12  “Listen to me, O Jacob,

and Israel, whom I called!

I am he; ^rI am the first,

and I am the last.

13  My hand ^slaid the foundation of the earth,

and my right hand ^sspread out the heavens;

^twhen I call to them,

they stand forth together.

14  “Assemble, all of you, and listen!

^uWho among them has declared these things?

The Lord loves him;

^vhe shall perform his purpose on Babylon,

and his arm shall be against ^wthe Chaldeans.

15  ^xI, even I, have spoken and called him;

I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.

16  ^yDraw near to me, hear this:

from the beginning I have not spoken in secret,

from the time it came to be I have been there.”

And now ^zthe Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit.

17  Thus says the Lord,

your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“I am the Lord your God,

who teaches you to profit,

who leads you in the way you should go.

18  ^aOh that you had paid attention to my commandments!

^bThen your peace would have been like a river,

and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;

19  ^cyour offspring would have been like the sand,

and your descendants like its grains;

their name would never be cut off

or destroyed from before me.”

20  ^dGo out from Babylon, flee from ^eChaldea,

declare this ^fwith a shout of joy, proclaim it,

send it out to the end of the earth;

say, ^g“The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!”

21  ^hThey did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;

ⁱhe made water flow for them from the rock;

he split the rock and the water gushed out.

22  ^j“There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”

1  Listen to me, ^kO coastlands,

and give attention, you peoples ^lfrom afar.

^mThe Lord called me from the womb,

from the body of my mother he named my name.

2  ⁿHe made my mouth like a sharp sword;

^oin the shadow of his hand he hid me;

he made me a polished arrow;

in his quiver he hid me away.

3  And he said to me, “You are my servant,

Israel, ^pin whom I will be glorified.”¹

4  ^qBut I said, “I have labored in vain;

I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;

yet surely my right is with the Lord,

and my recompense with my God.”

5  ^rAnd now the Lord says,

he ^mwho formed me from the womb to be his servant,

to bring Jacob back to him;

and that Israel might be gathered to him—

for ^sI am honored in the eyes of the Lord,

and my God has become my strength—

6  he says:

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant

to raise up the tribes of Jacob

and to bring back the preserved of Israel;

^tI will make you ^uas a light for the nations,

that ^vmy salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

7  Thus says the Lord,

^wthe Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,

^xto one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,

the servant of rulers:

^y“Kings shall see and arise;

princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;

because of the Lord, who is faithful,

the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

8  Thus says the Lord:

^z“In a ^atime of favor I have answered you;

in a day of salvation I have helped you;

I will keep you ^band give you

as a covenant to the people,

to establish the land,

^cto apportion the desolate heritages,

9  ^dsaying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’

to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’

^eThey shall feed along the ways;

on all bare heights shall be their pasture;

10  ^fthey shall not hunger or thirst,

neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them,

for he who has pity on them ^gwill lead them,

and by springs of water will guide them.

11  ^hAnd I will make all my mountains a road,

and my highways shall be raised up.

12  ⁱBehold, these shall come from afar,

and behold, ^jthese from the north and from the west,²

and these from the land of Syene.”³

13  ^kSing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;

break forth, O mountains, into singing!

For the Lord ^lhas comforted his people

and will have compassion on his afflicted.

14  But Zion said, ^m“The Lord has forsaken me;

my Lord has forgotten me.”

15  ⁿ“Can a woman forget her nursing child,

that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?

Even these may forget,

yet I will not forget you.

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

your walls are continually before me.

17  Your builders make haste;⁴

^pyour destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you.

18  ^qLift up your eyes around and see;

they all gather, they come to you.

^rAs I live, declares the Lord,

^syou shall put them all on as an ornament;

you shall bind them on as a bride does.

19  “Surely your waste and your desolate places

and your devastated land—

^tsurely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants,

and those who swallowed you up will be far away.

20  ^uThe children of your bereavement

will yet say in your ears:

^t‘The place is too narrow for me;

make room for me to dwell in.’

21  Then you will say in your heart:

‘Who has borne me these?

^uI was bereaved and barren,

exiled and put away,

but who has brought up these?

Behold, I was left alone;

from where have these come?’”

22  Thus says the Lord God:

“Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations,

^vand raise my signal to the peoples;

^wand they shall bring your sons in their arms,⁵

and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.

