Isaiah

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.

1Listen to me, you who chase after what is right, you who look for the LORD. Look at the rock you were cut from. Look at the quarry you were dug out of.

NoteThe "rock" and "quarry" are a picture of where the people came from: their ancestors Abraham and Sarah, named in the next verse.

2Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.

2Look at Abraham, your father, and at Sarah, who gave birth to you. When I called Abraham, he was only one man. Then I blessed him and gave him many children.

3For 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.

3The LORD will comfort Zion. He will comfort all her ruined places. He will make her empty land like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be there, with thanks and singing.

4Hearken 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.

4Listen to me, my people. Pay attention to me, my nation. A teaching will go out from me, and my justice will be a light for all peoples.

5My 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.

5The right thing I will do is close. My rescue is already on its way, and my arms will judge the peoples. The lands across the sea are watching for me, and they will trust my strong arm.

6Lift 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.

6Look up at the sky, and look at the earth below. The sky will disappear like smoke. The earth will wear out like an old shirt, and the people on it will die too. But my rescue lasts forever, and what is right in me will never end.

7Hearken 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.

7Listen to me, you who know what is right, you people who keep my teaching in your heart. Do not be afraid when people shame you. Do not let their insults break you.

8For 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.

8Moths will eat those people like an old shirt. Worms will chew them like wool. But what is right in me lasts forever, and my rescue goes on from one generation to the next.

9Awake, 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?

9Wake up, wake up! Put on your strength, arm of the LORD! Wake up as you did long ago, in the days of our ancestors. Were you not the one who cut Rahab apart and pierced the sea monster?

NoteRahab here is not the woman of that name in Joshua. It is a poetic name for a sea monster, often used as a picture of Egypt.

10Art 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?

10Were you not the one who dried up the sea, the waters of the deep? You made a road through the bottom of the sea so your rescued people could walk across.

11Therefore 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.

11So the people the LORD has bought back will come home. They will enter Zion singing, with joy that never ends resting on them. Gladness and joy will catch up with them, and sadness and crying will run away.

12I, 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;

12I, yes I, am the one who comforts you. So why are you afraid of a man, who dies? Why fear a human being, who dries up like grass?

13And 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?

13You have forgotten the LORD who made you, who spread out the sky and set the earth in place. All day long you live in terror of the angry man who crushes you, as if he were about to destroy you. But where is his anger now?

14The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.

14The prisoner will soon be set free. He will not die in the pit, and he will not run out of bread.

15But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name.

15I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so its waves roar. The LORD of Armies is his name.

16And 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.

16I have put my words in your mouth and hidden you in the shadow of my hand. I did this to set the sky in place, to lay the earth's foundations, and to tell Zion, "You are my people."

17Awake, 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.

17Wake up, wake up! Stand up, Jerusalem! You drank from the LORD's hand the cup of his anger. You drank that cup down to the last drop, the cup that makes people stagger.

NoteThe KJV's "cup of trembling" means a cup whose drink makes a person stagger and shake, like someone very drunk. It is a picture of God's anger.

18There 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.

18Of all the sons she gave birth to, not one is left to guide her. Of all the sons she raised, not one takes her by the hand.

19These 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?

19Two pairs of troubles have come to you: ruin and destruction, hunger and war. Who will feel sorry for you? How can I comfort you?

NoteThe KJV says "these two things" and then lists four. They come as two pairs: ruin with destruction, and hunger with war.

20Thy 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.

20Your sons have collapsed. They lie at the top of every street like an antelope caught in a net. They are filled with the LORD's anger, with the scolding of your God.

21Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:

21So listen to this, you who are hurting, you who stagger, but not from wine.

22Thus 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:

22This is what your Lord, the LORD your God, says, the one who takes his people's side: "Look, I have taken the staggering cup out of your hand. You will never drink that cup of my anger again.

23But 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.

23I will put it in the hands of those who hurt you. They said to you, 'Lie down, so we can walk over you.' And you made your back like the ground, like a street for them to walk on."