The Prophets · Old Testament

Isaiah 51

Isaiah 51: look to the rock you were hewn from, and awake, arm of the Lord

General context

The Lord calls those who follow after righteousness to look to the rock they were hewn from and the pit they were dug from, that is, to Abraham their father and Sarah who bore them, whom he called alone and increased. He will comfort Zion and make her wilderness like Eden. He tells his people that a law will go out from him and his righteousness is near. The heavens will vanish like smoke and the earth grow old like a garment, but his salvation is for ever. Those who know righteousness are told not to fear the reproach of men, whom the moth and worm will eat. Then the arm of the Lord is called to awake as in ancient days, when it cut Rahab, wounded the dragon and dried the sea to make a way for the ransomed; the redeemed will return to Zion with singing and sorrow will flee. The Lord says he himself is the comforter and asks why they fear a man who will die and forget their maker, fearing the oppressor's fury every day; the captive exile hurries to be loosed. He is the Lord who divided the sea, and he has put his words in his hearer's mouth and covered him in the shadow of his hand, so that he may plant the heavens and say to Zion, Thou art my people. Jerusalem is told to awake and stand up; she has drunk the cup of the Lord's fury to the dregs. None of her sons guides her; desolation, destruction, famine and sword have come, and her sons lie fainted at the head of every street. The Lord, who pleads his people's cause, says he has taken the cup of trembling out of her hand and will give it to those who afflicted her and made her lie down as a street for them to walk over.

Cited passages: Isaiah 51:1, Isaiah 51:2, Isaiah 51:3, Isaiah 51:4, Isaiah 51:5, Isaiah 51:6, Isaiah 51:7, Isaiah 51:8, Isaiah 51:9, Isaiah 51:10, Isaiah 51:11, Isaiah 51:12, Isaiah 51:13, Isaiah 51:14, Isaiah 51:15, Isaiah 51:16, Isaiah 51:17, Isaiah 51:18, Isaiah 51:19, Isaiah 51:20, Isaiah 51:22, Isaiah 51:23

Isaiah 51 (KJV)

¹Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.

²Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.

³For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.

⁴Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.

⁵My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust.

⁶Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.

⁷Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.

⁸For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.

⁹Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?

¹⁰Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?

¹¹Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

¹²I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass;

¹³And forgettest the Lord thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?

¹⁴The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.

¹⁵But I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The Lord of hosts is his name.

¹⁶And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.

¹⁷Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.

¹⁸There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up.

¹⁹These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee?

²⁰Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God.

²¹Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:

²²Thus saith thy Lord the Lord, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again:

²³But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.

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Historical context

Abraham and Sarah are the only people named, presented as father and mother of the hearers and as the ones the Lord called alone and increased. The name Rahab appears in verse 9 beside the dragon and the drying of the sea, as something the arm of the Lord has cut; the chapter gives it no other identity and does not connect it to the woman of Jericho. The drying of the sea and the way for the ransomed are stated as things done in ancient days, and the next chapter names Egypt as the place the people went down to; this chapter itself names no nation. The oppressor whose fury is feared is not named. The text is explicit that Jerusalem drank the cup of fury at the hand of the Lord, so the affliction is presented as his own act as well as the oppressors', and the same cup is then passed to the afflicters. The thou whose mouth receives the Lord's words in verse 16 is not identified. Famine, sword and sons fainting in the streets are stated as things that have already come, not as threats. No date, ruler or setting is given anywhere in the chapter.

Cited passages: Isaiah 51:2, Isaiah 51:9, Isaiah 51:10, Isaiah 52:4, Isaiah 51:13, Isaiah 51:17, Isaiah 51:23, Isaiah 51:16, Isaiah 51:19, Isaiah 51:20

Literary context

The chapter is arranged as three calls to hearken followed by three calls to awake, the third of which opens the next chapter. The hearken calls address the same people under different names: those who follow after righteousness, my people and my nation, those who know righteousness. The awake calls move from the arm of the Lord to Jerusalem to Zion. Origins are pictured twice, first as quarry and pit, then as Abraham and Sarah, so that the many are traced to one man called alone. The garment eaten by moths, taken from the previous chapter, is used both for the earth that grows old and for the revilers who will be eaten, and against both stands the refrain that salvation and righteousness are for ever. The middle answers fear with a question, who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid, and then asks where the oppressor's fury is. The cup is the closing image: Jerusalem has drunk it to the dregs and wrung them out, and the Lord takes it from her hand and puts it into the hand of those who told her to bow down. The reversal is exact, the same cup changing hands.

Cited passages: Isaiah 51:1, Isaiah 51:4, Isaiah 51:7, Isaiah 51:9, Isaiah 51:17, Isaiah 52:1, Isaiah 51:2, Isaiah 51:6, Isaiah 51:8, Isaiah 51:12, Isaiah 51:13, Isaiah 51:22, Isaiah 51:23

Key moments

Look to Abraham and Sarah (Isaiah 51:2). The people are told to look to the father and mother from whom they were hewn.
Wilderness like Eden (Isaiah 51:3). The Lord promises to comfort Zion and make her desert like his garden.
Heavens vanish, salvation stays (Isaiah 51:6). The heavens and earth will wear out, but the Lord's salvation is for ever.
Awake, arm of the Lord (Isaiah 51:9). The arm of the Lord is called to act as it did against Rahab, the dragon and the sea.
Afraid of a man that shall die (Isaiah 51:12). The Lord asks why his people fear mortal men and forget their maker.
Jerusalem has drunk the cup (Isaiah 51:17). Jerusalem is told to stand up after draining the cup of the Lord's fury.
The cup passed to the afflicters (Isaiah 51:22). The Lord takes the cup of trembling from Jerusalem's hand to give it to her oppressors.

For reflection

The Lord asks his people why they fear continually every day the fury of an oppressor, and then asks where that fury is. When a fear outlasts the thing that caused it, what would it take to notice?