1 LISTEN to me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek the LORD; look to the mountain from which you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you were digged.

2 Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who conceived you; for he was alone, and I called him and blessed him and multiplied him.

3 For the LORD will build Zion; he will build all her waste places; he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be heard in the midst of her, thanksgiving and the voice of singing.

4 Hearken to me, O people; and give ear to me, O nations; for a law shall go forth from me, and my justice is a light to the Gentiles.

5 My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth and my arms shall judge the peoples; the islands shall wait for me and on my arm shall they trust.

6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look also upon the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it shall perish in like manner; but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not pass away.

7 Hearken to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear not the reproach of men, neither be afraid of their revilings.

8 For the moth shall eat them up like wool and like a garment; but my righteousness shall be for ever and my salvation from generation to generation.

9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake as in the ancient days, as in the generations of old. Surely it was thou that didst decree a severe sentence that didst slay the dragon.

10 It was thou that didst dry the sea, the waters of the great deep; that didst make the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over.

11 Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

12 I, even I, am he that comforts you, says the LORD; who are you, that you should be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man that dries up like grass;

13 And you have forgotten the LORD your Maker, who stretched forth the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth; and have been afraid continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, who was ready to destroy? And now where is the fury of the oppressor?

14 The oppressor hastened to destroy the mighty ones, but they shall not die or be destroyed, neither shall their bread fail.

15 For I am the LORD your God who rebukes the sea, and its waves are calm; the LORD of hosts is his name.

16 And I have put my words in your mouth, and I have covered you in the shadow of my hand, because I stretched forth the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth and said to Zion, You are my people.

17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, because you have drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; you have drunk to the dregs of the cup of trembling, and drained it.

18 There is none to comfort her among all the sons whom she has borne; neither is there any of all the sons that she has brought up that takes her by the hand.

19 These two things are come to you; who shall be sorry for you? You shall have plunder, destruction, famine, and sword; who shall comfort you?

20 Your sons have fainted, they lie at every street corner, they are faded like a wilted beet; they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of your God.

21 Therefore hear now this, O you afflicted and drunken, but not with wine;

22 Thus says your LORD, the LORD, and your God, who pleads the cause of his people: Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of trembling, and you shall drink no more of the cup of my fury;

23 But I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your soul, Bow down that we may go over you; and you have made your people like the ground and like the street to them that passed by.