1  Thus says the Lord:

“Where is ^pyour mother’s ^qcertificate of divorce,

^rwith which I sent her away?

Or which of my creditors is it

to whom I have ^ssold you?

Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,

and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

2  Why, when I came, ^twas there no man;

why, when I called, was there no one to answer?

^uIs my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?

Or have I no power to deliver?

Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea,

I make the rivers a desert;

their fish stink for lack of water

and die of thirst.

3  I clothe the heavens with blackness

and make ^vsackcloth their covering.”

4  The Lord God has given me

the tongue of those who are taught,

that I may know how to sustain with a word

him who is weary.

Morning by morning he awakens;

he awakens my ear

to hear as those who are taught.

5  The Lord God has opened my ear,

and I was not rebellious;

I turned not backward.

6  ^wI gave my back to those who strike,

and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard;

I hid not my face

from disgrace and ^xspitting.

7  But the Lord God helps me;

therefore I have not been disgraced;

therefore I have set my face ^ylike a flint,

and I know that I shall not be put to shame.

8  He who vindicates me is near.

Who will contend with me?

Let us stand up together.

Who is my adversary?

Let him come near to me.

9  Behold, the Lord God helps me;

who will declare me guilty?

Behold, all of them will ^zwear out like a garment;

the ^amoth will eat them up.

10  Who among you fears the Lord

and obeys the voice of ^bhis servant?

Let him who walks in darkness

and has no light

^ctrust in the name of the Lord

and ^drely on his God.

11  Behold, all you who kindle a fire,

who equip yourselves with burning torches!

Walk by the light of your fire,

and by the torches that you have kindled!

This you have from my hand:

you shall lie down in torment.

1  “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,

you who seek the Lord:

look to the rock from which you were hewn,

and to the quarry from which you were dug.

2  Look to Abraham your father

and to Sarah who bore you;

for he was but one when I called him,

that I might bless him and multiply him.

3  For the Lord ^ecomforts Zion;

he comforts all her waste places

and ^fmakes her wilderness like ^gEden,

her desert like the ^hgarden of the Lord;

joy and gladness will be found in her,

thanksgiving and the voice of song.

4  “Give attention to me, my people,

and give ear to me, my nation;

for ⁱa law¹ will go out from me,

and I will set my justice for a ^jlight to the peoples.

5  My ^krighteousness draws near,

my salvation has gone out,

and my arms will judge the peoples;

the coastlands hope for me,

and for my arm they wait.

6  ^lLift up your eyes to the heavens,

and look at the earth beneath;

for ^mthe heavens vanish like smoke,

the earth will wear out like a garment,

and they who dwell in it will die in like manner;²

but my salvation will be forever,

and my righteousness will never be dismayed.

7  “Listen to me, you who know righteousness,

the people in whose ⁿheart is my law;

fear not the reproach of man,

nor be dismayed at their revilings.

8  For the ^omoth 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.”

9  ^pAwake, awake, put on strength,

O arm of the Lord;

awake, as in days of old,

the generations of long ago.

Was it not you who cut ^qRahab in pieces,

who pierced the dragon?

10  Was it not 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?

11  ^rAnd the ransomed of the Lord shall return

and come to Zion with singing;

everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;

they shall obtain gladness and joy,

and ^ssorrow and sighing shall flee away.

12  “I, I am he who comforts you;

who are you that you are ^tafraid of man who dies,

of the son of man who is made ^ulike grass,

13  and have ^vforgotten the Lord, your Maker,

who ^wstretched out the heavens

and ^xlaid the foundations of the earth,

and you fear continually all the day

because of the wrath of the oppressor,

when he sets himself to destroy?

And where is the wrath of the oppressor?

14  He who is bowed down shall speedily be released;

he shall not die and go down to the pit,

neither shall his bread be lacking.

15  I am the Lord your God,

^ywho stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—

^zthe Lord of hosts is his name.

16  And I have ^aput my words in your mouth

and covered you ^bin the shadow of my hand,

establishing³ the heavens

and laying the foundations of the earth,

and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”

17  Wake yourself, wake yourself,

stand up, O Jerusalem,

you who have ^cdrunk from the hand of the Lord

the cup of his wrath,

who have drunk to the dregs

the bowl, the cup of staggering.

18  There is none to guide her

among all the sons she has borne;

there is none to take her by the hand

among all the sons she has brought up.

19  These two things have happened to you—

who will console you?—

devastation and destruction, famine and sword;

who will comfort you?⁴

20  Your sons have fainted;

they lie at the head of every street

like an antelope in a net;

they are full of the wrath of the Lord,

the rebuke of your God.

21  Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted,

who are drunk, ^dbut not with wine:

22  Thus says your Lord, the Lord,

your God who ^epleads the cause of his people:

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

the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more;

23  and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,

who have said to you,

‘Bow down, that we may pass over’;

and you have made your back like the ground

and like the street for them to pass over.”