The Lord Will Bring Comfort
1 If you want to do right
and obey the Lord,
follow Abraham's example.
He was the rock from which
you were chipped.
2 God chose Abraham and Sarah
to be your ancestors.
The Lord blessed Abraham,
and from that one man
came many descendants.
3 Though Zion is in ruins,
the Lord will bring comfort,
and the city will be as lovely
as the garden of Eden
that he provided.
Then Zion will celebrate;
it will be thankful
and sing joyful songs.
The Lord's Victory Will Last
4 The Lord says:
You are my people and nation!
So pay attention to me.
My teaching will cause justice
to shine like a light
for every nation.
5 Those who live across the sea
are eagerly waiting
for me to rescue them.
I am strong and ready;
soon I will come to save
and to rule all nations.
6 Look closely at the sky!
Stare at the earth.
The sky will vanish like smoke;
the earth will wear out
like clothes.
Everyone on this earth
will die like flies.
But my victory will last;
my saving power never ends.
7 If you want to do right
and obey my teaching
with all your heart,
then pay close attention.
Don't be discouraged
when others insult you
and say hurtful things.
8 They will be eaten away
like a moth-eaten coat.
But my victory will last;
my saving power
will never end.
A Prayer for the Lord's Help
9 Wake up! Do something, Lord.
Be strong and ready.
Wake up! Do what you did
for our people long ago.
Didn't you chop up
Rahab the monster?
10 Didn't you dry up the deep sea
and make a road for your people
to follow safely across?
11 Now those you have rescued
will return to Jerusalem,
singing on their way.
They will be crowned
with great happiness,
never again to be burdened
with sadness and sorrow.
The Lord Gives Hope
12 I am the Lord, the one
who encourages you.
Why are you afraid
of mere humans?
They dry up and die like grass.
13 I spread out the heavens
and laid foundations
for the earth.
But you have forgotten me,
your Lord and Creator.
All day long you were afraid
of those who were angry
and hoped to oppress you.
Where are they now?
14 Everyone crying out in pain
will be quickly set free;
they will be rescued
from the power of death
and never go hungry.
15 I will help them
because I am your God,
the Lord All-Powerful,
who makes the ocean roar.
16 I have told you what to say,
and I will keep you safe
in the palm of my hand.
I spread out the heavens
and laid foundations
for the earth.
Now I say, “Jerusalem,
your people are mine.”
A Warning to Jerusalem
17 Jerusalem, wake up! Stand up!
You've drunk too much
from the cup filled
with the Lord's anger.
You have swallowed every drop,
and you can't walk straight.
18 Not one of your many children
is there to guide you
or to offer a helping hand.
19 You have been destroyed
by war and by famine;
I cannot comfort you.
20 The Lord your God is angry,
and on every street corner
your children lie helpless,
like deer trapped in nets.
21 You are in trouble and drunk,
but not from wine.
So pay close attention
22 to the Lord your God,
who defends you and says,
“I have taken from your hands
the cup filled with my anger
that made you drunk.
You will never be forced
to drink it again.
23 Instead I will give it
to your brutal enemies,
who treated you like dirt
and walked all over you.”
1 Heare me, ye that follow after righteousnes, and ye that seeke the Lord: looke vnto the rocke, whence ye are hewen, and to the hole of the pit, whence ye are digged. 2 Consider Abraham your father, and Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. 3 Surely the Lord shall comfort Zion: he shall comfort all her desolations, and he shall make her desert like Eden, and her wildernes like the garden of the Lord: ioy and gladnesse shalbe founde therein: praise, and the voyce of singing. 4 Hearken ye vnto me, my people, and giue eare vnto me, O my people: for a Law shall proceede from me, and I will bring foorth my iudgement for the light of the people. 5 My righteousnes is neere: my saluation goeth foorth, and mine armes shall iudge the people: the yles shall waite for me, and shall trust vnto mine arme. 6 Lift vp your eyes to the heauens, and looke vpon the earth beneath: for the heauens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall waxe olde like a garment, and they that dwell therein, shall perish in like maner: but my saluation shall be for euer, and my righteousnesse shall not bee abolished. 7 Hearken vnto me, ye that know righteousnesse, the people in whose heart is my Lawe. Feare ye not the reproche of men, neither be ye afraide of their rebukes. 8 For the mothe shall eate them vp like a garment, and the worme shall eate them like wool: but my righteousnesse shalbe for euer, and my saluation from generation to generation. 9 Rise vp, rise vp, and put on strength, O arme of the Lord: rise vp as in the olde time in the generations of the worlde. Art not thou the same, that hath cutte Rahab, and wounded the dragon? 10 Art not thou the same, which hath dried the Sea, euen the waters of the great deepe, making the depth of the Sea a way for the redeemed to passe ouer? 11 Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall returne, and come with ioy vnto Zion, and euerlasting ioy shalbe vpon their head: they shall obtaine ioy, and gladnesse: and sorow and mourning shall flee away. 12 I, euen I am he, that comfort you. Who art thou, that thou shouldest feare a mortall man, and the sonne of man, which shalbe made as grasse? 13 And forgettest the Lord thy maker, that hath spred out the heauens, and layde the foundations of the earth? and hast feared continually all the day, because of the rage of the oppressour, which is readie to destroy? Where is now the rage of the oppressour? 14 The captiue hasteneth to be loosed, and that hee should not die in the pitte, nor that his bread should faile. 15 And I am the Lord thy God that deuided the Sea, when his waues roared: the Lord of hostes is his Name. 16 And I haue put my wordes in thy mouth, and haue defended thee in the shadowe of mine hand, that I may plant the heauens, and lay the foundation of the earth, and say vnto Zion, Thou art my people. 17 Awake, awake, and stande vp, O Ierusalem, which hast drunke at the hande of the Lord the cup of his wrath: thou hast drunken the dregges of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out. 18 There is none to guide her among all the sonnes, whome she hath brought foorth: there is none that taketh her by the hand of all the sonnes that she hath brought vp. 19 These two thinges are come vnto thee: who will lament thee? desolation and destruction and famine, and the sworde: by whome shall I comfort thee? 20 Thy sonnes haue fainted, and lye at the head of all the streetes as a wilde bull in a nette, and are full of the wrath of the Lord, and rebuke of thy God. 21 Therefore heare nowe this, thou miserable and drunken, but not with wine. 22 Thus saith thy Lord God, euen God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Beholde, I haue taken out of thine hande the cuppe of trembling, euen the dregges of the cuppe of my wrath: thou shalt drinke it no more. 23 But I will put it into their hande that spoile thee: which haue said to thy soule, Bowe downe, that wee may goe ouer, and thou hast layde thy bodie as the grounde, and as the streete to them that went ouer.