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¹ Coasts and islands,^(F1) listen to me;² He made my words like a sharp sword;^(C1)
he hid me in the shadow of his hand.^(C2)
He made me like a sharpened arrow;
he hid me in his quiver.³ He said to me, “You are my servant,^(C1)
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”⁴ But I myself said: I have labored in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing and futility;
yet my vindication is with the Lord,
and my reward is with my God.⁵ And now, says the Lord,
who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him
so that Israel might be gathered to him;
for I am honored in the sight of the Lord,
and my God is my strength—⁶ he says,
“It is not enough for you to be my servant
raising up the tribes of Jacob
and restoring the protected ones of Israel.
I will also make you a light for the nations,^(C1)
to be my salvation to the ends of the earth.”^(C2)7 This is what the Lord,
the Redeemer^(C1) of Israel, his Holy One, says
to one who is despised,
to one abhorred by people,^(F1)(C2)
to a servant of rulers:
“Kings will see, princes will stand up,
and they^(F2) will all bow down
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel^(C3)—and he has chosen you.”^(C4)

I will answer you in a time of favor,
and I will help you in the day of salvation.^(C1)
I will keep you, and I will appoint you
to be a covenant for the people,^(C2)
to restore the land,
to make them possess the desolate inheritances,
⁹ saying to the prisoners: Come out,^(C1)
and to those who are in darkness: Show yourselves.
They will feed along the pathways,
and their pastures will be on all the barren heights.^(C2)10 They will not hunger or thirst,
the scorching heat or sun will not strike them;
for their compassionate one will guide them,
and lead them to springs.^(C1)11 I will make all my mountains into a road,
and my highways will be raised up.^(C1)12 See, these will come from far away,
from the north and from the west,^(F1)(C1)
and from the land of Sinim.^(F2)(F3)

¹⁴ Zion says, “The Lord has abandoned me;
the Lord has forgotten me!”¹⁵ “Can a woman forget her nursing child,
or lack compassion for the child of her womb?
Even if these forget,
yet I will not forget you.¹⁶ Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;^(C1)
your walls are continually before me.¹⁷ Your builders^(F1) hurry;
those who destroy and devastate you will leave you.¹⁸ Look up, and look around.
They all gather together; they come to you.^(C1)
As I live”—this is the Lord’s declaration—
“you will wear all your children^(F1) as jewelry,
and put them on as a bride does.
¹⁹ For your waste and desolate places
and your land marked by ruins—
will now be indeed too small for the inhabitants,^(C1)
and those who swallowed you up will be far away.²⁰ Yet as you listen, the children
that you have been deprived of will say,
‘This place is too small for me;
make room for me so that I may settle.’^(C1)21 Then you will say within yourself,
‘Who fathered these for me?
I was deprived of my children and unable to conceive,
exiled and wandering—
but who brought them up?
See, I was left by myself—
but these, where did they come from?’” ^(F1)

Look, I will lift up my hand to the nations,
and raise my banner to the peoples.^(C1)
They will bring your sons in their arms,
and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.^(C2)
23 Kings will be your guardians
and their queens^(F1) your nursing mothers.^(C1)
They will bow down to you
with their faces to the ground
and lick the dust at your feet.^(C2)
Then you will know that I am the Lord;^(C3)
those who put their hope in me
will not be put to shame.^(C4)