Isaiah Chapter 51

At a Glance

  • Isaiah 51 is a call to trust in a God who will execute salvation and secure righteousness for generations.
  • Historical & Literary Context.
  • As part of Second Isaiah, this chapter amplifies comfort and restoration after exile.
  • - Covenant faithfulness across generations.
  • - Restoration and comfort for Zion; transformation of desolate spaces.

Chapter Overview

Isaiah 51 is a call to trust in a God who will execute salvation and secure righteousness for generations. The chapter begins with a summons to follow righteousness, looking back to the patriarchs—Abraham and Sarah—as foundational figures in God’s covenant faithfulness. Zion is to be comforted, and God promises to transform waste places into Eden-like abundance. The chapter casts a broad horizon: a law proceeding from God, a light to the nations, salvation that is everlasting, and righteousness that endures. The imagery of cosmic scale—heavens fading, earth like a garment—positions God’s saving work as cosmic in scope. The text then urges fearlessness in the face of reproach, for God’s righteousness and salvation are permanent. The culmination envisions a redeemed community returning with singing, everlasting joy on their heads, and sorrow and mourning fading away. The prophecy locates restoration as a present and future reality: trust in God’s promises, not in fragile earthly structures.

Historical & Literary Context

As part of Second Isaiah, this chapter amplifies comfort and restoration after exile. The call to look back to Abraham and Sarah emphasizes covenant continuity and God’s faithfulness across generations. The cosmic imagery and universal invitation align with the Isaian themes of salvation destined for all nations. The genre blends prophetic exhortation, covenantal recall, and poetry rich in songs and promises, weaving a vision of eschatological hope with present-day consolation. The chapter serves as an anchor for the book’s shift toward post-exilic renewal and mission.

Key Themes

- Covenant faithfulness across generations.

- Restoration and comfort for Zion; transformation of desolate spaces.

- The universality of salvation and the certainty of God’s righteousness.

- Hope in God’s future glory that transcends present hardship.

- Worship and joy as the compelling response to divine salvation.

Modern Application

Isaiah 51 invites believers to anchor identity in God’s promises rather than in fragile, temporary structures—whether political, economic, or social. The call to remember Abraham and Sarah invites readers to see their own communities as part of a longer story of faithfulness. The promise that God will turn desolation into Eden-like abundance challenges pessimism and discouragement, encouraging hopeful imagination in ministry, social justice, and community renewal. The text’s insistence on everlasting salvation and enduring righteousness provides a theological framework for endurance in difficult times, patient advocacy for justice, and worship that seeks to align life with God’s steadfast love. It also invites a posture of rejoicing and confidence in the face of opposition, trusting in God’s ultimate plan for creation.

- Isaiah 40:9–11 (comfort for Zion)

- Isaiah 52:7–10 (beautiful upon the mountains, announce salvation)

- Psalm 46 (God as refuge and source of trust in crisis)

- Romans 15:12 (Gentiles hope in God’s salvation)

Recommended Personas

- Jesus (embodiment of God’s salvation for all nations)

- Moses (leading through wilderness toward promised land)

- Paul (gospel reach to the nations)

- Abraham (patriarch of faith and covenant fidelity)

Chapter Text

1

Hearken 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.

2

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

3

For 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.

4

Hearken 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.

5

My 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.

6

Lift 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.

7

Hearken 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.

8

For 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.

9

Awake, 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?

10

Art 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?

11

Therefore 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.

12

I, 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;

13

And 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?

14

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

15

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

16

And 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.

17

Awake, 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.

18

There 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.

19

These 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?

20

Thy 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.

21

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

22

Thus 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:

23

But 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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