Isaiah · Bible in Basic English
Isaiah 51 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 Give ear to me, you who are searching for righteousness, who are looking for the Lord: see the rock from which you were cut out, and the hole out of which you were taken.
1 “Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek Yahweh. Look to the rock you were cut from, and to the quarry you were dug from.
2 Let your thoughts be turned to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth: for when he was but one, my voice came to him, and I gave him my blessing, and made him a great people.
2 Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for when he was but one I called him, I blessed him, and made him many.
3 For the Lord has given comfort to Zion: he has made glad all her broken walls; making her waste places like Eden, and changing her dry land into the garden of the Lord; joy and delight will be there, praise and the sound of melody.
3 For Yahweh has comforted Zion. He has comforted all her waste places, and has made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Yahweh. Joy and gladness will be found in them, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
4 Give attention to me, O my people; and give ear to me, O my nation; for teaching will go out from me, and the knowledge of the true God will be a light to the peoples.
4 “Listen to me, my people; and hear me, my nation, for a law will go out from me, and I will establish my justice for a light to the peoples.
5 Suddenly will my righteousness come near, and my salvation will be shining out like the light; the sea-lands will be waiting for me, and they will put their hope in my strong arm.
5 My righteousness is near. My salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples. The islands will wait for me, and they will trust my arm.
6 Let your eyes be lifted up to the heavens, and turned to the earth which is under them: for the heavens will go in flight like smoke, and the earth will become old like a coat, and its people will come to destruction like insects: but my salvation will be for ever, and my righteousness will not come to an end.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens will vanish away like smoke, and the earth will wear out like a garment. Its inhabitants will die in the same way, but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will not be abolished.
7 Give ear to me, you who have knowledge of righteousness, in whose heart is my law; have no fear of the evil words of men, and give no thought to their curses.
7 “Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law. Don’t fear the reproach of men, and don’t be dismayed at their insults.
8 For like a coat they will be food for the insect, the worm will make a meal of them like wool: but my righteousness will be for ever, and my salvation to all generations.
8 For the moth 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 Awake! awake! put on strength, O arm of the Lord, awake! as in the old days, in the generations long past. Was it not by you that Rahab was cut in two, and the dragon Wounded?
9 Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of Yahweh! Awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Isn’t it you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the monster?
10 Did you not make the sea dry, the waters of the great deep? did you not make the deep waters of the sea a way for the Lord's people to go through?
10 Isn’t it 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 Those whom the Lord has made free will come back with songs to Zion; and on their heads will be eternal joy: delight and joy will be theirs, and sorrow and sounds of grief will be gone for ever.
11 Those ransomed by Yahweh will return, and come with singing to Zion. Everlasting joy shall be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy. Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
12 I, even I, am your comforter: are you so poor in heart as to be in fear of man who will come to an end, and of the son of man who will be like grass?
12 “I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you, that you are afraid of man who shall die, and of the son of man who will be made as grass?
13 And you have given no thought to the Lord your Maker, by whom the heavens were stretched out, and the earth placed on its base; and you went all day in fear of the wrath of the cruel one, when he was making ready for your destruction. And where is the wrath of the cruel one?
13 Have you forgotten Yahweh your Maker, who stretched out the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth? Do you live in fear continually all day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he prepares to destroy? Where is the fury of the oppressor?
14 The prisoner, bent under his chain, will quickly be made free, and will not go down into the underworld, and his bread will not come to an end.
14 The captive exile will speedily be freed. He will not die and go down into the pit. His bread won’t fail.
15 For I am the Lord your God, who makes the sea calm when its waves are thundering: the Lord of armies is his name.
15 For I am Yahweh your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar. Yahweh of Armies is his name.
16 And I have put my words in your mouth, covering you with the shade of my hand, stretching out the heavens, and placing the earth on its base, and saying to Zion, You are my people.
16 I have put my words in your mouth and have covered you in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and tell Zion, ‘You are my people.’”
17 Awake! awake! up! O Jerusalem, you who have taken from the Lord's hand the cup of his wrath; tasting in full measure the wine which overcomes.
17 Awake, awake! Stand up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk from Yahweh’s hand the cup of his wrath. You have drunken the bowl of the cup of staggering, and drained it.
18 She has no one among all her children to be her guide; not one of the sons she has taken care of takes her by the hand.
18 There is no one to guide her among all the sons to whom she has given birth; and there is no one who takes her by the hand among all the sons whom she has brought up.
19 These two things have come on you; who will be weeping for you? wasting and destruction; death from need of food, and from the sword; how may you be comforted?
19 These two things have happened to you— who will grieve with you?— desolation and destruction, and famine and the sword. How can I comfort you?
