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¹ Listen, O isles, to me; and listen, you peoples, from far: Yahweh has called me from the womb; from inside my mother he has made mention of my name:² and he has made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he has hid me: and he has made me a polished shaft; in his quiver he has kept me close:³ and he said to me, You are my slave; Israel, in whom I will be glorified.⁴ But I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely the justice [due] to me is with Yahweh, and my recompense with my God.⁵ And now says Yahweh that formed me from the womb to be his slave, to bring Jacob again to him, and that Israel be gathered to him (for I am honorable in the eyes of Yahweh, and my God has become my strength);⁶ yes, he says, It is too light a thing that you should be my slave to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give you for a light to the Gentiles, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.

⁷ Thus says Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel, its Holy One, to a despised soul, to one who the nations are disgusted by, to a slave of rulers: Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall worship; because of Yahweh that is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.⁸ Thus says Yahweh, In an acceptable time I have answered you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you; and I will preserve you, and give you for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages:⁹ saying to those that are bound, Go forth; to those that are in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and on all bare heights shall be their pasture.¹⁰ They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that has mercy on them will lead them, even by springs of water he will guide them.¹¹ And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.¹² Look, these shall come from far; and, look, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Syene.

¹³ Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for Yahweh has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted.¹⁴ But Zion said, Yahweh has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me.¹⁵ Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you.¹⁶ Look, I have graven you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.¹⁷ Your builders hurry more than your destroyers, and those that made you waste shall go forth from you.

¹⁸ Lift up your eyes round about, and look at all these that gather themselves together, and come to you. As I live, says Yahweh, you shall surely clothe yourself with them all as with an ornament, and gird yourself with them, like a bride.¹⁹ For, as for your waste and your desolate places, and your land that has been destroyed, surely now you shall be too strait for the inhabitants, and those that swallowed you up shall be far away.²⁰ The sons of your bereavement shall yet say in your ears, The place is too strait for me; give a place to me that I may dwell.²¹ Then you shall say in your heart, Who has begotten me these, seeing I have been bereaved of my children, and am solitary, an exile, and wandering to and fro? and who has brought these up? Look, I was left alone; these, where were they?²² Thus says the Lord Yahweh, Look, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and set up my ensign to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.²³ And kings shall be your nursing fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers: they shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of your feet; and you shall know that I am Yahweh; and those that wait for me shall not be put to shame.

²⁴ Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives of a tyrant be delivered?²⁵ But thus says Yahweh, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered; for I will contend with him that contends with you, and I will save your sons.²⁶ And I will feed those that oppress you with their own flesh; and they shall be drunk with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I, Yahweh, am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.