Yesaya 51:17--52:2

51:17 Wake up! Wake up!

Get up, O Jerusalem!

You drank from the cup the Lord passed to you,

which was full of his anger! ¹ 

You drained dry

the goblet full of intoxicating wine. ² 

51:18 There was no one to lead her

among all the children she bore;

there was no one to take her by the hand

among all the children she raised.

51:19 These double disasters confronted you.

But who feels sorry for you?

Destruction and devastation,

famine and sword.

But who consoles you? ³ 

51:20 Your children faint;

they lie at the head of every street

like an antelope in a snare.

They are left in a stupor by the Lord’s anger,

by the battle cry of your God. ⁴ 

51:21 So listen to this, oppressed one,

who is drunk, but not from wine!

51:22 This is what your sovereign master, ⁵  the Lord your God, says:

“Look, I have removed from your hand

the cup of intoxicating wine, ⁶ 

the goblet full of my anger. ⁷ 

You will no longer have to drink it.

51:23 I will put it into the hand of your tormentors ⁸ 

who said to you, ‘Lie down, so we can walk over you.’

You made your back like the ground,

and like the street for those who walked over you.”

52:1 Wake up! Wake up!

Clothe yourself with strength, O Zion!

Put on your beautiful clothes,

O Jerusalem, ⁹  holy city!

For uncircumcised and unclean pagans

will no longer invade you.

52:2 Shake off the dirt! ¹⁰ 

Get up, captive ¹¹  Jerusalem!

Take off the iron chains around your neck,

O captive daughter Zion!

[51:17]  ¹ tn Heb “[you] who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his anger.”

[51:17]  ² tn Heb “the goblet, the cup [that causes] staggering, you drank, you drained.”

[51:19]  ³ tc The Hebrew text has אֲנַחֲמֵךְ (’anakhamekh), a first person form, but the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a reads correctly יִנַחֲמֵךְ (yinakhamekh), a third person form.

[51:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “those who are full of the anger of the Lord, the shout [or “rebuke”] of your God.”

[51:22]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[51:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “the cup of [= that causes] staggering” (so ASV, NAB, NRSV); NASB “the cup of reeling.”

[51:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “the goblet of the cup of my anger.”

[51:23]  ⁸ tn That is, to make them drink it.

[52:1]  ⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[52:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Shake yourself free from the dirt.”

[52:2]  ¹¹ tc The Hebrew text has שְּׂבִי (shÿvi), which some understand as a feminine singular imperative from יָשַׁב (yashav, “sit”). The LXX, Vulgate, Syriac, and the Targum support the MT reading (the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a does indirectly). Some interpret this to mean “take your throne”: The Lord exhorts Jerusalem to get up from the dirt and sit, probably with the idea of sitting in a place of honor (J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 2:361). However, the form is likely a corruption of שְׁבִיָּה (shÿviyyah, “captive”), which appears in the parallel line.