5. Now says the Lord,who formed me from the womb to be His servant,to bring Jacob back to Him,so that Israel might be gathered to Him(yet I am honored in the eyes of the Lord,and my God is my strength),
6. He says,“It is a light thing that you should be My servantto raise up the tribes of Jacoband to restore the preserved ones of Israel;I will also make you a light to the nationsso that My salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
7. Thus says the Lord,the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One,to the despised one, to the one whom the nation abhors,to the servant of rulers:“Kings shall see and arise,princes also shall worship,because of the Lord who is faithfuland the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.”
8. Thus says the Lord: In an acceptable time I have heard you,and in a day of salvation I have helped you;and I will preserve you, and give youas a covenant of the people,to restore the earth,to make them inherit the desolate heritages,
9. saying to the prisoners, “Go forth,”to those who are in darkness, “Show yourselves.” They shall feed along the paths,and their pastures shall be in all desolate heights;
10. they shall not hunger nor thirst,neither shall the heat nor sun strike them;for He who has mercy on them shall lead them,even by the springs of water He shall guide them.
11. I will make all My mountains a road,and My highways shall be raised up.
12. See, these shall come from afar;and these will come from the north and from the west,and these from the land of Sinim.
13. Sing, O heavens!And be joyful, O earth!And break forth into singing, Omountains!For the Lord has comforted His peopleand will have mercy on His afflicted.
14. But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,and the Lord has forgotten me.”
15. Can a woman forget her nursing child,and have no compassion on the son of her womb?Even these may forget,yet I will not forget.
16. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;your walls are continually before Me;
17. your builders hurry;your destroyers and those who devastated you shall depart from you.
18. Lift up your eyes and look all around;all these gather themselves together and come to you.As I live, says the Lord,you shall surely put on all of them as ornamentsand bind them on you as a bride does.
19. For your waste and your desolate places,and the land of your destruction,shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants,and those who swallowed you up shall be far away.
20. The children whom you shall have, after you have lost the others, shall say again in your ears,“The place is too cramped for me;make room for me that I may dwell here.”
21. Then you shall say in your heart,“Who bore these for me,since I have lost my children and am barren,a captive and a wanderer?And who has brought these up?I was left alone;from where did these come?”