1  ^gListen to me, O coastlands,

and give attention, you peoples from afar.

The Lord called me ^hfrom the womb,

from the body of my mother he named my name.

2  He made my mouth like a ⁱsharp sword;

^jin 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 ^kmy servant,

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

4  But 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  And now the Lord says,

he who formed me from the womb to be his servant,

to bring Jacob back to him;

and that Israel might be ^mgathered to him—

for I 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;

ⁿI will make you as a ^olight for the nations,

that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

7  Thus says the Lord,

the ^pRedeemer of Israel and his Holy One,

to one deeply ^qdespised, abhorred by the nation,

the servant of rulers:

^r“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:

^s“In a time of favor I have answered you;

in a day of salvation I have helped you;

I will keep you and ^tgive you

as a covenant to the people,

to establish the land,

to apportion the desolate heritages,

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

to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’

They shall feed along the ways;

on all bare heights shall be their pasture;

10  ^vthey shall not hunger or thirst,

neither scorching wind nor ^wsun shall strike them,

for he who has pity on them will lead them,

and by springs of water will ^xguide them.

11  And I will make all my ^ymountains a road,

and my highways shall be raised up.

12  Behold, these shall come from afar,

and behold, these ^zfrom the north and from the west,²

and these from the land of ^aSyene.”³

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

break forth, O mountains, into singing!

For the Lord has ^ccomforted his people

and will have compassion on his afflicted.

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

my Lord has forgotten me.”

15  “Can a woman forget her nursing child,

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

Even these may forget,

yet ^eI will not forget you.

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

your walls are continually before me.

17  Your builders make haste;⁴

your destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you.

18  ^fLift up your eyes around and see;

they all gather, they come to you.

As I live, declares the Lord,

you 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—

surely now you will be ^gtoo narrow for your inhabitants,

and those who swallowed you up will be far away.

20  The children of your bereavement

will yet say in your ears:

‘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?

I 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,

and ^hraise my signal to the peoples;

and they shall ⁱbring your sons in their arms,⁵

^jand your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.

23  Kings shall be your foster fathers,

and their queens your ^knursing mothers.

With their faces to the ground ^lthey shall bow down to you,

and ^mlick the dust of your feet.

Then you will know that I am the Lord;

those who ⁿwait for me shall 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:

“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  I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,

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

Then all flesh shall know

that I am the Lord ^oyour Savior,

and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

1  Thus says the Lord:

“Where is ^pyour mother’s ^qcertificate of divorce,

^rwith which I sent her away?

Or which of my creditors is it

to whom I have ^ssold you?

Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,

and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

2  Why, when I came, ^twas there no man;

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

^uIs my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?

Or have I no power to deliver?

Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea,

I make the rivers a desert;

their fish stink for lack of water

and die of thirst.

3  I clothe the heavens with blackness

and make ^vsackcloth their covering.”

4  The Lord God has given me

the tongue of those who are taught,

that I may know how to sustain with a word

him who is weary.

Morning by morning he awakens;

he awakens my ear

to hear as those who are taught.

5  The Lord God has opened my ear,

and 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 ^xspitting.

7  But the Lord God helps me;

therefore I have not been disgraced;

therefore I have set my face ^ylike a flint,

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

8  He 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  Behold, the Lord God helps me;

who will declare me guilty?

Behold, all of them will ^zwear out like a garment;

the ^amoth will eat them up.

10  Who among you fears the Lord

and obeys the voice of ^bhis servant?

Let him who walks in darkness

and has no light

^ctrust in the name of the Lord

and ^drely 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!

This you have from my hand:

you shall lie down in torment.

1  “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,

you who seek the Lord:

look to the rock from which you were hewn,

and to the quarry from which you were dug.

2  Look to Abraham your father

and to Sarah who bore you;

for he was but one when I called him,

that I might bless him and multiply him.

