Remember Abraham and Sarah
Study note
God speaks to those who seek him and pursue righteousness. He tells them to look back at Abraham, the rock from which they were cut, and Sarah, who gave birth to the nation. Abraham was just one man when God called him, yet God blessed him and made him into a great nation. In the same way, God will comfort Zion and transform her ruined places into a paradise like the Garden of Eden. God's justice will become a light for all peoples, and his salvation will last forever, long after the heavens fade like smoke and the earth wears out like old clothing.
1 "Listen to me, you who pursue what is right and who seek the Lord. Think about the rock you were chipped from and the quarry you were dug out of." 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.
2 "Think about Abraham, your ancestor, and Sarah, who gave birth to your nation. When I called Abraham, he was just one single man. But I blessed him and turned him into a multitude." Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.
3 The Lord will comfort Zion. He will comfort all her devastated places. He will transform her deserts into something like the Garden of Eden and her wastelands into the Lord's own garden. Joy and happiness will fill the place, along with thanksgiving and songs of praise. 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.
4 "Pay attention, my people. Listen closely, my nation. A new law will come from me, and my justice will become a light for all the nations." 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.
5 "My righteousness is on its way. My salvation is already moving. My arm will bring justice to the nations. The distant coastlands are waiting for me and counting on my power to help them." 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.
6 "Look up at the sky and look down at the earth. The sky will fade away like smoke. The earth will wear out like an old shirt. Its people will drop dead like flies. But my salvation will last forever, and my righteousness will never fall apart." 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.
7 "Listen to me, you who understand what is right, you people who hold my teaching close to your hearts. Do not be rattled by the insults people throw at you. Do not crumble when they make fun of you." 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.
8 "Moths will chew through them like fabric. Worms will eat them like wool. But my righteousness will stand forever, and my salvation will continue through every generation." 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.
Wake Up, Mighty Arm of the Lord
Study note
The people cry out for God to act with power as he did in ancient times. 'Rahab' here is not the woman from Jericho but a poetic name for Egypt or a mythical sea monster representing chaos. God defeated Egypt at the Red Sea, drying it up so his people could cross. The redeemed will return to Zion with joy and singing, and sorrow will flee away. God asks why his people fear mere humans who will die like grass, while forgetting the Lord who made heaven and earth. He reassures them that he has placed his words in their mouths and covered them with his hand.
9 Wake up, wake up! Flex your muscles, mighty arm of the Lord! Rise up like you did in ancient days, in the generations of long ago. Was it not you who sliced Rahab apart and stabbed the sea monster? 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?
10 Was it not you who dried up the sea and the waters of the great deep? Was it not you who paved a road through the ocean floor so your rescued people could walk across? 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?
11 Those the Lord has set free will come home. They will march into Zion singing with joy. Everlasting happiness will sit like a crown on their heads. They will overflow with gladness and delight, and sadness and sighing will vanish completely. 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.
12 "I — yes I — am the one who comforts you. So why are you afraid of human beings who are going to die, of people who fade away like grass?" 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;
13 "You have forgotten the Lord, your Creator, the one who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. You spend all day every day living in fear because of the rage of the people oppressing you. But where is that oppressor's fury now?" 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?
14 The prisoners chained and bent over will soon be set free. They will not die in their dungeon, and they will not starve. The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.
15 "For I am the Lord your God, who churns up the sea until its waves roar. The Lord who commands all armies is my name." But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name.
16 "I have put my words right in your mouth and sheltered you under the shadow of my hand. I set the heavens in their place and laid the foundations of the earth. And I say to Zion, 'You are my people.'" 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.
God Takes Away Jerusalem's Cup of Suffering
Study note
Jerusalem is pictured as a woman who has been forced to drink the full cup of God's anger. She staggers from it with no one to guide her or take her hand. Her children have fainted and lie helpless in the streets. But God, who fights for his people, now takes the cup of trembling from Jerusalem's hand. He will give it instead to her tormentors, those enemies who told her to lie flat so they could walk over her back. God's punishment of his people has come to an end.
17 Wake up, wake up! Get on your feet, Jerusalem! You drank the cup of the Lord's anger, tipping it back and draining it down to the very last drop — the cup that makes people stagger and fall. Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.
18 Out of all the children she raised, not one is left to steady her. Out of all the sons she brought up, none takes her hand. 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.
19 Two devastating things have crashed down on you — who is going to feel sorry for you? Ruin and destruction, famine and violence — who can possibly comfort you? 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?
20 Your children have collapsed, lying helpless at every corner of every street, tangled up like an animal caught in a net. They are overwhelmed by the Lord's fury and the scolding of your God. 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.
21 So listen carefully, you who are suffering — you who are stumbling around as if drunk, though not from wine. Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:
22 Here is what your Lord says, the Lord your God who fights for his people: "Look, I am taking that staggering cup right out of your hand. You will never have to drink from the cup of my fury ever again." 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:
23 "Instead, I am going to put it in the hands of the people who tormented you, the people who told you, 'Lie flat on the ground so we can walk right over you.' And you lay your back down flat like a road for them to march on." 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.