1 »Sing joyfully, O barren woman, you who never bore a child! Burst into song and shout for joy, you who were never in labor! More are the children of the desolate woman than of the woman, who has a husband,« proclaims Jehovah.

2 »Enlarge the place of your tent. Stretch your tent curtains wide and do not hold back. Lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.

3 »For you will spread out to the right and to the left. Your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.

4 »Do not be afraid. You will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace. You will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.«

5 »For your Maker is your husband. Jehovah of Hosts is his name! The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. He is called the God of all the earth.

6 »Jehovah will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit; a wife, who married young, only to be rejected, says your God.

7 »For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back.

8 »In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,« says Jehovah your Redeemer.

9 »To me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again.

10 »Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,« says Jehovah. »I have compassion on you.«

11 »O afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will build you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with sapphires.

12 »I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.

13 »Your sons will all be taught by Jehovah. Your sons will have an abundance of peace.

14 »You will be established in righteousness. Tyranny will be far from you. You will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed and it will not come near you.

15 »If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing. Whoever attacks you will surrender to you.«

16 »I created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. I also created the destroyer who will work havoc.

17 »Weapons forged against you will not prevail! You will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of Jehovah and this is their vindication from me,« declares Jehovah.