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¹ Hearken to Me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD; 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 when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many.³ For the LORD hath comforted Zion; He hath comforted all her waste places, and hath made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.

⁴ Attend unto Me, O My people, and give ear unto Me, O My nation; for instruction shall go forth from Me, and My right on a sudden for a light of the peoples.⁵ My favour is near, My salvation is gone forth, and Mine arms shall judge the peoples; the isles shall wait for Me, and on Mine arm shall they trust.⁶ Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner; but My salvation shall be for ever, and My favour shall not be abolished. ⁷ Hearken unto Me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law; fear ye not the taunt of men, neither be ye dismayed at their revilings.⁸ For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but My favour shall be for ever, and My salvation unto all generations.

⁹ Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Art thou not it that hewed Rahab in pieces, that pierced the dragon?¹⁰ Art thou not it 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 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto 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 comforteth you: who art thou, that thou art afraid of man that shall die, and of the son of man that shall be made as grass;¹³ And hast forgotten the LORD thy Maker, that stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and fearest continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor, as he maketh ready to destroy? And where is the fury of the oppressor?¹⁴ He that is bent down shall speedily be loosed; and he shall not go down dying into the pit, neither shall his bread fail.¹⁵ For I am the LORD thy God, who stirreth up the sea, that the waves thereof roar; the LORD of hosts is His name.¹⁶ And I have put My words in thy mouth, and have covered thee in the shadow of My hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion: 'Thou art My people.'

¹⁷ Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, that hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of His fury; thou hast drunken the beaker, even the cup of staggering, and drained it.¹⁸ There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up.¹⁹ These two things are befallen thee; who shall bemoan thee? desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword; how shall I comfort thee?²⁰ Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as an antelope in a net; they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God.²¹ Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine; ²² Thus saith thy Lord the LORD, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of His people: behold, I have taken out of thy hand the cup of staggering; the beaker, even the 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; that have said to thy soul: 'Bow down, that we may go over'; and thou hast laid thy back as the ground, and as the street, to them that go over.