Isaiah 51:2

The Lord Comforts Zion

1 “Listen to Me, ^ayou who follow after righteousness,
You who seek the Lord:
Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
And to the hole of the pit from which you were dug.

2 ^aLook to Abraham your father,
And to Sarah who bore you;
^bFor I called him alone,
And ^cblessed him and increased him.”

3 For the Lord will ^acomfort Zion,
He will comfort all her waste places;
He will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert ^blike the garden of the Lord;
Joy and gladness will be found in it,
Thanksgiving and the voice of melody.

4 “Listen to Me, My people;
And give ear to Me, O My nation:
^aFor law will proceed from Me,
And I will make My justice rest
^bAs a light of the peoples.

5 ^aMy righteousness is near,
My salvation has gone forth,
^bAnd My arms will judge the peoples;
^cThe coastlands will wait upon Me,
And ^don My arm they will trust.

6 ^aLift up your eyes to the heavens,
And look on the earth beneath.
For ^bthe heavens will vanish away like smoke,
^cThe earth will grow old like a garment,
And those who dwell in it will die in like manner;
But My salvation will be ^dforever,
And My righteousness will not be¹ abolished.

7 “Listen to Me, you who know righteousness,
You people ^ain whose heart is My law:
^bDo not fear the reproach of men,
Nor be afraid of their insults.

8 For ^athe moth will eat them up like a garment,
And the worm will eat them like wool;
But My righteousness will be forever,
And My salvation from generation to generation.”

9 ^aAwake, awake, ^bput on strength,
O arm of the Lord!
Awake ^cas in the ancient days,
In the generations of old.
^dAre You not the arm that cut ^eRahab apart,
And wounded the ^fserpent?

10 Are You not the One who ^adried up the sea,
The waters of the great deep;
That made the depths of the sea a road
For the redeemed to cross over?

Commentaries:

Barnes' Notes

<< Isaiah 51:1

Isaiah 51:3 >>

Isaiah 51:2

Look unto Abraham - What was figuratively expressed in the former verse is here expressed literally. They were directed to remember that God had taken Abraham and Sarah from a distant land, and that from so humble a beginning he had increased them to a great nation. The argument is, that he was able to bless and increase the exile Jews, though comparatively feeble and few.

For I called him alone - Hebrew, ' For one I called him;' that is, he was alone; there was but one, and he increased to a mighty nation. So Jerome, Quia unum vocavi eum . So the Septuagint, ̔́ ̔͂ ̓͂ hoti heis ēn - ' For he was one.' The point of the declaration here is, that God had called one individual - Abraham - and that he had caused him to increase until a mighty nation had sprung from him, and that he had the same power to increase the little remnant that remained in Babylon until they should again become a mighty people.

<< Isaiah 51:1

Isaiah 51:3 >>

DISCLAIMER: Church of the Great God (CGG) provides these resources to aid the individual in studying the Bible. However, it is up to the individual to "prove all things, and hold fast to that which is good" (I Thessalonians 5:21). The content of these resources does not necessarily reflect the views of CGG. They are provided for information purposes only.