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| 1 Hearken unto me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek Jehovah: look unto the rock whence ye were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged. |
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| 2 Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bore you; for I called him when he was alone, and blessed him, and multiplied him. |
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| 3 For Jehovah shall comfort Zion, he shall comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Jehovah: gladness and joy shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of song. |
Her wilderness – The true Church is the Church in the wilderness. R1841:6
Her desert – Applied to the renewed fruitfulness of Palestine. R1044:1, R1379:6
Garden of the LORD – No longer will thorns and thistles cause sweat of face, but the earth shall yield her increase. R5078:4
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| 4 Listen unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will establish my judgment for a light of the peoples. |
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| 5 My righteousness is near, my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the peoples: the isles shall wait for me, and in mine arm shall they trust. |
On mine arm – The Lord Jesus. E47
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| 6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall grow 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. |
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| 7 Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear not the reproach of men, and be not afraid of their revilings. |
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| 8 For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation. |
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| 9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of Jehovah; awake, as in the days of old, as in the generations of passed ages. Is it not thou that hath hewn Rahab in pieces, and pierced the monster? |
Arm of the LORD – Christ Jesus. E47
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| 10 Is it not thou that dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; that made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over? |
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| 11 So the ransomed of Jehovah shall return, and come to Zion with singing; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain gladness and joy; sorrow and sighing shall flee away. |
Redeemed of the LORD – All who will accept the gift of life upon the conditions of its offer. R1772:6
Mourning shall flee – There will be no more sin, sorrow, pain, sighing, crying or dying. R5250:5
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| 12 I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou fearest a man that shall die, and the son of man that shall become as grass; |
Afraid of a man – "The fear of men which bringeth a snare." (Prov. 29:25) R1788:5
Rather be fearful of anything that would separate you from God and a future life. R5390:3
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| 13 and forgettest Jehovah thy Maker, who hath stretched out the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and thou art afraid continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he prepareth to destroy? And where is the fury of the oppressor? |
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| 14 He that is bowed down shall speedily be loosed, and he shall not die in the pit, nor shall his bread fail. |
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| 15 And I am Jehovah thy God, who raiseth the sea, so that its waves roar: Jehovah of hosts is his name. |
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| 16 And I have put my words in thy mouth, and covered thee with the shadow of my hand, to plant the heavens, and to lay the foundations of the earth, and to say unto Zion, Thou art my people. |
Plant the heavens – Establish the new heavens or powers of spiritual control. R1788:4; A318
Of the earth – The new earth, or social order. R1788:4; A318
Zion – The tried and proved, heirs of the New Kingdom. R1788:4
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| 17 Arouse thyself, arouse thyself, stand up, Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of Jehovah the cup of his fury. Thou hast drunk, hast drained out the goblet-cup of bewilderment: |
Drunken – Intoxication of error, false doctrines and theories. R4287:3
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| 18 --there is none to guide her among all the children that she hath brought forth; neither is there any to take her by the hand of all the children that she hath brought up. |
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| 19 These two things are come unto thee; who will bemoan thee? --desolation and destruction, and famine and sword: how shall I comfort thee? |
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| 20 Thy children have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as an oryx in a net: they are full of the fury of Jehovah, the rebuke of thy God. |
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| 21 Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine: |
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| 22 thus saith thy Lord, Jehovah, and thy God, who pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I take out of thy hand the cup of bewilderment, the goblet-cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again: |
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| 23 and I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; who have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over; and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street to them that went over. |
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