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and listen, you peoples from afar.
Yahweh called me from the womb;
from the belly of my mother he mentioned my name.
2 And he has made my mouth like a sharp sword;
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
and he has made me a polished arrow;
in his quiver he hid me away,
3 and he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel,
in whom I will be glorified.”
4 But I said, “I have labored in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain;
yet surely the justice due to me is with Yahweh,
and my reward with my God.”
5 And now, says Yahweh, who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring back Jacob to him,
and so that Israel would be gathered to him
(for I am honorable in the eyes of Yahweh,
and my God is my strength),
“It is too small 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 make you a light to the nations,
to be my salvation to the ends of the earth.”
the Redeemer of Israel, its Holy One, says
to one whose soul is despised,
to one whom the nation abhors,
officials, and they will worship,
because of Yahweh who is faithful,
even the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.”
“In an acceptable time I will answer you,
and in a day of salvation I will help you,
and give you as a covenant for the people,
to make them inherit the desolate heritage:
9 saying to those who are bound, ‘Come out!’
to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves!’
They will feed along the paths,
and on all bare heights will be their pasture.
10 They will not hunger or thirst,
nor will the heat or sun strike them,
for he who has mercy on them will lead them,
even by springs of water he will guide them.
11 I will make all my mountains a road,
and my highways will be raised up.
12 Behold, these will come from far,
and behold, these from the north and from the west,
and these from the land of Sinim.”
and be joyful, earth,
and break forth into singing, 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 Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.
your destroyers and those who made you waste
will depart from you.
18 Lift up your eyes all around, and see:
all these gather themselves together and come to you.
“As I live,”
says Yahweh,
“you will 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 you will be too small for the inhabitants,
and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20 The children that you have been deprived of
will yet say in your ears,
‘The place is too small for me;
make room for me so that I may live in it.’
21 Then you will say in your heart,
‘Who has conceived these for me,
since I have been bereaved of my children
and am solitary, an exile,
and wandering back and forth?
Who has brought up these?
Behold, I was left alone; these, where were they?’”
22This is what the Lord Yahweh says,
“Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations
and set up my banner to the peoples,
and they will bring your sons in their bosom,
and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.
23 Kings will be your nursing 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,
and you will know that I am Yahweh.
For those who wait for me
will not be put to shame.”
24 Can the prey be taken from the mighty,
or the captives of a tyrant be rescued?
25 But this is what Yahweh says,
“Even the captives of the mighty will be taken away,
and the prey of the tyrant will be delivered,
for I will contend with him who contends with you,
and I will save your children.
26 I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh,
and they will be drunk with their own blood
as with sweet wine,
and all flesh will know
that I, Yahweh, am your Savior
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
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