Bible Strands
Isaiah 51:9
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD. Wake up as in days past, as in generations of old. Was it not You who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced through the dragon?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Yahweh speaks to His own personified arm, calling it to act for Israel's redemption. This follows the declaration in v.8 that His righteousness and salvation endure across generations.
The words — עוּרִי ('u.Ri, "awake!") is repeated three times (H5782), a rare triple imperative that intensifies the summons. The object of the call is זְרֹעַ (ze.Ro.a', "arm"), a metonym for divine power.
The thread — The Rahab and dragon imagery recurs in Psalms 74:13 and 89:10, where God's victory over sea-monsters is recalled. Isaiah 52:1 echoes the same "awake, clothe yourself with strength" formula, but redirects it to Zion herself.
Why it lands — The verse grounds a present petition in past acts: if God did this before, He can do it again. It asks the reader to treat God's history of power as a reliable basis for expecting deliverance now.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?
Cross-references
- Psalms 74:13 You divided the sea by Your strength; You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea;
- Psalms 89:10 You crushed Rahab like a carcass; You scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm.
- Isaiah 52:1 Awake, awake, clothe yourself with strength, O Zion! Put on your garments of splendor, O Jerusalem, holy city! For the uncircumcised and unclean will no longer enter you.
- Isaiah 27:1 In that day the LORD will take His sharp, great, and mighty sword, and bring judgment on Leviathan the fleeing serpent—Leviathan the coiling serpent—and He will slay the dragon of the sea.
- Isaiah 30:7 Egypt’s help is futile and empty; therefore I have called her Rahab Who Sits Still.
- Ezekiel 29:3 Speak to him and tell him that this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I am against you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, O great monster who lies among his rivers, who says, ‘The Nile is mine; I made it myself.’
- Job 26:12 By His power He stirred the sea; by His understanding He shattered Rahab.
- Psalms 44:1 For the choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us the work You did in their days, in the days of old.
- Isaiah 51:17 Awake, awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of His fury; you who have drained the goblet to the dregs—the cup that makes men stagger.
- Psalms 7:6 Arise, O LORD, in Your anger; rise up against the fury of my enemies. Awake, my God, and ordain judgment.