Isaiah 51:9-11

The Voice

This sounds too good to be true. God’s people fear He is asleep, so they attempt to rouse Him to action. They remind Him—and themselves—of when God rescued His people long ago and defeated Egypt. Rahab, a monster of mythic character, is linked to Egypt, a nation of legendary power and cruelty. The prophet assures his discouraged audience that God will come through again for His people. It will be for them like it was when God rescued the Hebrew slaves. The exiled people of God will be freed from Babylon, and God will smooth out and level off the perilous desert highway that leads from Mesopotamia to the promised land.

⁹Get up, power of God! Rise up and strengthen Yourself, arm of God.
    Get up and do like in the olden days, when You saved Your special people—
Like when You cut Rahab, that dragon-monster of chaos, in two.
¹⁰And remember when You made the sea dry up
    and the waters of the deep retreated for Moses and company;
Then You laid down a road right through for the people You saved to cross over?
¹¹It’ll be like that for those the Eternal One ransomed from captivity
    to return to Zion, Jerusalem. And they’ll come singing with joy.
Overwhelming, never-ending joy will crown their heads with happiness and delight
    while desperation and depression melt away.