1 ARST Yahweh says,“You people who desire to act righteously, who want to do what I want you to do, listen to me! Think about Abraham! It is as though he were a huge rock cliff; and when you people of Israel became a nation, it was as though I had cut you like stones from that rocky cliff. BSB BSB: “Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were cut, and to the quarry from which you were hewn.
2 ARST Think about your ancestor Abraham and his wife Sarah, of whom all of you are descendants. When I first spoke to Abraham, he had no children. But after I blessed him, he had a huge number of descendants. BSB BSB: Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave you birth. When I called him, he was but one; then I blessed him and multiplied him.
3 ARST Some day I, Yahweh, will encourage Abraham’ s descendants again, and I will comfort all the people who live in the ruins of Jerusalem. The deserts in that area will become like Eden; it will be like the garden of Yahweh. All the people there will be joyful and happy; they will thank me and sing. BSB BSB: For the LORD will comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and melodious song.
4 ARST My people of Judah, listen carefully to me, because I command you to proclaim my laws; the right things that I will do will be like a light for the people of all the nations. BSB BSB: Pay attention to Me, My people, and listen to Me, My nation; for a law will go out from Me, and My justice will become a light to the nations; I will bring it about quickly.
5 ARST I will soon rescue you and them; by my power I will rule over the people of the earth and bless them. The people who live in the most distant lands on earth will wait for me to help them. BSB BSB: My righteousness draws near, My salvation is on the way, and My arms will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look for Me and wait in hope for My arm.
6 ARST Look up at the sky, and look at the earth; see what they are like now, because some day the sky will disappear like smoke, and the earth will wear out like old clothes wear out, and people on the earth will die like flies. But I will rescue you, and you will remain free forever, and everyone will know what I do and I will always do what is right. BSB BSB: Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth below; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its people will die like gnats. But My salvation will last forever, and My righteousness will never fail.
7 ARST You people who know what things are right to do, and who know in your inner beings what is written in my laws, listen to me! Do not be afraid of people who taunt you; do not be disturbed when people revile you, BSB BSB: Listen to Me, you who know what is right, you people with My law in your hearts: Do not fear the scorn of men; do not be broken by their insults.
8 ARST because some day they will be destroyed like clothing that moths have eaten, like wool garments that have been eaten by worms. Everyone will know what I do and I will always do what is right; and I will save you, and you will be saved forever.” BSB BSB: For the moth will devour them like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool. But My righteousness will last forever, My salvation through all generations.”
9 ARST Yahweh, wake up and do something for us! Show us how strong you are! Do mighty things like you did long ago, when you stabbed Rahab, the sea monster, and cut it into pieces. BSB BSB: Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD. Wake up as in days past, as in generations of old. Was it not You who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced through the dragon?
10 ARST Surely you are the one who dried up the sea, and made a path through that deep water in order that your people could cross it! BSB BSB: Was it not You who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea for the redeemed to cross over?
11 ARST And those whom Yahweh will rescue from being exiled in Babylonia will similarly return to Jerusalem singing. Their being joyful forever will be like a crown on their heads. They will not be sad or mourn anymore; they will be completely joyful and happy. BSB BSB: So the redeemed of the LORD will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.
12 ARST Yahweh says,“I am the one who encourages you. So why are you afraid of humans who will wither and disappear like grass? BSB BSB: “I, even I, am He who comforts you. Why should you be afraid of mortal man, of a son of man who withers like grass?
13 ARST You should not have forgotten me, Yahweh, the one who created your nation, the one who stretched out the sky and laid the foundations of the earth. You should not be afraid of those who are angry with you and want to destroy you. You should not be afraid of them now, because those angry people have now disappeared! BSB BSB: But you have forgotten the LORD, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. You live in terror all day long because of the fury of the oppressor who is bent on destruction. But where is the fury of the oppressor?
14 ARST Soon you people, whom your enemies have caused to be slaves in Babylonia, will be freed! You will not remain in prison, and you will not die of hunger, BSB BSB: The captive will soon be freed; he will not die in the dungeon, and his bread will not be lacking.
15 ARST because I am Yahweh, your God, the one who stirs up the sea and causes the waves to roar; I am Yahweh, commander of the angel armies! BSB BSB: For I am the LORD your God who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the LORD of Hosts is His name.
16 ARST I have given you my message to proclaim, and I have protected you by my hand. I have done this in order to stretch out the sky and lay the foundation of the earth. And I have done this in order to say to you Israelites,‘You are my people!’” BSB BSB: I have put My words in your mouth, and covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”
17 ARST You people of Jerusalem, wake up! You have experienced Yahweh severely punishing you. Yahweh has caused you to suffer much and to experience disaster. Yahweh gave you this cup to drink, but this was Yahweh’ s cup! He forced you to drink every drop out of that large cup, down to the bottom of the bowl. And that drink made you stagger like you had drunk strong wine. This strong wine represents the anger of God, and you are to drink all of it! BSB BSB: Awake, awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of His fury; you who have drained the goblet to the dregs—the cup that makes men stagger.
18 ARST Now you do not have any children who are able to take your hand and guide you. You cannot help yourself. BSB BSB: Among all the sons she bore, there is no one to guide her; among all the sons she brought up, there is no one to take her hand.
19 ARST You have experienced these disasters: Your country has become desolate; your cities have been destroyed; many people have died from hunger; many people have been killed by your enemies’ swords. Now there is no one to weep with you and sympathize with you. BSB BSB: These pairs have befallen you: devastation and destruction, famine and sword. Who will grieve for you? Who can comfort you?
20 ARST Your children have fainted and lie at the corner of every street; they are as helpless as an antelope that has been caught in a net. What has happened to them is because Yahweh has been very angry with them; he has rebuked them severely. BSB BSB: Your sons have fainted; they lie at the head of every street, like an antelope in a net. They are full of the wrath of the LORD, the rebuke of your God.
21 ARST So now, you people who have suffered much, you who were acting as if you were drunk because you were drinking from his cup. But in truth, it is not because you have drunk out of a cup filled with wine, but because of something else that Yahweh will do. BSB BSB: Therefore now hear this, you afflicted one, drunken, but not with wine.
22 ARST Yahweh, your Lord and your God, the one who argues your case to defend you, he says this:“I have taken away that cup that holds my anger toward you, and I made you experience my anger when I made you drink from that cup. But now I have taken it from you so that you will never drink of it again. BSB BSB: Thus says your Lord, the LORD, even your God, who defends His people: “See, I have removed from your hand the cup of staggering. From that goblet, the cup of My fury, you will never drink again.
23 ARST Instead, I will cause those who have tormented you to suffer; I will severely punish those who said to you,‘Lie down in order that we may walk on you; lie down on your stomachs in order that your backs will be like streets that we can walk on.’” BSB BSB: I will place it in the hands of your tormentors, who told you: ‘Lie down, so we can walk over you,’ so that you made your back like the ground, like a street to be traversed.”
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.