Isaiah 51:14-23

51:14 The one who suffers ¹  will soon be released;

he will not die in prison, ² 

he will not go hungry. ³ 

51:15 I am the Lord your God,

who churns up the sea so that its waves surge.

The Lord who commands armies is his name!

Zion’s Time to Celebrate

51:16 I commission you ⁴  as my spokesman; ⁵ 

I cover you with the palm of my hand, ⁶ 

to establish ⁷  the sky and to found the earth,

to say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’” ⁸ 

51:17 Wake up! Wake up!

Get up, O Jerusalem!

You drank from the cup the Lord passed to you,

which was full of his anger! ⁹ 

You drained dry

the goblet full of intoxicating wine. ¹⁰ 

51:18 There was no one to lead her

among all the children she bore;

there was no one to take her by the hand

among all the children she raised.

51:19 These double disasters confronted you.

But who feels sorry for you?

Destruction and devastation,

famine and sword.

But who consoles you? ¹¹ 

51:20 Your children faint;

they lie at the head of every street

like an antelope in a snare.

They are left in a stupor by the Lord’s anger,

by the battle cry of your God. ¹² 

51:21 So listen to this, oppressed one,

who is drunk, but not from wine!

51:22 This is what your sovereign master, ¹³  the Lord your God, says:

“Look, I have removed from your hand

the cup of intoxicating wine, ¹⁴ 

the goblet full of my anger. ¹⁵ 

You will no longer have to drink it.

51:23 I will put it into the hand of your tormentors ¹⁶ 

who said to you, ‘Lie down, so we can walk over you.’

You made your back like the ground,

and like the street for those who walked over you.”

[51:14]  ¹ tn Heb “who is stooped over” (under a burden).

[51:14]  ² tn Heb “the pit” (so KJV); ASV, NAB “die and go down into the pit”; NASB, NIV “dungeon”; NCV “prison.”

[51:14]  ³ tn Heb “he will not lack his bread.”

[51:16]  ⁴ tn The addressee (second masculine singular, as in vv. 13, 15) in this verse is unclear. The exiles are addressed in the immediately preceding verses (note the critical tone of vv. 12-13 and the reference to the exiles in v. 14). However, it seems unlikely that they are addressed in v. 16, for the addressee appears to be commissioned to tell Zion, who here represents the restored exiles, “you are my people.” The addressee is distinct from the exiles. The language of v. 16a is reminiscent of 49:2 and 50:4, where the Lord’s special servant says he is God’s spokesman and effective instrument. Perhaps the Lord, having spoken to the exiles in vv. 1-15, now responds to this servant, who spoke just prior to this in 50:4-11.

[51:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “I place my words in your mouth.”

[51:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “with the shadow of my hand.”

[51:16]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text has לִנְטֹעַ (lintoa’, “to plant”). Several scholars prefer to emend this form to לִנְטֹת (lintot) from נָטָה (natah, “to stretch out”); see v. 13, as well as 40:22; 42:5; 44:24; 45:12; cf. NAB, NCV, NRSV. However, since the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a, LXX (and Aquila and Symmachus), and Vulgate support the MT reading, there is no need to emend the form. The interpretation is clear enough: Yahweh fixed the sky in its place.

[51:16]  ⁸ tn The infinitives in v. 16b are most naturally understood as indicating the purpose of the divine actions described in v. 16a. The relationship of the third infinitive to the commission is clear enough – the Lord has made the addressee (his special servant?) his spokesman so that the latter might speak encouraging words to those in Zion. But how do the first two infinitives relate? The text seems to indicate that the Lord has commissioned the addressee so that the latter might create the universe! Perhaps creation imagery is employed metaphorically here to refer to the transformation that Jerusalem will experience (see 65:17-18).

[51:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “[you] who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his anger.”

[51:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the goblet, the cup [that causes] staggering, you drank, you drained.”

[51:19]  ¹¹ tc The Hebrew text has אֲנַחֲמֵךְ (’anakhamekh), a first person form, but the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a reads correctly יִנַחֲמֵךְ (yinakhamekh), a third person form.

[51:20]  ¹² tn Heb “those who are full of the anger of the Lord, the shout [or “rebuke”] of your God.”

[51:22]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[51:22]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the cup of [= that causes] staggering” (so ASV, NAB, NRSV); NASB “the cup of reeling.”

[51:22]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the goblet of the cup of my anger.”

[51:23]  ¹⁶ tn That is, to make them drink it.