Chapter 49

  Hearken, O isles, unto me, And attend, O peoples, from afar, Jehovah from the womb hath called me, From the bowels of my mother He hath made mention of my name.  

  And he maketh my mouth as a sharp sword, In the shadow of His hand He hath hid me, And He maketh me for a clear arrow, In His quiver He hath hid me.  

  And He saith to me, 'My servant Thou art, O Israel, In whom I beautify Myself.'  

  And I said, 'For a vain thing I laboured, For emptiness and vanity my power I consumed, But my judgment [is] with Jehovah, And my wage with my God.  

  And now, said Jehovah, who is forming me from the belly for a servant to Him, To bring back Jacob unto Him, (Though Israel is not gathered, Yet I am honoured in the eyes of Jehovah, And my God hath been my strength.)  

  And He saith, 'It hath been a light thing That thou art to Me for a servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And the preserved of Israel to bring back, And I have given thee for a light of nations, To be My salvation unto the end of the earth.'  

  Thus said Jehovah, Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One, To the despised in soul, To the abominated of a nation, To the servant of rulers: 'Kings see, and have risen, princes, and worship, For the sake of Jehovah, who is faithful, The Holy of Israel, and He chooseth thee.'  

  Thus said Jehovah: 'In a time of good pleasure I answered thee, And in a day of salvation I helped thee, And I keep thee, and give thee, For a covenant of the people, To establish the earth, To cause to inherit desolate inheritances.  

  To say to the bound, Go out, To those in darkness, Be uncovered. On the ways they feed, And in all high places is their pasture.  

  They do not hunger, nor thirst, Nor smite them doth mirage and sun, For He who is pitying them doth lead them, And by fountains of waters doth tend them.  

  And I have made all My mountains for a way, And My highways are lifted up.  

  Lo, these from afar come in, And lo, these from the north, and from the sea, And these from the land of Sinim.  

  Sing, O heavens, and joy, O earth, And break forth, O mountains, with singing, For comforted hath Jehovah His people, And His afflicted ones He doth pity.  

  And Zion saith, 'Jehovah hath forsaken me, And my Lord hath forgotten me.'  

  Forget doth a woman her suckling, The loved one -- the son of her womb? Yea, these forget -- but I -- I forget not thee.  

  Lo, on the palms of the hand I have graven thee, Thy walls [are] before Me continually.  

  Hastened have those building thee, Those destroying thee, and laying thee waste, go out from thee.  

  Lift up round about thine eyes and see, All of them have been gathered, They have come to thee. I live, an affirmation of Jehovah! Surely all of them as an ornament thou puttest on, And thou bindest them on like a bride.  

  Because thy wastes, and thy desolate places, And the land of thy ruins, Surely now are straitened because of inhabitants, And far off have been those consuming thee.  

  Again do the sons of thy bereavement say in thine ears: 'The place is too strait for me, Come nigh to me -- and I dwell.'  

  And thou hast said in thy heart: 'Who hath begotten for me -- these? And I bereaved and gloomy, A captive, and turned aside, And these -- who hath nourished? Lo, I -- I was left by myself, these -- whence [are] they?  

  Thus said the Lord Jehovah: 'Lo, I lift up unto nations My hand, And unto peoples I raise up Mine ensign, And they have brought thy sons in the bosom, And thy daughters on the shoulder are carried.  

  And kings have been thy nursing fathers, And their princesses thy nursing mothers; Face to the earth -- they bow down to thee, And the dust of thy feet they lick up, And thou hast known that I [am] Jehovah, That those expecting Me are not ashamed.  

  Is prey taken from the mighty? And the captive of the righteous delivered?  

  For thus said Jehovah: Even the captive of the mighty is taken, And the prey of the terrible is delivered, And with thy striver I strive, and thy sons I save.  

  And I have caused thine oppressors to eat their own flesh, And as new wine they drink their own blood, And known have all flesh that I, Jehovah, Thy saviour, and thy redeemer, [Am] the Mighty One of Jacob!'