1  Thus says the Lord:

“Where is ^gyour mother’s certificate of divorce,

with which ^hI sent her away?

Or ⁱwhich of my creditors is it

to whom I have sold you?

^jBehold, for your iniquities you were sold,

and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

2  ^kWhy, when I came, was there no man;

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

^lIs my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?

Or have I no power to deliver?

^mBehold, by my rebuke ⁿI dry up the sea,

^oI make the rivers a desert;

^ptheir fish stink for lack of water

and die of thirst.

3  ^qI clothe the heavens with blackness

and make sackcloth their covering.”

4  The Lord God has given ^rme

the tongue of those who are taught,

that ^sI may know how to sustain with a word

^thim who is weary.

Morning by morning he awakens;

he awakens my ear

to hear as those who are taught.

5  ^uThe Lord God has opened my ear,

^vand 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 spitting.

7  But the Lord God helps me;

therefore I have not been disgraced;

^xtherefore I have set my face like a flint,

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

8  ^yHe 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  ^zBehold, the Lord God helps me;

who will declare me guilty?

Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;

the moth will eat them up.

10  Who among you fears the Lord

and obeys ^athe voice of his servant?

^bLet him who walks in darkness

and has no light

trust in the name of the Lord

and rely 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!

^cThis you have from my hand:

you shall lie down in torment.

1  ^d“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 ^ehe was but one when I called him,

that I might bless him and multiply him.

3  For the Lord ^fcomforts Zion;

he comforts all her waste places

and makes her wilderness like ^gEden,

her desert like ^hthe garden of the Lord;

ⁱjoy and gladness will be found in her,

thanksgiving and the voice of song.

4  ^j“Give attention to me, my people,

and give ear to me, my nation;

^kfor a law¹ will go out from me,

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

5  ^lMy righteousness draws near,

my salvation has gone out,

and my arms will judge the peoples;

^mthe coastlands hope for me,

and for my arm they wait.

6  ⁿLift up your eyes to the heavens,

and look at the earth beneath;

^ofor the heavens vanish like smoke,

the earth will wear out like a garment,

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

^pbut my salvation will be forever,

and my righteousness will never be dismayed.

7  ^q“Listen to me, you who know righteousness,

the people ^rin whose heart is my law;

^sfear not the reproach of man,

nor be dismayed at their revilings.

8  ^tFor the moth will eat them up like a garment,

and the worm will eat them like wool,

^pbut my righteousness will be forever,

and my salvation to all generations.”

9  ^uAwake, awake, ^vput on strength,

O ^warm of the Lord;

awake, ^xas in days of old,

the generations of long ago.

Was it not you who cut ^yRahab in pieces,

who pierced ^zthe dragon?

10  ^aWas 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  ^bAnd 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 sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

12  “I, I am he ^cwho comforts you;

who are you that you are afraid of ^dman who dies,

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

13  and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,

^fwho stretched out the heavens

and ^glaid the foundations of the earth,

and you fear continually all the day

because of the wrath of ^hthe oppressor,

when he sets himself to destroy?

And where is the wrath of ^hthe oppressor?

14  ⁱHe who is bowed down shall speedily be released;

he shall not die and go down ^jto the pit,

neither shall his bread be lacking.

15  I am the Lord your God,

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

the Lord of hosts is his name.

16  ^lAnd I have put my words in your mouth

^mand covered you in the shadow of my hand,

ⁿestablishing³ the heavens

and ^olaying the foundations of the earth,

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

17  ^pWake yourself, wake yourself,

stand up, O Jerusalem,

^qyou who have drunk from the hand of the Lord

the cup of his wrath,

who have drunk to the dregs

the bowl, ^rthe cup of staggering.

18  ^sThere 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  ^tThese two things have happened to you—

who will console you?—

devastation and destruction, famine and sword;

who will comfort you?⁴

20  ^uYour sons have fainted;

they lie at the head of every street

like an ^vantelope ^win a net;

they are full of the wrath of the Lord,

the rebuke of your God.

21  ^xTherefore hear this, you who are afflicted,

who are drunk, but not with wine:

22  Thus says your Lord, the Lord,

your God ^ywho pleads the cause of his people:

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

the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more;

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

^awho have said to you,

‘Bow down, that we may pass over’;

and ^byou have made your back like the ground

and like the street for them to pass over.”