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Isaiah 51 Bible study: Awake, awake
The chapter calls "Listen to me" three times, then "Awake, awake": first to the LORD's own arm (51:9), then to Jerusalem (51:17), and the next chapter says it to Zion (52:1). The cup of wrath Jerusalem drank from the LORD's hand is taken out of her hand (51:22). And in Hebrew the rock they were cut from (51:1) and Rahab cut in pieces (51:9) share one verb.
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“I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you, that you are afraid of man who shall die, and of the son of man who will be made as grass?”
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“Isaiah 51:9 speaks of cutting Rahab in pieces.”
Is that in Isaiah 51, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
Listen, three times; awake, awake
The chapter calls "Listen to me" three times, and each time it names its hearers differently: "Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek the LORD" (51:1), "Listen to me, my people; and hear me, my nation" (51:4), and "Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law" (51:7). In Hebrew Listen is shim'u in 51:1 and 51:7, and another verb, haqshivu, in 51:4. Then the call changes to "Awake, awake", and it comes twice. First it goes to the LORD's own arm: "Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of the LORD!" (51:9) (tap Awake, arm). Then it goes to the city: "Awake, awake! Stand up, Jerusalem" (51:17). Here is what almost everyone misses: the next chapter opens with the call a third time, now to Zion, "Awake, awake! Put on your strength, Zion" (Isaiah 52:1). In Hebrew 52:1 begins with the same three words as 51:9, uri uri livshi, awake, awake, put on, and then strength again, now your strength. The words first said to the LORD's arm are said to Zion.
Where it leads to Jesus
The cup
Isaiah 51:17leads toJohn 18:11
Isaiah 51 speaks to Jerusalem, "you who have drunk from the LORD’s hand the cup of his wrath" (Isaiah 51:17). When Jesus was arrested and Simon Peter drew a sword (John 18:10), Jesus told Peter to put it away and said, "The cup which the Father has given me, shall I not surely drink it?" (John 18:11). In both, the cup comes from God: from the LORD's hand, and from the Father. Jesus doesn't name Isaiah, and doesn't say in these words what is in the cup, so setting the two side by side is a reading. Some read the cup Jesus speaks of in the light of the cup from the LORD's hand that the prophets speak of (Isaiah 51:17; Jeremiah 25:15). Others read his words in their own setting, of the cup the Father has given him, and read Isaiah 51's cup as Jerusalem's alone, without looking from one to the other. John's words don't call Jesus's cup the LORD's wrath, and these notes pick neither reading.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Isaiah 51
That was a taste
The rest of Isaiah 51 is waiting in Favor
- Look to the rock
- Afraid of a man who dies
- The cup of staggering
- Awake, awake, in other books
- The roaring sea, in Jeremiah
- 14 questions as you read
- 13 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Isaiah 51 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
עוּרursay OOR
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "rouse oneself, awake". Strong's: "to wake (literally or figuratively)". "Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of the LORD! Awake, as in the days of old" (51:9): the verb three times in one verse, each a call to the LORD's arm. "Awake, awake! Stand up, Jerusalem" (51:17) has it twice more, in another form. Isaiah has it 18 times in Hebrew, and the chapter on Isaiah 50 studies it in 50:4. The next chapter opens with it: "Awake, awake! Put on your strength, Zion" (Isaiah 52:1).
For your group
Isaiah 51 Bible study questions
- 1"for when he was but one I called him, I blessed him, and made him many" (51:2). Where have you seen God make much of something that started small?
- 2"Don’t fear the reproach of men, and don’t be dismayed at their insults" (51:7). What kind of reproach is hardest for you to hear, and which words of 51:7-13 would you want to hold on to when you hear it?
- 3"Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of staggering" (51:22). What would it mean to you to hear that said about something heavy you have carried?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Isaiah 51 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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The World English Bible, a modern, readable translation in the public domain. God's name appears as "the LORD", as in most English Bibles.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home