Isaiah 51:9-10
JPS Tanakh
9 Awake, awake, clothe yourself with splendor.
O arm of the LORD!
Awake as in days of old,
As in former ages!
It was you that hacked Rahab in pieces,
That pierced the Dragon.
10 It was you that dried up the Sea,
The waters of the great deep;
That made the abysses of the Sea
A road the redeemed might walk.
Jewish Study Bible notes
'Rahab... Dragon... abysses of the Sea:' These refer to mythical beings whom God defeated to create the world; cf. 50:2 n. The people argue that the God who defeated the forces of evil at the beginning of time and who split the Reed Sea to liberate the Israelites from Egyptian bondage should use the same divine power to liberate Israel now.
9 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?
10 Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?
A Creation Text
See Appropriation of ANE mythology and The Exodus as a New Creation. As in Isaiah 27:1, this passage prays that God will destroy a future Rahab and tame the chaos of the Primal Sea once again, in the time of the end.
See also the continuation in 51:11-16; also Psalm 74:12-23 and Psalm 89:5-14.
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