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Israel Exhorted

¹ "^(C1)Listen to Me, you who ^(C2)pursue righteousness (right standing with God),
Who seek and inquire of the LORD:
Look to the ^(C3)rock from which you were cut
And to the excavation of the quarry from which you were dug.

² "Look to ^(C1)Abraham your father
And to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain;
For I called him when he ^(C2)was but one,
Then I blessed him and made him many."

³ For ^(C1)the LORD will comfort Zion in her captivity;
He will comfort all her ^(C2)ruins.
And He will make her ^(C3)wilderness like ^(C4)Eden,
And her desert like the ^(C5)garden of the LORD;
^(C6)Joy and gladness will be found in her,
Thanksgiving and the voice of a melody.

⁴ "^(C1)Listen carefully to Me says the LORD, O My people,
And hear Me, O My nation;
For a divine ^(C2)law will go forth from Me,
And I will quickly establish My ^(C3)justice as a ^(C4)light to the peoples.

⁵ "My ^(C1)righteousness (justice) is near, My salvation has gone forth,
And My ^(C2)arms will judge the peoples;
The ^(C3)islands and coastlands will wait for Me,
And they will wait with hope and confident expectation for My ^(C4)arm.

⁶ "^(C1)Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
Then look to the earth beneath;
For the ^(C2)heavens will be torn to pieces and vanish like smoke,
And the ^(C2)earth will wear out like a garment
And its inhabitants will die in like manner.
But My ^(C3)salvation will be forever,
And My righteousness (justice) and faithfully fulfilled promise will not be broken. ^(VR1)

⁷ "^(C1)Listen to Me, you who know righteousness (right standing with God),
The people in whose ^(C2)heart is My law and instruction;
Do not fear the ^(C3)reproach and taunting of man,
Nor be distressed at their reviling.

⁸ "For the ^(C1)moth will eat them like a garment,
And the ^(C2)worm will eat them like wool.
But My ^(C3)righteousness and justice faithfully promised will exist forever,
And My salvation to all generations."

^9 (C1)Awake, awake, put on strength and might, O arm of the LORD;
Awake as in the ^(C2)ancient days, as in the generations of long ago.
^(C3)Was it not You who cut Rahab (Egypt) in pieces,
Who pierced the ^(C4)dragon of Egypt? ^(VR1)

¹⁰ Was it not You who ^(C1)dried up the Red Sea,
The waters of the great deep,
Who made the depths of the sea a pathway
For the ^(C2)redeemed to cross over?

¹¹ So the ^(C1)redeemed of the LORD will return
And come with joyful shouting to Zion;
^(C2)Everlasting joy will be on their heads.
They will obtain gladness and joy,
And ^(C3)sorrow and sighing will flee away. ^(VR1)

¹² "I, even I, am He who ^(C1)comforts you.
Who are you that you are afraid of ^(C2)man who dies
And of a son of man who is made as destructible ^(C3)as grass,

¹³ That you have ^(C1)forgotten the LORD your Maker,
Who ^(C2)stretched out the heavens
And laid the foundations of the earth,
That you continually ^(C3)tremble with fear all day long because of the rage of the oppressor,
As he takes aim to destroy?
And where is the rage of the ^(C4)oppressor?

^17 (C1)Wake yourself up! Wake yourself up! Stand up, O Jerusalem,
You who have ^(C2)drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of His wrath,
You who have drunk the cup of staggering and intoxication to the dregs leaving only sediment.

¹⁸ There is ^(C1)no one to guide her among all the sons she has borne,
Nor is there anyone to take her by the hand among all the sons she has reared.

¹⁹ These two tragedies have befallen you;
Who will show sympathy for you and mourn with you?
The ^(C1)desolation and destruction on the land and city, famine and sword on the inhabitants;
How shall I comfort you?

²⁰ Your sons have fainted;
They ^(C1)lie helpless at the head of every street,
Like an ^(C2)antelope in a net,
Full from drinking of the wrath of the LORD,
The ^(C3)rebuke of your God.

²¹ Therefore, now hear this, you who are ^(C1)afflicted,
Who are ^(C2)drunk, but not with wine but overwhelmed by the wrath of God.

²² So says your Lord, the LORD, who is also your God
Who ^(C1)pleads the cause of His people,
"Listen carefully, I have taken from your hand the ^(C2)cup of staggering and intoxication,
The cup of My wrath;
You shall never drink it again.

²³ "I will ^(C1)put it into the hands of your tormentors,
Who have said to you, '^(C2)Lie down so that we may walk over you.'
You have even made your back like the ground
And like the street for those who walk over it."