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Isaiah 51

YHWH promises to restore devastated Zion, setting his enduring salvation against mortal oppressors and bringing her punishment to an end.

YHWH addresses people who seek him while Zion lies devastated and her children suffer under judgment. He points them back to Abraham and Sarah, promises lasting salvation, and challenges their fear of human oppressors. An unnamed voice calls for his arm to act as it did when the redeemed crossed the sea. YHWH answers with comfort, then calls Jerusalem to rise: he will remove the cup of wrath and give it to her tormentors.

fear for the futureinjustice and angergrief
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1“Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek the LORD. Look to the rock you were cut from, and to the quarry you were dug from.
2Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for when he was but one I called him, I blessed him, and made him many.
3For the LORD has comforted Zion. He has comforted all her waste places, and has made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in them, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
4“Listen to me, my people; and hear me, my nation, for a law will go out from me, and I will establish my justice for a light to the peoples.
5My righteousness is near. My salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples. The islands will wait for me, and they will trust my arm.
6Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens will vanish away like smoke, and the earth will wear out like a garment. Its inhabitants will die in the same way, but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will not be abolished.
7“Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law. Don’t fear the reproach of men, and don’t be dismayed at their insults.
8For the 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 to all generations.”
9Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of the LORD! Awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Isn’t it you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the monster?
10Isn’t it you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?
11Those ransomed by the LORD will return, and come with singing to Zion. Everlasting joy shall be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy. Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
12“I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you, that you are afraid of man who shall die, and of the son of man who will be made as grass?
13Have you forgotten the LORD your Maker, who stretched out the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth? Do you live in fear continually all day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he prepares to destroy? Where is the fury of the oppressor?
14The captive exile will speedily be freed. He will not die and go down into the pit. His bread won’t fail.
15For I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar. the LORD of Armies is his name.
16I have put my words in your mouth and have covered you in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and tell Zion, ‘You are my people.’”
17Awake, awake! Stand up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the LORD’s hand the cup of his wrath. You have drunken the bowl of the cup of staggering, and drained it.
18There is no one to guide her among all the sons to whom she has given birth; and there is no one who takes her by the hand among all the sons whom she has brought up.
19These two things have happened to you— who will grieve with you?— desolation and destruction, and famine and the sword. How can I comfort you?
20Your sons have fainted. They lie at the head of all the streets, like an antelope in a net. They are full of the LORD’s wrath, the rebuke of your God.
21Therefore now hear this, you afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:
22Your Lord GOD, your God who pleads the cause of his people, says, “Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of staggering, even the bowl of the cup of my wrath. You will not drink it any more.
23I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your soul, ‘Bow down, that we may walk over you;’ and you have laid your back as the ground, like a street to those who walk over.”
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Isaiah 51:12YHWH names himself as Zion’s comforter and challenges the fear that makes mortal oppressors seem greater than their Maker.
Isaiah 51:6Even the heavens and earth will wear out, while YHWH’s salvation and righteousness endure beyond their passing.
Isaiah 51:16God’s words and sheltering hand support his declaration that devastated Zion remains his people, under the authority of her Creator.
Where this chapter reaches

Genesis supplies the shared figures of Abraham and Sarah and the garden of Eden, linking Zion’s promised restoration with God’s earlier works. Hebrews shares the image of creation wearing out like clothing, while Jeremiah shares the cup of divine wrath and Revelation shares the promise of sorrow ending.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

Which contrast between human frailty and God’s enduring salvation most challenges the fears you carry?

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What does Jerusalem’s emptied cup reveal about the relationship between God’s judgment and his comfort?

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Questions people ask about Isaiah 51

Who is Rahab in Isaiah 51:9?

Rahab appears here as a defeated monster, a poetic picture of forces opposed to God. The next verse recalls God making a path through the sea for his redeemed people, connecting this image with deliverance from Egypt. The chapter does not explain every detail of the monster imagery.

What is the cup of wrath in Isaiah 51?

The cup pictures Jerusalem’s experience of God’s judgment: devastation, famine, and violence have left her staggering like someone drunk. Her children cannot help her. In verses 22–23, God declares that he has removed this cup from her hand and will give it to those who have trampled her.

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Isaiah · 66 chapters
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What the Bible says about fear →What the Bible says about anger →What the Bible says about grief →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).