Isaiah 51:12-23

“I, yes I, am the one who comforts you. All the sons of men will be cut down and fade like grass. Why then would you be afraid of a mere human being? You have forgotten that YAHWEH, your Maker, stretched out the skies and laid earth’s firm foundation. But you live each day constantly worrying, living in fear of your angry oppressor who is bent on your destruction. But their fury cannot touch you! Those who are suffering will soon be released. They will not die in their dark dungeon, nor will they go hungry. For I am YAHWEH, your faithful God, who split the sea with its roaring waves. My name is Lord YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies!” “I have placed my words in your mouth and have hidden you in the hollow of my hand to establish the heavens and make the earth rock solid. You will say to Zion, ‘You are my people!’ ” Wake up! Wake up! Get up, Jerusalem! You have drunk enough from the cup YAHWEH handed you. It was the cup of his anger, and you’ve drained it dry— the intoxicating bowl that makes men stagger! There are none of Zion’s children left, none to guide her home and take her by the hand, none among all the children she has raised. Twin calamities have come upon you, but who will feel sorry for you? Disaster and devastation, famine and war, but who will comfort you? Your children have fainted and lie fallen in the streets, like a gazelle caught in a net. YAHWEH’s anger, the rebuke of your God, has overwhelmed them. So listen, you who are weak and wounded, who are intoxicated not with wine but with God’s anger. This is what your sovereign ruler, Lord YAHWEH, your God, the Mighty Defender of his people, says: “Look! I have removed from your hand the intoxicating cup that made you stagger. You will no longer drink from the bowl of my anger. Instead, I will put that bowl in the hands of your tormentors who said to you, ‘Lie down so we can walk all over you!’ For your back became like the ground they trample on, like a street for them to walk on.”