1. Listen to Me, O coastlands, and hear, you peoples from afar! יהוה has called Me from the womb, from My mother’s belly He has caused My Name to be remembered.
2. And He made My mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of His hand He hid Me, and made Me a polished shaft. In His quiver He hid Me.”
3. And He said to Me, ‘You are My servant, O Yisra’ĕl, in whom I am adorned.’
4. And I said, ‘I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for emptiness, and in vain. But my right-ruling is with יהוה, and my work with my Elohim.’ ”
5. And now said יהוה – who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Ya‛aqoḇ back to Him, though Yisra’ĕl is not gathered to Him, yet I am esteemed in the eyes of יהוה, and My Elohim has been My strength –
6. and He says, “Shall it be a small matter for You to be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Ya‛aqoḇ, and to bring back the preserved ones of Yisra’ĕl? And I shall give You as a light to the gentiles, to be My deliverance to the ends of the earth!”
7. Thus said יהוה, the Redeemer of Yisra’ĕl, their Set-apart One, to the despised, to the loathed One of the nation, to the Servant of rulers, “Sovereigns shall see and arise, rulers also shall bow themselves, because of יהוה who is steadfast, the Set-apart One of Yisra’ĕl. And He has chosen You!”
8. Thus said יהוה, “In a favourable time I shall answer You, and in the day of deliverance I shall help You – and I guard You and give You for a covenant of the people, to restore the earth, to cause them to inherit the ruined inheritances,
9. to say to the prisoners, ‘Go out,’ to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ “Let them feed on the ways, and let their pasture be on all bare hills.
10. “They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither heat or sun strike them, for He who has compassion on them shall lead them, even by fountains of water guide them.
11. “And I shall make all My mountains a way, and My highways raised up.
12. “See, these come from far away, and see, those from the north and the west, and these from the land of Sinim.”
13. Sing, O heavens, rejoice, O earth! And break out in singing, O mountains! For יהוה shall comfort His people and have compassion on His afflicted ones.
14. But Tsiyon says, “יהוה has forsaken me, and יהוה has forgotten me.”
15. “Would a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Though they forget, I never forget you.