¹Listen , islands, to me .

Listen , you peoples , from afar :

the LORD has called me from the womb ;

from the inside of my mother, he has mentioned my name .

²He has made my mouth like a sharp sword .

He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand .

He has made me a polished shaft .

He has kept me close in his quiver.

³He said to me , “You are my servant ,

Israel , in whom I will be glorified .”

⁴But I said, “I have laboured in vain .

I have spent my strength in vain for nothing ;

yet surely the justice due to me is with the LORD ,

and my reward with my God .”

⁵Now the LORD , he who formed me from the womb to be his servant ,

says to bring Jacob again to him ,

and to gather Israel to him ,

for I am honourable in the LORD ’s eyes ,

and my God has become my strength .

⁶Indeed , he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob ,

and to restore the preserved of Israel .

I will also give you as a light to the nations ,

that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.”

⁷The LORD , the Redeemer of Israel , and his Holy One ,

says to him whom man despises , to him whom the nation abhors , to a servant of rulers :

“Kings shall see and rise up ,

princes , and they shall worship ,

because of the LORD who is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel , who has chosen you .”

⁸The LORD says , “I have answered you in an acceptable time .

I have helped you in a day of salvation .

I will preserve you and give you for a covenant of the people ,

to raise up the land , to make them inherit the desolate heritage ,

⁹saying to those who are bound, ‘Come out !’;

to those who are in darkness , ‘Show yourselves !’

“They shall feed along the paths ,

and their pasture shall be on all treeless heights .

¹⁰They shall not hunger nor thirst ;

neither shall the heat nor sun strike them ,

for he who has mercy on them will lead them .

He will guide them by springs of water .

¹¹I will make all my mountains a road ,

and my highways shall be exalted .

¹²Behold , these shall come from afar ,

and behold , these from the north and from the west ,

and these from the land of Sinim .”

¹³Sing , heavens , and be joyful , earth !

Break out into singing , mountains !

For the LORD has comforted his people ,

and will have compassion on his afflicted .

¹⁴But Zion said, “The LORD 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 !

¹⁶Behold , I have engraved you on the palms of my hands .

Your walls are continually before me .

¹⁷Your children hurry .

Your destroyers and those who devastated you will leave you .

¹⁸Lift up your eyes all around , and see :

all these gather themselves together , and come to you .

As I live ,” says the LORD , “you shall surely clothe yourself with them all as with an ornament ,

and dress 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 that land will be too small for the inhabitants ,

and those who swallowed you up will be far away .

²⁰The children of your bereavement will say in your ears,

‘This place is too small for me .

Give me a place to live in .’

²¹Then you will say in your heart , ‘Who has conceived these for me , since I have been bereaved of my children

and am alone , an exile , and wandering back and forth ?

Who has brought these up ?

Behold , I was left alone . Where were these ?’”

²²The Lord GOD says , “Behold , I will lift up my hand to the nations ,

and lift up my banner to the peoples .

They shall bring your sons in their bosom ,

and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders .

²³Kings shall be your foster fathers,

and their queens your nursing mothers .

They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth ,

and lick the dust of your feet .

Then you will know that I am the LORD ;

and those who wait for me won’t be disappointed.”

²⁴Shall the plunder be taken from the mighty ,

or the lawful captives be delivered ?

²⁵But the LORD says , “Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away ,

and the plunder retrieved from the fierce,

for I will contend with him who contends with you

and I will save your children .

²⁶I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh ;

and they will be drunk on their own blood , as with sweet wine .

Then all flesh shall know that I , the LORD , am your Saviour

and your Redeemer , the Mighty One of Jacob .”