Isaiah

49 Hearken, ye Coastlands, unto me, And give ear, ye peoples afar off,—Yahweh called me from my birth, From my nativity made he mention of my name;

2 And he made my mouth like a sharp sword, In the shadow of his hand he concealed me,—And made of me a polished arrow, In his quiver he hid me;

3 And said to me My Servant thou art,—Israel in whom I will get myself glory.

4 But I said, To no purpose have I toiled, For waste and mist—my vigour have I spent,—Surely my vindication is with Yahweh, And my recompence with my God.

5 Now therefore said Yahweh—Fashioning me from birth To be Servant to him, To restore Jacob unto him, And that Israel unto him might be gathered And I be honourable in the eyes of Yahweh, And my God be proved to have been my strength

6 Yea he said—It is too small a thing for being my Servant That thou shouldest raise up the tribes of Jacob, And the preserved of Israel shouldst restore,—So I will give thee to become a light of nations, That my salvation may reach as far as the end of the earth.

7 Thus saith Yahweh—the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, To him that is despised of the soul, To the abhorred of the nation, To the servant of rulers Kings shall see and arise, Princes lo! they have bowed themselves down,—Because of Yahweh who is faithful, The Holy One of Israel lo! he hath chosen thee.

8 Thus saith Yahweh—In a time of acceptance have I answered thee, In a day of salvation have I helped thee,—That I may preserve thee And give thee as the covenant of a people, To establish the land, To bring into possession the desolate heritages;

9 Saying To them who are bound, Go forth, To them who are in darkness, Shew yourselves,—By the roads shall they graze, And on all bare places shall be their pasture:

10 They shall neither hunger nor thirst, Nor shall smite them the glowing sand or the glaring sun,—For he that hath compassion upon them will lead them, And unto springs of water will he conduct them.

11 Then will I make of all my mountains a road, And my highways shall be upraised.

12 Lo! these from afar shall come in,—And lo! these from the North and from the West, And these from the land of Sinim.

13 Shout in triumph—O heavens! And exult—O earth! And break forth, ye mountains, into shouts of triumph,—For Yahweh hath comforted his people, And on his humbled ones taketh he compassion.

14 But Zion had said, Yahweh hath forsaken me,—Even My Lord hath forgotten me!

15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, Past taking compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, Yet will I not forget thee:

16 Lo! on the palms of my hands have I portrayed thee,—Thy walls are before me continually.

17 In haste are thy sons,—They who have been tearing thee down and laying thee waste out of thee let them go forth!

18 Lift up round about thine eyes and see, All those have gathered themselves together—have come to thee! As I live Declareth Yahweh,—Surely all those—as an ornament shalt thou put on, And bind them about thee for a girdle as a bride.

19 Surely as for thy wastes and thy desolations, and thy land of ruins Surely now shalt thou be too strait for thine inhabitants, And far off shall be they who have been swallowing thee up.

20 The children of whom thou wast bereaved shall yet say in thine ears,—Too strait for me is the place, Make room for me that I may settle down.

21 Then shalt thou say in thy heart,—Who hath borne me these, Seeing I have been bereaved and unfruitful, a captive and banished? These therefore, who hath brought them up? Lo! I was left alone, These where were they?

22 Thus saith My Lord Yahweh—Lo! I will lift up unto nations my hand, Yea unto peoples will I raise high my banner,—And they shall bring in thy sons in their bosom, And thy daughters on the shoulder shall be borne;

23 And kings shall be thy foster-fathers And their queens thy nursing mothers, With face to the ground shall they bow down to thee, The dust of thy feet shall they lick,—So shalt thou know that I am Yahweh, In that they shall not be put to shame Who were waiting for me.

24 Shall prey be taken from a mighty one? Or the captive of one in the right be delivered?

25 Surely thus saith Yahweh—Even the captive of the mighty one shall be taken away, And the prey of the tyrant be delivered; And thine opposers I will oppose, And thy children I will save;

26 Then will I feed thy tormentors with their own flesh, And as with new wine—with their own blood shall they be drunk,—So shall all flesh know that I—Yahweh am thy Saviour, And thy Redeemer is the Mighty One of Jacob.