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: and we have thought him as it were a leper, and as one struck by G.o.d and afflicted.
53:5. But he was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised for our sins: the chastis.e.m.e.nt of our peace was upon him, and by his bruises we are healed.
53:6. All we like sheep have gone astray, every one hath turned aside into his own way: and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
53:7. He was offered because it was his own will, and he opened not his mouth: he shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth.