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"Listen to Me, a you who 1 follow after righteousness,
You who seek the LORD:
Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
And to the hole of the pit from which you were dug.
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b Look to Abraham your father,
And to Sarah who bore you;
c For I called him alone,
And d blessed him and increased him."
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For the LORD will e comfort Zion,
He will comfort all her waste places;
He will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert f like the garden of the LORD;
Joy and gladness will be found in it,
Thanksgiving and the voice of melody.
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"Listen to Me, My people;
And give ear to Me, O My nation:
g For law will proceed from Me,
And I will make My justice rest
h As a light of the peoples.
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i My righteousness is near,
My salvation has gone forth,
j And My arms will judge the peoples;
k The coastlands will wait upon Me,
And l on My arm they will trust.
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m Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
And look on the earth beneath.
For n the heavens will vanish away like smoke,
o The earth will grow old like a garment,
And those who dwell in it will die in like manner;
But My salvation will be p forever,
And My righteousness will not be 2 abolished.
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"Listen to Me, you who know righteousness,
You people q in whose heart is My law:
r Do not fear the reproach of men,
Nor be afraid of their insults.
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For s 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 from generation to generation."
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t Awake, awake, u put on strength,
O arm of the LORD!
Awake v as in the ancient days,
In the generations of old.
w Are You not the arm that cut x Rahab apart,
And wounded the y serpent?
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Are You not the One who z dried up the sea,
The waters of the great deep;
That made the depths of the sea a road
For the redeemed to cross over?
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So a the ransomed of the LORD shall return,
And come to Zion with singing,
With everlasting joy on their heads.
They shall obtain joy and gladness;
Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
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"I, even I, am He b who comforts you.
Who are you that you should be afraid
c Of a man who will die,
And of the son of a man who will be made d like grass?
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And e you forget the LORD your Maker,
f Who stretched out the heavens
And laid the foundations of the earth;
You have feared continually every day
Because of the fury of the oppressor,
When he has prepared to destroy.
g And where is the fury of the oppressor?
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The captive exile hastens, that he may be loosed,
h That he should not die in the pit,
And that his bread should not fail.
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But I am the LORD your God,
Who i divided the sea whose waves roared -
The LORD of hosts is His name.
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And j I have put My words in your mouth;
k I have covered you with the shadow of My hand,
l That I may 3 plant the heavens,
Lay the foundations of the earth,
And say to Zion, 'You are My people.' "
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m Awake, awake!
Stand up, O Jerusalem,
You who n have drunk at the hand of the LORD
The cup of His fury;
You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling,
And drained it out.
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There is no one to guide her
Among all the sons she has brought forth;
Nor is there any who takes her by the hand
Among all the sons she has brought up.
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o These two things have come to you;
Who will be sorry for you? -
Desolation and destruction, famine and sword -
p By whom will I comfort you?
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q Your sons have fainted,
They lie at the head of all the streets,
Like an antelope in a net;
They are full of the fury of the LORD,
The rebuke of your God.
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Therefore please hear this, you afflicted,
And drunk r but not with wine.
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Thus says your Lord,
The LORD and your God,
Who s pleads the cause of His people:
"See, I have taken out of your hand
The cup of trembling,
The dregs of the cup of My fury;
You shall no longer drink it.
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t But I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you,
Who have said to 4 you,
'Lie down, that we may walk over you.'
And you have laid your body like the ground,
And as the street, for those who walk over."