1Listen to me, O coastlands, and pay attention, O peoples from afar! Yahweh called me from the womb; from the belly of my mother he named my name.
2He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me. He made me into a polished arrow; in his quiver he concealed me.
3And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will show my glory.”
4But I said, “For nothing I have labored; for emptiness and vapor I have spent my strength. Yet surely my justice is with Yahweh, and my recompense with my God.”
5And now Yahweh says—he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, so that Israel might be gathered to him (and I am honored in the eyes of Yahweh, and my God has become my strength)—
6he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved ones of Israel; so I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
7Thus says Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, to the one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and rise up, princes, and they shall bow down, because of Yahweh who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
8Thus says Yahweh: “In a time of favor I have answered you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you; I will keep you and give you as a covenant for the people, to restore the land, to apportion the desolate inheritances,
9saying to the prisoners, ‘Go out!’ to those in darkness, ‘Show yourselves!’ Along the roads they shall graze, and on all the bare heights shall be their pasture.
10They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither scorching heat nor sun shall strike them; for the one who has compassion on them will lead them, and by springs of water he will guide them.
11And I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways shall be raised up.
12Behold, these shall come from afar, and behold, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Sinim.
13Sing out, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth! Break forth into singing, O mountains! For Yahweh has comforted his people, and on his afflicted ones he will have compassion.
14But Zion said, “Yahweh has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me.”
15Can a woman forget her nursing child, from having compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.
16Behold, on the palms of my hands I have engraved you; your walls are ever before me.
17Your children hurry back; those who tear you down and those who lay you waste depart from you.
18Lift up your eyes all around and see: they all gather together, they come to you. As I live, declares Yahweh, you shall put them all on like an ornament, and bind them on like a bride.
19For your ruins and your desolate places and your devastated land—surely now you will be too cramped for the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20Once more the children of your bereavement shall say in your ears, ‘The place is too cramped for me; make room for me that I may dwell.’
21Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has borne me these? I was bereaved and barren, exiled and cast aside—so who reared these? Behold, I was left alone; these—where were they?’
22Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and to the peoples I will raise my signal; and they will bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on the shoulder.
23Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers; with faces to the ground they shall bow down to you and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am Yahweh; those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.
24Can plunder be taken from a warrior, or can captives of a righteous one escape?
25For thus says Yahweh: “Even the captives of a warrior shall be taken, and the plunder of a tyrant shall escape; for I myself will contend with the one who contends with you, and your children I myself will save.
26And I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they shall be drunk on their own blood as with sweet wine. Then all flesh will know that I am Yahweh, your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
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