20 Your sons are overcome, like a roe in a net; they are full of the wrath of the Lord, the punishment of your God.
20 Your sons have fainted. They lie at the head of all the streets, like an antelope in a net. They are full of Yahweh’s wrath, the rebuke of your God.
21 So now give ear to this, you who are troubled and overcome, but not with wine:
21 Therefore now hear this, you afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:
22 This is the word of the Lord your master, even your God who takes up the cause of his people: See, I have taken out of your hand the cup which overcomes, even the cup of my wrath; it will not again be given to you:
22 Your Lord Yahweh, your God who pleads the cause of his people, says, “Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of staggering, even the bowl of the cup of my wrath. You will not drink it any more.
23 And I will put it into the hand of your cruel masters, and of those whose yoke has been hard on you; who have said to your soul, Down on your face! so that we may go over you: and you have given your backs like the earth, even like the street, for them to go over.
23 I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your soul, ‘Bow down, that we may walk over you;’ and you have laid your back as the ground, like a street to those who walk over.”
Cross references (23)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Isaiah 51:7; Psalm 94:15; Psalm 105:3–4; Hebrews 12:14; Romans 9:30–32
- 2 Ezekiel 33:24; Romans 4:1–5; Galatians 3:9–14; Hebrews 11:8–12; Genesis 24:1
- 3 Isaiah 49:13; Isaiah 52:9; Joel 2:3; Genesis 13:10; Jeremiah 31:25
- 4 1 Peter 2:9; 1 Corinthians 9:21; Isaiah 2:3; Isaiah 49:6; Isaiah 42:6
- 5 Romans 10:17–18; Isaiah 46:13; Isaiah 60:9; Isaiah 42:4; Romans 10:6–10
- 6 Matthew 24:35; Psalm 102:25–26; Hebrews 1:10–12; Isaiah 34:4; Revelation 6:12–14
- 7 Matthew 5:11; Ezekiel 2:6; Psalm 37:31; 1 Peter 4:14; Acts 5:41
- 8 Isaiah 51:6; Isaiah 50:9; Isaiah 66:24; Hosea 5:12; Luke 1:50
- 9 Psalm 74:13–14; Isaiah 52:1; Psalm 89:10; Isaiah 27:1; Isaiah 30:7
- 10 Isaiah 43:16; Isaiah 63:11–12; Isaiah 50:2; Exodus 15:13; Exodus 14:21–22
- 11 Isaiah 25:8; Revelation 21:4; Revelation 7:17; Isaiah 35:10; 2 Thessalonians 2:16
- 12 Psalm 118:6; Isaiah 2:22; 1 Peter 1:24; John 14:26–27; John 14:18
- 13 Isaiah 40:22; Isaiah 45:12; Isaiah 17:10; Psalm 104:2; Daniel 3:19
- 14 Isaiah 48:20; Zechariah 9:11; Isaiah 52:2; Acts 12:7–8; Isaiah 49:10
- 15 Jeremiah 31:35; Isaiah 54:5; Amos 9:5–6; Psalm 74:13; Isaiah 47:4
- 16 Isaiah 59:21; Isaiah 49:2; John 17:8; Deuteronomy 18:18; Jeremiah 31:33
- 17 Isaiah 52:1; Revelation 14:10; 1 Corinthians 15:34; Isaiah 51:9; Psalm 60:3
- 18 Isaiah 49:21; Psalm 88:18; Isaiah 45:1; Psalm 142:4; Matthew 15:14
- 19 Isaiah 47:9; Amos 7:2; Isaiah 22:4; Lamentations 1:9; Job 2:11
- 20 Revelation 16:9–11; Lamentations 2:11–12; Lamentations 1:15; Isaiah 51:17; Lamentations 5:13
- 21 Isaiah 51:17; Isaiah 29:9; Isaiah 54:11
- 22 Proverbs 22:23; Isaiah 62:8; Isaiah 51:17; Jeremiah 50:34; Isaiah 49:25
- 23 Joshua 10:24; Zechariah 12:2; Revelation 17:18; Revelation 13:16–17; Proverbs 21:18
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
But my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not pass away." Chapter IV.--Answer to another objection, showing that the destruction of Jerusalem, which was the city of the great King, diminished nothing from the supreme majesty and power of God, for that this destruction was put in execution by the most wise counsel of the same God.
For it is written they say, "As the moth consumes the garment, and the worm the wood, so does grief consume the heart of a man." But they who make no doubt that in that future punishment both body and soul shall suffer, affirm that the body shall be burned with fire, while the soul shall be, as it were, …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
This accordingly the prophet also was intimating, when he said, "Look unto the hard rock, whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit, whence ye are digged: look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you." Now of this prophecy, you see, he reminds them, showing that if at the beginning he made him a …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
And they say, Look into the solid rock which ye have hewn.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
Moreover we took note of the spot, when we quoted the words, Look unto the rock, which ye have hewn.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)