1 Hearken unto me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek Jehovah: look unto the rock [whence] ye were hewn, and to the hole of the pit [whence] ye were digged. 2 Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bore you; for I called him when he was alone, and blessed him, and multiplied him. 3 For Jehovah shall comfort Zion, he shall comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Jehovah: gladness and joy shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of song. 4 Listen unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will establish my judgment for a light of the peoples. 5 My righteousness is near, my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the peoples: the isles shall wait for me, and in mine arm shall they trust. 6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall grow 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 Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear not the reproach of men, and be not afraid of their revilings. 8 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. 9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of Jehovah; awake, as in the days of old, [as in] the generations of passed ages. Is it not thou that hath hewn Rahab in pieces, [and] pierced the monster? 10 Is it not thou that dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; that made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over? 11 So the ransomed of Jehovah shall return, and come to Zion with singing; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain gladness and joy; sorrow and sighing shall flee away. 12 I, [even] I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou fearest a man that shall die, and the son of man that shall become as grass; 13 and forgettest Jehovah thy Maker, who hath stretched out the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and thou art afraid continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he prepareth to destroy? And where is the fury of the oppressor? 14 He that is bowed down shall speedily be loosed, and he shall not die in the pit, nor shall his bread fail. 15 And I am Jehovah thy God, who raiseth the sea, so that its waves roar: Jehovah of hosts is his name. 16 And I have put my words in thy mouth, and covered thee with the shadow of my hand, to plant the heavens, and to lay the foundations of the earth, and to say unto Zion, Thou art my people. 17 Arouse thyself, arouse thyself, stand up, Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of Jehovah the cup of his fury. Thou hast drunk, hast drained out the goblet-cup of bewilderment: 18 — there is none to guide her among all the children that she hath brought forth; neither is there any to take her by the hand of all the children that she hath brought up. 19 These two [things] are come unto thee; who will bemoan thee? — desolation and destruction, and famine and sword: how shall I comfort thee? 20 Thy children have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as an oryx in a net: they are full of the fury of Jehovah, the rebuke of thy God. 21 Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine: 22 thus saith thy Lord, Jehovah, and thy God, who pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I take out of thy hand the cup of bewilderment, the goblet-cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again: 23 and I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; who 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.
Isaiah 51 Darby Translation
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
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)