3  For the Lord ^ecomforts Zion;

he comforts all her waste places

and ^fmakes her wilderness like ^gEden,

her desert like the ^hgarden of the Lord;

joy and gladness will be found in her,

thanksgiving and the voice of song.

4  “Give attention to me, my people,

and give ear to me, my nation;

for ⁱa law⁷ will go out from me,

and I will set my justice for a ^jlight to the peoples.

5  My ^krighteousness draws near,

my salvation has gone out,

and my arms will judge the peoples;

the coastlands hope for me,

and for my arm they wait.

6  ^lLift up your eyes to the heavens,

and look at the earth beneath;

for ^mthe heavens vanish like smoke,

the earth will wear out like a garment,

and they who dwell in it will die in like manner;⁸

but my salvation will be forever,

and my righteousness will never be dismayed.

7  “Listen to me, you who know righteousness,

the people in whose ⁿheart is my law;

fear not the reproach of man,

nor be dismayed at their revilings.

8  For the ^omoth will eat them up like a garment,

and the worm will eat them like wool,

but my righteousness will be forever,

and my salvation to all generations.”

9  ^pAwake, awake, put on strength,

O arm of the Lord;

awake, as in days of old,

the generations of long ago.

Was it not you who cut ^qRahab in pieces,

who pierced the dragon?

10  Was it not you who dried up the sea,

the waters of the great deep,

who made the depths of the sea a way

for the redeemed to pass over?

11  ^rAnd the ransomed of the Lord shall return

and come to Zion with singing;

everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;

they shall obtain gladness and joy,

and ^ssorrow and sighing shall flee away.

12  “I, I am he who comforts you;

who are you that you are ^tafraid of man who dies,

of the son of man who is made ^ulike grass,

13  and have ^vforgotten the Lord, your Maker,

who ^wstretched out the heavens

and ^xlaid the foundations of the earth,

and you fear continually all the day

because of the wrath of the oppressor,

when he sets himself to destroy?

And where is the wrath of the oppressor?

14  He who is bowed down shall speedily be released;

he shall not die and go down to the pit,

neither shall his bread be lacking.

15  I am the Lord your God,

^ywho stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—

^zthe Lord of hosts is his name.

16  And I have ^aput my words in your mouth

and covered you ^bin the shadow of my hand,

establishing⁹ the heavens

and laying the foundations of the earth,

and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”

17  Wake yourself, wake yourself,

stand up, O Jerusalem,

you who have ^cdrunk from the hand of the Lord

the cup of his wrath,

who have drunk to the dregs

the bowl, the cup of staggering.

18  There is none to guide her

among all the sons she has borne;

there is none to take her by the hand

among all the sons she has brought up.

19  These two things have happened to you—

who will console you?—

devastation and destruction, famine and sword;

who will comfort you?¹⁰

20  Your sons have fainted;

they lie at the head of every street

like an antelope in a net;

they are full of the wrath of the Lord,

the rebuke of your God.

21  Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted,

who are drunk, ^dbut not with wine:

22  Thus says your Lord, the Lord,

your God who ^epleads the cause of his people:

“Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering;

the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more;

23  and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,

who have said to you,

‘Bow down, that we may pass over’;

and you have made your back like the ground

and like the street for them to pass over.”

1  Oh ^msing to the Lord a new song,

for he has done marvelous things!

His right hand and his holy arm

have worked salvation for him.

2  The Lord has ⁿmade known his salvation;

he has ^orevealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.

3  He has ^premembered his steadfast love and faithfulness

to the house of Israel.

All the ends of the earth have ^qseen

the salvation of our God.

4  ^rMake a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;

^sbreak forth into joyous song and sing praises!

5  Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,

with the lyre and the sound of melody!

6  ^tWith trumpets and the sound of the horn

make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord!

7  ^uLet the sea roar, and all that fills it;

^vthe world and those who dwell in it!

8  Let the rivers clap their hands;

let the hills ^wsing for joy together

9  ^xbefore the Lord, for he comes

to judge the earth.

He will judge the world with righteousness,

and the peoples with equity.