Isaiah 51:9-23

9Wake up, wake up! Arm of the Lord, clothe yourself with strength. Wake up as in days past, as in generations long ago. Wasn’t it you who hacked Rahab to pieces, who pierced the sea monster?

10Wasn’t it you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the sea-bed into a road for the redeemed to pass over?

11And the ransomed of the Lord will return and come to Zion with singing, crowned with unending joy. Joy and gladness will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.

12I — I am the one who comforts you. Who are you that you should fear humans who die, or a son of man who is given up like grass?

13But you have forgotten the Lord, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. You are in constant dread all day long because of the fury of the oppressor, who has set himself to destroy. But where is the fury of the oppressor?

14The prisoner is soon to be set free; he will not die and go to the Pit, and his food will not be lacking.

15For I am the Lord your God who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar  — his name is the Lord of Armies.

16I have put my words in your mouth, and covered you in the shadow of my hand, in order to plant the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, “You are my people.”

17Wake yourself, wake yourself up! Stand up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk the cup of his fury from the Lord’s hand; you who have drunk the goblet to the dregs — the cup that causes people to stagger.

18There is no one to guide her among all the children she has raised; there is no one to take hold of her hand among all the offspring she has brought up.

19These two things have happened to you: devastation and destruction, famine and sword. Who will grieve for you? How can I comfort you?

20Your children have fainted; they lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a net. They are full of the Lord’s fury, the rebuke of your God.

21So listen to this, suffering and drunken one — but not with wine.

22This is what your Lord says — the Lord, even your God, who defends his people  — “Look, I have removed from your hand the cup that causes staggering; that goblet, the cup of my fury. You will never drink it again.

23I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, who said to you, ‘Lie down, so we can walk over you.’ You made your back like the ground, and like a street for those who walk on it.