Isaiah 51:17-23
The cup of wrath is removed from Zion and given to her enemies.
17 Awake, awake! Stand up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk from Yahweh’s hand the cup of his wrath. You have drunken the bowl of the cup of staggering, and drained it.
18 There is no one to guide her among all the sons to whom she has given birth; and there is no one who takes her by the hand among all the sons who she has brought up.
19 These two things have happened to you— who will grieve with you?— desolation and destruction, and famine and the sword. How can I comfort you?
20 Your sons have fainted. They lie at the head of all the streets, like an antelope in a net. They are full of Yahweh’s wrath, the rebuke of your God.
21 Therefore now hear this, you afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:
22 Your Lord Yahweh, your God who pleads the cause of his people, says, “Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of staggering, even the bowl of the cup of my wrath. You will not drink it any more.
23 I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your soul, ‘Bow down, that we may walk over you;’ and you have laid your back as the ground, like a street to those who walk over.”
The cup of wrath is removed from Zion and given to her enemies.
To announce the removal of judgment from Jerusalem and the transfer of that cup to her oppressors.
Jerusalem is portrayed in the aftermath of destruction and exile, experiencing the consequences of covenant unfaithfulness and awaiting restoration.
The LORD Comforts Zion and Calls His People to Awake
The LORD comforts Zion by grounding her future restoration in his covenant faithfulness, eternal salvation, sovereign power, and removal of wrath from his afflicted people.