1 Listen to Me, O islands, And pay attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called Me from the womb; From the body of My mother He named Me.
2 He has made My mouth like a sharp sword, In the shadow of His hand He has concealed Me; And He has also made Me a select arrow, He has hidden Me in His quiver.
3 He said to Me, |You are My Servant, Israel, In Whom I will show My glory.|
4 But I said, |I have toiled in vain, I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity; Yet surely the justice [due] to Me is with the LORD, And My reward 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 too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.|
7 Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel [and] its Holy One, To the despised One, To the One abhorred by the nation, To the Servant of rulers, |Kings will see and arise, Princes will also bow down, Because of the LORD who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You.|
8 Thus says the LORD, |In a favorable time I have answered You, And in a day of salvation I have helped You; And I will keep You and give You for a covenant of the people, To restore the land, to make [them] inherit the desolate heritages;
9 Saying to those who are bound, 'Go forth,' To those who are in darkness, 'Show yourselves.' Along the roads they will feed, And their pasture [will be] on all bare heights.
10 |They will not hunger or thirst, Nor will the scorching heat or sun strike them down; For He who has compassion on them will lead them And will guide them to springs of water.
11 |I will make all My mountains a road, And My highways will be raised up.
12 |Behold, these will come from afar; And lo, these [will come] from the north and from the west, And these from the land of Sinim.|
13 Shout for joy, O heavens! And rejoice, O earth! Break forth into joyful shouting, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people And will have compassion on His afflicted.
14 But Zion said, |The LORD has forsaken me, And the Lord has forgotten me.|
15 |Can a woman forget her nursing child And have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.
16 |Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms [of My hands]; Your walls are continually before Me.
17 |Your builders hurry; Your destroyers and devastators Will depart from you.
18 |Lift up your eyes and look around; All of them gather together, they come to you. As I live,| declares the LORD, |You will surely put on all of them as jewels and bind them on as a bride.
19 |For your waste and desolate places and your destroyed land-- Surely now you will be too cramped for the inhabitants, And those who swallowed you will be far away.
20 |The children of whom you were bereaved will yet say in your ears, 'The place is too cramped for me; Make room for me that I may live [here].'
21 |Then you will say in your heart, 'Who has begotten these for me, Since I have been bereaved of my children And am barren, an exile and a wanderer? And who has reared these? Behold, I was left alone; From where did these come?'|
