I Will Give You as a Light of the Nations
Listen to Me, O acoastlands,
And pay attention, you peoples from afar.
bYahweh called Me from the womb;
From the body of My mother He made My name to be remembered.
2 He has set My amouth like a sharp sword;
In the bshadow of His hand He has concealed Me;
And He has also set Me as a select carrow;
He has hidden Me in His quiver.
3 He said to Me, “aYou are My Servant, Israel,
bIn Whom I will show forth My beautiful glory.”
4 But I said, “I have atoiled in vain;
I have spent My might for nothing and vanity;
Yet surely the justice due to Me is with Yahweh,
And My breward with My God.”
5 So now says aYahweh, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,
To return Jacob back to Him, so that bIsrael might be gathered to Him
(For I am cglorified in the sight of Yahweh,
And My God is My dstrength),
6 He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to cause the apreserved ones of Israel to return;
I will also give You as a blight of the nations
So that My salvation may reach to the cend of the earth.”
7 Thus says Yahweh, the aRedeemer of Israel and its Holy One,
To the bdespised One,
To the One abhorred by the nation,
To the Servant of rulers,
“cKings will see and arise,
Princes will also dbow down,
Because of Yahweh who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You.”
8 Thus says Yahweh,
“In an aacceptable time I have answered You,
And in a day of salvation I have helped You;
And I will bguard You and cgive You for a covenant of the people,
To destablish the land, to make them inherit the desolate inheritance;
9 Saying to those who are abound, ‘Go forth,’
To those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’
Along the roads they will feed,
And their pasture will be on all bbare heights.
10 They will anot hunger or thirst,
Nor will the scorching bheat or sun strike them down;
For cHe who has compassion on them will dguide them
And will lead them to esprings of water.
11 I will set all aMy mountains as a road,
And My bhighways will be raised up.
12 Behold, these will come afrom afar;
And behold, these will come from the bnorth and from the west,
And these from the land of Sinim.”
13 aShout for joy, O heavens! And rejoice, O earth!
Break forth into joyful shouting, O mountains!
For bYahweh has comforted His people
And will chave compassion on His afflicted.
Promise to Zion
14 But Zion said, “Yahweh has forsaken me,
And the Lord has forgotten me.”
15 “Can a woman forget her infant
And have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget, but aI will not forget you.
16 Behold, I have ainscribed you on the palms of My hands;
Your bwalls are continually before Me.
17 Your builders hurry;
Your adestroyers and devastators
Will depart from you.
18 aLift up your eyes and look around;
bAll of them gather together; cthey come to you.
dAs I live,” declares Yahweh,
“You will surely eput on all of them as jewels and bind them on as a bride.
19 For ayour devastated and desolate places and your destroyed land—
Surely now you will be btoo cramped for the inhabitants,
And those who cswallowed you will be far away.
20 The achildren of whom you were bereaved will yet say in your ears,
‘The place is too cramped for me;
Make room for me that I may live here.’
21 Then you will asay in your heart,
‘Who has borne these for me?
Indeed, I have been bereaved of my children
And am bbarren, an cexile and a wanderer.
And who has reared these?
Behold, I dremained alone;
eFrom where did these come?’”
22 Thus says Lord Yahweh,
“Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations
And make high My astandard to the peoples;
And they will bbring your sons in their bosom,
And your daughters will be lifted up on their shoulders.
23 aKings will be your guardians,
And their princesses your nurses.
They will bbow down to you with their faces to the earth
And click the dust of your feet;
And you will dknow that I am Yahweh;
Those who ehope in Me will fnot be put to shame.
24 “aCan the prey be taken from the mighty man,
Or the captives of the righteous be granted escape?”
25 Surely, thus says Yahweh,
“Even the acaptives of the mighty man will be taken away,
And the prey of the tyrant will be granted escape;
For I will contend with the one who contends with you,
And I will bsave your sons.
26 I will feed athose who mistreat you with their bown flesh,
And they will become drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine;
And call flesh will know that I, Yahweh, am your dSavior
And your eRedeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”