23  ^xKings shall be your foster fathers,

and their queens your nursing mothers.

^yWith their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,

and ^zlick the dust of your feet.

Then you will know that I am the Lord;

^athose who wait for me ^bshall not be put to shame.”

24  Can the prey be taken from the mighty,

or the captives of a tyrant⁶ be rescued?

25  For thus says the Lord:

^c“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken,

and the prey of the tyrant be rescued,

for I will contend with those who contend with you,

and I will save your children.

26  ^dI will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,

and they shall be drunk ^ewith their own blood as with wine.

Then all flesh shall know

that ^fI am the Lord your Savior,

and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

1  Thus says the Lord:

“Where is ^gyour mother’s certificate of divorce,

with which ^hI sent her away?

Or ⁱwhich of my creditors is it

to whom I have sold you?

^jBehold, for your iniquities you were sold,

and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

2  ^kWhy, when I came, was there no man;

why, when I called, was there no one to answer?

^lIs my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?

Or have I no power to deliver?

^mBehold, by my rebuke ⁿI dry up the sea,

^oI make the rivers a desert;

^ptheir fish stink for lack of water

and die of thirst.

3  ^qI clothe the heavens with blackness

and make sackcloth their covering.”

4  The Lord God has given ^rme

the tongue of those who are taught,

that ^sI may know how to sustain with a word

^thim who is weary.

Morning by morning he awakens;

he awakens my ear

to hear as those who are taught.

5  ^uThe Lord God has opened my ear,

^vand I was not rebellious;

I turned not backward.

6  ^wI gave my back to those who strike,

and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard;

I hid not my face

from disgrace and spitting.

7  But the Lord God helps me;

therefore I have not been disgraced;

^xtherefore I have set my face like a flint,

and I know that I shall not be put to shame.

8  ^yHe who vindicates me is near.

Who will contend with me?

Let us stand up together.

Who is my adversary?

Let him come near to me.

9  ^zBehold, the Lord God helps me;

who will declare me guilty?

Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;

the moth will eat them up.

10  Who among you fears the Lord

and obeys ^athe voice of his servant?

^bLet him who walks in darkness

and has no light

trust in the name of the Lord

and rely on his God.

11  Behold, all you who kindle a fire,

who equip yourselves with burning torches!

Walk by the light of your fire,

and by the torches that you have kindled!

^cThis you have from my hand:

you shall lie down in torment.

1  Save me, O God!

For ^uthe waters have come up to my neck.¹

2  I sink in deep ^vmire,

where there is no foothold;

I have come into deep waters,

and the flood ^wsweeps over me.

3  ^xI am weary with my crying out;

^ymy throat is parched.

^zMy eyes grow dim

with ^awaiting for my God.

4  ^bMore in number than the hairs of my head

are ^cthose who hate me ^dwithout cause;

mighty are those who would destroy me,

^ethose who attack me with lies.

What I did not steal

must I now restore?

5  O God, you know my folly;

the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

6  Let not those who hope in you ^fbe put to shame through me,

O Lord God of hosts;

let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me,

O God of Israel.

7  For it is ^gfor your sake that I have borne reproach,

that dishonor has covered my face.

8  I have become ^ha stranger to my brothers,

an alien to my mother’s sons.

9  For ⁱzeal for your house has consumed me,

and ^jthe reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

10  When I wept and humbled² my soul with fasting,

it became my reproach.

11  When I made ^ksackcloth my clothing,

I became ^la byword to them.

12  I am the talk of those who ^msit in the gate,

and the drunkards make ⁿsongs about me.

13  But as for me, my ^oprayer is to you, O Lord.

At ^pan acceptable time, O God,

in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.

14  Deliver me

from sinking in ^qthe mire;

^rlet me be delivered from my enemies

and from ^sthe deep waters.

15  Let not the flood sweep over me,

or the deep swallow me up,

or ^tthe pit close ^uits mouth over me.

16  Answer me, O Lord, for your ^vsteadfast love is good;

according to your abundant ^wmercy, ^xturn to me.

17  ^yHide not your face from your servant,

^zfor I am in distress; ^amake haste to answer me.

18  Draw near to my soul, redeem me;

ransom me because of my enemies!

5  ^aA wise man is full of strength,

and a man of knowledge enhances his might,

6  for by ^bwise guidance you can wage your war,

and in ^cabundance of counselors there is victory.