¹“Hear me, you coastlands,

And listen, you distant peoples.

The Lord has called me from the womb;

From my mother's belly

He had made mention of my name.

²And he has made my mouth like a sharp sword;

He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand,

He has made me as a perfected arrow,

And he has hidden me in his quiver.

³And he said to me,

‘You are my servant

– Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’

⁴But I said,

‘I have toiled in vain,

I have expended my energy on a wasteful thing,

And a futile matter,

Yet my vindication is with the Lord,

And my recompense

Is with my God.’

⁵And now, says the Lord,

Who formed me from the womb

To be his servant,

To bring Jacob back to him,

So that Israel shall be gathered to him,

I will be glorified in the eyes of the Lord,

And my God will be my strength.

⁶And he said,

‘Is it a trivial matter to be my servant,

To establish the tribes of Jacob,

And to restore those preserved of Israel?

And I will make you a light of the Gentiles

To be my salvation

As far as the end of the earth.’ ”

⁷This is what the Lord,

Israel's redeemer,

Their holy one, says:

“Kings will see and arise,

And princes,

And these will prostrate themselves

To him who was considered despicable,

To a nation regarded as an abomination,

To one subservient to rulers,

This being for the sake of the Lord,

Who is faithful

– The holy one of Israel –

Who has chosen you.”

And I will preserve you and make you a covenant people,

To establish the earth,

By giving desolate places an inheritance,

⁹As you say to prisoners,

‘Come out’;

To those in darkness,

‘Come into the open.’

They will feed along the ways,

And their pasture will be in all high places.

¹¹And I will turn all my mountains into a road,

And my highways will be raised up.

¹²Behold, these things will come from far away,

And you will see some coming from the north,

And from the west,

And some from the land of China.”

¹³Be jubilant, O heavens,

And rejoice, O earth.

And break out into jubilation, O mountains,

For the Lord has comforted his people,

And has mercy on his needy.

¹⁴Yet Zion said,

“The Lord has deserted me,

And the Lord^* has forgotten me.”

¹⁵“Can a woman forget her breastfeeding child,

So as not to have compassion on her son from her own womb?

Even if these women were to forget,

Yet I will not forget you.

¹⁶Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;

Your walls are always before me.

¹⁷Your sons have been hasty,

But those who demolished you and laid you waste

Will depart from you.

¹⁸Lift up your eyes round about, and see:

All of them have gathered and come to you.

As I live, says the Lord,

You will surely clothe yourself with them all like an ornament,

And bind them onto yourself,

Adorning yourself like a bride.

¹⁹For your wastelands and your desolate places,

And your devastated land

Are such that now you are too hard pressed for anyone to inhabit you,

But those who are swallowing you up

Will be removed.

²⁰Your sons who have been bereaved of children

Will yet have a word to say in your ear,

‘The place is too hostile to me.’

‘Come near to me,

So that I can live there.’

²¹Then you will say in your heart,

‘Who bore me these,

As I have been bereaved and am barren,

Captive and deported?

So who brought these up?

Look, I have remained on my own.

As for these,

Where are they from?’ ”

²²This is what my Lord the Lord says:

“Behold I will raise my hand to the Gentiles,

And I will raise my banner to the nations,

And they will bring your sons in their bosom,

And your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.

²³And kings will be your foster fathers,

And their princesses will be your nurses.

They will prostrate themselves to you with the face to the ground,

And they will lick the dust of your feet,

And you will know that I am the Lord,

And that those who await me

Will not be put to shame.”

²⁴Can spoil be taken from a warrior?

Or can a righteous captive be delivered?

²⁵But this is what the Lord says:

“Even the warrior's captive will be taken back,

And the spoil of the fierce will be recovered.

And I will contend with him who contends with you,

And I will save your sons.

²⁶And I will feed those who dispossess you with their own flesh,

And they will become drunk with their own blood,

As with new wine,

And all flesh will know

That I am the Lord,

Your saviour and your redeemer

– The mighty one of Jacob.”

Reference(s) in Chapter 49: v.2 ↔ Revelation 1:16, Revelation 2:16, Revelation 19:15 ● v.6 ↔ Luke 2:32, Acts 13:47 ● v.8 ↔ 2 Corinthians 6:2 ● v.10 ↔ Revelation 7:16, Revelation 7:17 ● v.13 ↔ Revelation 12:12.