51"Listen to me, all you who are serious about right living and committed to seeking GOD. Ponder the rock from which you were cut, the quarry from which you were dug.H8085H7291H6664H1245H3068H5027H6697H2672H4718H953H53652Yes, ponder Abraham, your father, and Sarah, who bore you. Think of it! One solitary man when I called him, but once I blessed him, he multiplied.H5027H85H1H8283H2342H7121H259H1288H72353Likewise I, GOD, will comfort Zion, comfort all her mounds of ruins. I'll transform her dead ground into Eden, her moonscape into the garden of GOD, A place filled with exuberance and laughter, thankful voices and melodic songs.H3068H5162H6726H5162H2723H7760H4057H5731H6160H1588H3068H8342H8057H4672H8426H6963H21724"Pay attention, my people. Listen to me, nations. Revelation flows from me. My decisions light up the world.H7181H5971H238H3816H8451H3318H4941H7280H216H59715My deliverance arrives on the run, my salvation right on time. I'll bring justice to the peoples. Even faraway islands will look to me and take hope in my saving power.H6664H7138H3468H3318H2220H8199H5971H339H6960H2220H31766Look up at the skies, ponder the earth under your feet. The skies will fade out like smoke, the earth will wear out like work pants, and the people will die off like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my setting-things-right will never be obsolete.H5375H5869H8064H5027H776H8064H4414H6227H776H1086H899H3427H4191H3644H3654H3444H5769H6666H28657"Listen now, you who know right from wrong, you who hold my teaching inside you: Pay no attention to insults, and when mocked don't let it get you down.H8085H3045H6664H5971H3820H8451H3372H2781H582H2865H14218Those insults and mockeries are moth-eaten, from brains that are termite-ridden, But my setting-things-right lasts, my salvation goes on and on and on."H6211H398H899H5580H398H6785H6666H5769H3444H1755H17559Wake up, wake up, flex your muscles, GOD! Wake up as in the old days, in the long ago. Didn't you once make mincemeat of Rahab, dispatch the old chaos-dragon?H5782H5782H3847H5797H2220H3068H5782H6924H3117H1755H5769H2672H7294H2490H857710And didn't you once dry up the sea, the powerful waters of the deep, And then made the bottom of the ocean a road for the redeemed to walk across?H2717H3220H4325H7227H8415H7760H4615H3220H1870H1350H567411In the same way GOD's ransomed will come back, come back to Zion cheering, shouting, Joy eternal wreathing their heads, exuberant ecstasies transporting them— and not a sign of moans or groans.H6299H3068H7725H935H7440H6726H5769H8057H7218H5381H8342H8057H3015H585H512712"I, I'm the One comforting you. What are you afraid of—or who? Some man or woman who'll soon be dead? Some poor wretch destined for dust?H5162H3372H582H4191H1121H120H5414H268213You've forgotten me, GOD, who made you, who unfurled the skies, who founded the earth. And here you are, quaking like an aspen before the tantrums of a tyrant who thinks he can kick down the world. But what will come of the tantrums?H7911H3068H6213H5186H8064H3245H776H6342H8548H3117H6440H2534H6693H834H3559H7843H2534H669314The victims will be released before you know it. They're not going to die. They're not even going to go hungry.H6808H4116H6605H4191H7845H3899H263715For I am GOD, your very own God, who stirs up the sea and whips up the waves, named GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies.H3068H430H7280H3220H1530H1993H3068H6635H803416I teach you how to talk, word by word, and personally watch over you, Even while I'm unfurling the skies, setting earth on solid foundations, and greeting Zion: 'Welcome, my people!'"H7760H1697H6310H3680H6738H3027H5193H8064H3245H776H559H6726H597117So wake up! Rub the sleep from your eyes! Up on your feet, Jerusalem! You've drunk the cup GOD handed you, the strong drink of his anger. You drank it down to the last drop, staggered and collapsed, dead-drunk.H5782H5782H6965H3389H8354H3027H3068H3563H2534H8354H6907H3563H8653H468018And nobody to help you home, no one among your friends or children to take you by the hand and put you in bed.H5095H1121H3205H2388H3027H1121H143119You've been hit with a double dose of trouble —does anyone care? Assault and battery, hunger and death —will anyone comfort?H8147H7122H5110H7701H7667H7458H2719H516220Your sons and daughters have passed out, strewn in the streets like stunned rabbits, Sleeping off the strong drink of GOD's anger, the rage of your God.H1121H5968H7901H7218H2351H8377H4364H4392H2534H3068H1606H43021Therefore listen, please, you with your splitting headaches, You who are nursing the hangovers that didn't come from drinking wine.H8085H6041H7937H319622Your Master, your GOD, has something to say, your God has taken up his people's case: "Look, I've taken back the drink that sent you reeling. No more drinking from that jug of my anger!H559H113H3068H430H7378H5971H3947H3027H3563H8653H6907H3563H2534H3254H835423I've passed it over to your abusers to drink, those who ordered you, 'Down on the ground so we can walk all over you!' And you had to do it. Flat on the ground, you were the dirt under their feet."H7760H3027H3013H559H5315H7812H5674H7760H1460H776H2351H5674