Isaiah 51

The original text was written in the Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 23 verses.

The parashah sections listed here are based on the Aleppo Codex.[4] Isaiah 51 is a part of the Consolations (Isaiah 40–66). {P}: open parashah; {S}: closed parashah.

{S} 51:1-3 {S} 51:4-6 {P} 51:7-8 {S} 51:9-11 {S} 51:12-16 {S} 51:17-21 {P} 51:22-23 {P}

“Listen to Me, you who 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." (NKJV)[5]

Cross reference: Matthew 3:9

“Look to Abraham your father,

And to Sarah who bore you;

For I called him alone,

And blessed him and increased him."[6]

Sarah is mentioned alongside Abraham; Abraham is described as "the rock from which you [the Israelites] were hewn" and Sarah is described as "the hole of the pit from which you were dug",[7] the latter being a reference to her maternal womb. Abraham was called when he was alone i.e. childless.[8]

Cross reference: Ezekiel 33:24

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.[9]

A part of this verse is referred to by Jesus Christ as recorded in Matthew 24:35:

"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."[10]

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.[11]

A part of this verse is referred to by Jesus Christ as recorded in Matthew 5:11:

"Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you,

and persecute you,

and shall say all manner

of evil against you falsely, for my sake."[12]

Verse 9:

Awake, awake, put on strength,

O arm of the Lord! [13]

Repeated in verse 17:

Awake, awake,

Stand up, O Jerusalem.[14]

John Skinner, in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, says it is "difficult to decide" whether the words in verse 9 are addressed to the Lord "by the prophet himself, or by the community of true Israelites". Skinner presents verses 9-10 as a prayer for divine intervention and verses 12-16 as "the divine answer to this prayer".[15]

Are You not the arm that cut Rahab apart,

And wounded the serpent? [13]

The reference to Rahab is to Egypt, not to the Rahab associated with the Israelites' capture of Jericho in Joshua 2:1–24. Use of the name as a symbol for Egypt "rests on the conception of a conflict in days long past between Jehovah and the monsters called Rahab and the Dragon".[15] In Psalm 89, the Lord "rules the raging of the sea" and "breaks Rahab in pieces".[16]

• Related Bible parts: Exodus 14, Isaiah 2, Isaiah 42, Ezekiel 33, Matthew 3, Matthew 5, Matthew 24

• Ulrich, Eugene, ed. (2010). The Biblical Qumran Scrolls: Transcriptions and Textual Variants. Brill.

• Würthwein, Ernst (1995). The Text of the Old Testament. Translated by Rhodes, Erroll F. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN 0-8028-0788-7. Retrieved January 26, 2019.