3. The Lord will surely comfort Zionand will look with compassion on all her ruins;he will make her deserts like Eden,her wastelands like the garden of the Lord.Joy and gladness will be found in her,thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
4. ‘Listen to me, my people;hear me, my nation:instruction will go out from me;my justice will become a light to the nations.
5. My righteousness draws near speedily,my salvation is on the way,and my arm will bring justice to the nations.The islands will look to meand wait in hope for my arm.
6. Lift up your eyes to the heavens,look at the earth beneath;the heavens will vanish like smoke,the earth will wear out like a garmentand its inhabitants die like flies.But my salvation will last for ever,my righteousness will never fail.
7. ‘Hear me, you who know what is right,you people who have taken my instruction to heart:do not fear the reproach of mere mortalsor be terrified by their insults.
8. For the moth will eat them up like a garment;the worm will devour them like wool.But my righteousness will last for ever,my salvation through all generations.’
9. Awake, awake, arm of the Lord,clothe yourself with strength!Awake, as in days gone by,as in generations of old.Was it not you who cut Rahab to pieces,who pierced that monster through?
10. Was it not you who dried up the sea,the waters of the great deep,who made a road in the depths of the seaso that the redeemed might cross over?
11. Those the Lord has rescued will return.They will enter Zion with singing;everlasting joy will crown their heads.Gladness and joy will overtake them,and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
12. ‘I, even I, am he who comforts you.Who are you that you fear mere mortals,human beings who are but grass,
13. that you forget the Lord your Maker,who stretches out the heavensand who lays the foundations of the earth,that you live in constant terror every daybecause of the wrath of the oppressor,who is bent on destruction?For where is the wrath of the oppressor?