¹Hear me, O coastlands, and pay attention, O peoples from afar: Yahweh called me from the womb; from the inward parts of my mother he mentioned my name.

²He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he concealed me.

³And he said to me, "You are my slave, Israel, through whom I will be glorified."

⁴But I said, "For emptiness I have toiled; for formlessness and vapor I have used up my strength; yet my justice is with Yahweh, and my wages with my God."

⁵And now Yahweh says, who formed me from the womb to be a slave to him, to bring back Jacob to him, and Israel to be gathered to him; and I am honored in the eyes of Yahweh, and my God has been my strength.

⁶He said, "It is too slight a thing for you to be a slave to me, to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved ones of Israel; I will set you as a light to the nations, to be my deliverance to the end of the land."

⁷Thus says Yahweh, the redeemer of Israel, his holy one, to the one whose being is despised, whom the nation abhors, the slave of rulers: kings will see and will rise, officials will bow down, for the sake of Yahweh, who is faithful, the holy one of Israel, who has chosen you.

⁸Thus says Yahweh: In a time of favor I answered you, and on a day of deliverance I helped you; I kept you, and set you as a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to distribute the desolate inheritances.

⁹to say to the bound ones, "Go out," to those who are in darkness, "Show yourselves." On the ways they will graze, and on all the bare heights will be their pasture.

¹⁰They will not be hungry and they will not be thirsty, and neither burning heat nor the sun will strike them; for the one who has compassion on them will guide them, and by the springs of water he will lead them.

¹¹I will make all my mountains into a road, and my highways will be high.

¹²Behold, these will come from afar, and behold, these from the north and from the sea, and these from the land of Sinim.

¹³Shout for joy, O skies, and rejoice, O land; break forth, O mountains, with a ringing cry! For Yahweh has comforted his people, and has compassion on his poor ones.

¹⁴But Zion said, "Yahweh has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me."

¹⁵Will a woman forget her nursing child, to keep from having compassion on the child of her womb? Even these will forget, yet I will not forget you.

¹⁶Behold, on my palms I have inscribed you; your walls are before me continually.

¹⁷Your sons have made haste; those who tear you down, and those who make you desolate will go forth from you.

¹⁸Lift up your eyes all around and see: all of them have gathered together, they have come to you. As I live, the utterance of Yahweh, indeed you will put on all of them like an ornament, and tie them on like a bride.

¹⁹For your ruins, and your desolate places, and the land of your demolition—for now you will be too cramped for those who dwell, and those who swallowed you up will be far away.

²⁰Again they will say in your ears, the children of your bereavements, "The place is cramped for me; draw near for me, and let me dwell."

²¹And you will say in your heart, "Who bore these for me? I was bereaved and barren, gone into exile and thrust away; and who made these great? Behold, I was left all alone; these, where were they?"

²²Thus says the Adonai Yahweh: Look, I will lift my hand to the nations, and to the peoples I will raise my banner high; and they will bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters will be carried on the shoulder.

²³Kings will be your foster-fathers, and their ladies your nursing-mothers; with their faces to the land they will bow down to you, and they will lick up the dust of your feet; and you will know that I am Yahweh, that those who wait for me will not be ashamed.

²⁴Will the plunder be taken from the mighty man, or will the captives of the righteous escape?

²⁵For thus says Yahweh: Even the captives of the mighty man will be taken, and the plunder of the ruthless will escape; and I myself will contend with your adversary, and your sons I myself will save.

²⁶I will feed those who maltreat you their own flesh, and they will be drunk on their own blood as on new wine; and all flesh will know that I am Yahweh, your deliverer and your redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob.