Isaiah 51:1-4

There is Hope for the Future

51:1 “Listen to me, you who pursue godliness, ¹ 

who seek the Lord!

Look at the rock from which you were chiseled,

at the quarry ²  from which you were dug! ³ 

51:2 Look at Abraham, your father,

and Sarah, who gave you birth. ⁴ 

When I summoned him, he was a lone individual, ⁵ 

but I blessed him ⁶  and gave him numerous descendants. ⁷ 

51:3 Certainly the Lord will console Zion;

he will console all her ruins.

He will make her wilderness like Eden,

her desert like the Garden of the Lord.

Happiness and joy will be restored to ⁸  her,

thanksgiving and the sound of music.

51:4 Pay attention to me, my people!

Listen to me, my people!

For ⁹  I will issue a decree, ¹⁰ 

I will make my justice a light to the nations. ¹¹ 

[51:1]  ¹ tn Or “righteousness” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “justice”; NLT “hope for deliverance.”

[51:1]  ² tn Heb “the excavation of the hole.”

[51:1]  ³ sn The “rock” and “quarry” refer here to Abraham and Sarah, the progenitors of the nation.

[51:2]  ⁴ sn Although Abraham and Sarah are distant ancestors of the people the prophet is addressing, they are spoken of as the immediate parents.

[51:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “one”; NLT “was alone”; TEV “was childless.”

[51:2]  ⁶ tn “Bless” may here carry the sense of “endue with potency, reproductive power.” See Gen 1:28.

[51:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “and I made him numerous.”

[51:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “found in” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[51:4]  ⁹ tn Or “certainly.”

[51:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “instruction [or “a law”] will go out from me.”

[51:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and my justice for a light to the nations I will cause to rest.”