Read the Bible

^1 (a)"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
    you who seek the Lord:
look to the rock from which you were hewn,
    and to the quarry from which you were dug.
² Look to Abraham your father
    and to Sarah who bore you;
for ^(b)he was but one when I called him,
    that I might bless him and multiply him.
³ For the Lord ^(c)comforts Zion;
    he comforts all her waste places
and makes her wilderness like ^(d)Eden,
    her desert like ^(e)the garden of the Lord;
^(f)joy and gladness will be found in her,
    thanksgiving and the voice of song.

^4 (g)"Give attention to me, my people,
    and give ear to me, my nation;
^(h)for a law^[a] will go out from me,
    and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.
^5 (i)My righteousness draws near,
    my salvation has gone out,
    and my arms will judge the peoples;
^(j)the coastlands hope for me,
    and for my arm they wait.
^6 (k)Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
    and look at the earth beneath;
^(l)for the heavens vanish like smoke,
    the earth will wear out like a garment,
    and they who dwell in it will die in like manner;^[b]
(m)but my salvation will be forever,
    and my righteousness will never be dismayed.

^7 (n)"Listen to me, you who know righteousness,
    the people ^(o)in whose heart is my law;
^(p)fear not the reproach of man,
    nor be dismayed at their revilings.
^8 (q)For the moth will eat them up like a garment,
    and the worm will eat them like wool,
^(r)but my righteousness will be forever,
    and my salvation to all generations."

^9 (s)Awake, awake, ^(t)put on strength,
    O ^(u)arm of the Lord;
awake, ^(v)as in days of old,
    the generations of long ago.
Was it not you who cut ^(w)Rahab in pieces,
    who pierced ^(x)the dragon?
^10 (y)Was it not 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 (z)And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
    and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
    they shall obtain gladness and joy,
    and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

¹² "I, I am he ^(aa)who comforts you;
    who are you that you are afraid of ^(ab)man who dies,
    of the son of man who is made ^(ac)like grass,
¹³ and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,
    ^(ad)who stretched out the heavens
    and ^(ae)laid the foundations of the earth,
and you fear continually all the day
    because of the wrath of ^(af)the oppressor,
when he sets himself to destroy?
    And where is the wrath of ^(ag)the oppressor?
^14 (ah)He who is bowed down shall speedily be released;
    he shall not die and go down ^(ai)to the pit,
    neither shall his bread be lacking.
¹⁵ I am the Lord your God,
    ^(aj)who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
    the Lord of hosts is his name.
^16 (ak)And I have put my words in your mouth
    ^(al)and covered you in the shadow of my hand,
^(am)establishing^[c] the heavens
    and ^(an)laying the foundations of the earth,
    and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.'"

^17 (ao)Wake yourself, wake yourself,
    stand up, O Jerusalem,
^(ap)you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord
    the cup of his wrath,
who have drunk to the dregs
    the bowl, ^(aq)the cup of staggering.
^18 (ar)There is none to guide her
    among all the sons she has borne;
there is none to take her by the hand
    among all the sons she has brought up.
^19 (as)These two things have happened to you—
    who will console you?—
devastation and destruction, famine and sword;
    who will comfort you?^[d]
20 (at)Your sons have fainted;
    they lie at the head of every street
    like an ^(au)antelope ^(av)in a net;
they are full of the wrath of the Lord,
    the rebuke of your God.

^21 (aw)Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted,
    who are drunk, but not with wine:
²² Thus says your Lord, the Lord,
    your God ^(ax)who pleads the cause of his people:
"Behold, I have taken from your hand ^(ay)the cup of staggering;
the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more;
^23 (az)and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,
    ^(ba)who have said to you,
    ‘Bow down, that we may pass over';
and ^(bb)you have made your back like the ground
    and like the street for them to pass over."