1 Hear me, O islands! And hearken, ye peoples from afar. Jehovah hath called me from the womb; From my mothers belly he hath had my name in remembrance.
2 And he hath placed nay mouth like a sharp sword; In the shadow of his hand he hath protected me, And hath placed me as a polished arrow; in his quiver hath he hid me;
3 And said to me, Thou art my servant, O Israel! In thee will I he glorified.
4 But I said, In vain have I toiled; Uselessly And unprofitably have I exhausted my strength; and my judgment is before Jehovah; And my work before my God.
5 And now saith Jehovah, Who formed me from the womb to be his servant, That I may bring back Jacob to him: And though Israel be not gathered, Yet I shall be glorious in the eyes of Jehovah, And my God shall be my strength.
6 And he saith, It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant, To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And that thou shouldst restore the desolations of Israel; Therefore have I appointed thee to be a light of the Gentiles, That thou mayest be my salvation to the end of the earth.
7 Thus saith Jehovah, The Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One, To the contemptible in the soul, To the abhorred nation, To the servant of rulers; Kings shall see, And princes shall arise, And shall worship for the sake of Jehovah; For faithful is the Holy One of Israel, who hath chosen thee.
8 Thus saith Jehovah, In a time of good-pleasure have I listened to thee; In the day of salvation have I assisted thee; And I will preserve thee. And give thee for a covenant of the people, That thou mayest raise up the earth, That thou mayest possess by inheritance the desolate heritages;
9 That thou mayest say to them that are bound, Go forth! To them that are in darkness, Show yourselves. On the ways they shall feed; On all the high places shall be their pastures.
10 They shall not hunger nor thirst; The heat And the sun shall not smite them; For he that hath compassion on them shall guide them; And by the fountains of waters shall he lead them.
11 And I will place all my mountains for a way; And my paths shall be elevated.
12 Behold! those from afar shall come; And, behold! those from the North, And from the sea; And those from the land of Sinis.
13 Praise ye, O heavens! And rejoice, thou earth; And break forth into praise, ye mountains; For Jehovah hath comforted his people, And will have compassion on his poor.
14 Yet Zion hath said, Jehovah hath forsaken me, And my Lord hath forgotten me.
15 Shall a woman forget her infant, So as not to have compassion oil the soil of her womb? Even though they have forgotten, Yet will not I forget thee.
16 Behold! on the palms of my hands have I engraven thee; Thy walls are continually before me.
17 Thy builders hasten; Thy destroyers And demolishers shall depart far from thee.
18 Lift up thine eyes round about, And see. All are assembled, And have come to thee. I live, saith Jehovah, That thou shalt be clothed with them all, as with an ornament, And shalt be bound with them round about as a bride.
19 For thy desolations, And thy wastes, And thy ruined land, Shall now be too narrow for the multitude of its inhabitants; And thy destroyers shall depart far away.
20 The children of thy bereavement shall yet say in thine ears, The place is too narrow for me; Make room for me. that I may dwell.
21 And thou shalt say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me those? For I am bereaved And solitary, A wanderer And an exile; Who then hath brought up those? Behold! I was left alone; Whence are they?
22 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold! I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, And will erect my banner to the people; And they shall bring thy sons in their bosom, And thy daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
23 And kings shall be thy nursing-fathers, And their queens thy nurses; With their faces on the ground they shall worship thee, And shall lick the dust of thy feet; And thou shalt know that I am Jehovah, For they who wait for me shall not be ashamed.
24 Shall the prey be taken from the mighty? And shall the captivity of the righteous be delivered?
25 Yet thus saith Jehovah; Even the captivity of the mighty shall be taken away, And the prey of the tyrant shall be delivered; For I will contend with him who contendeth with thee, And I will save thy children.
26 And I will feed thy spoilers with their own flesh, And they shall be made drunk with their own blood as with new wine; And all flesh shall know that I am Jehovah, Thy Savior And thy Redeemer, The Mighty One of Jacob.