1 Listen to Me, O coastlands; and give attention, you people from afar; Jehovah has called Me from the womb; from My mothers belly He has made mention of My name.2 And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand He has hidden Me, and made Me a polished shaft. He has hidden Me in His quiver,3 and said to Me, You are My servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.4 Then I said, I have labored in vain; I have spent My strength for nothing, and in vain; yet surely My just due is with Jehovah, and My work with My God.5 And now, says Jehovah who formed Me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him: Though Israel is not gathered, yet I shall be glorious in the eyes of Jehovah, and My God shall be My strength.6 And He said, It is but a little thing that You should be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to bring back the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You for a light to the nations, to be My salvation to the ends of the earth.7 Thus says Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One, to Him whom man despises, to Him whom the nation loathes, the Servant of rulers: Kings shall see and arise, rulers also shall bow down, because of Jehovah who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, and He shall choose You.8 Thus says Jehovah: In a favorable time I have answered You, and in a day of salvation I have helped You; and I will preserve You, and give You as a covenant to the people, to establish the earth, to cause them to inherit the desolate possessions;9 that You may say to the prisoners, Go out! To those who are in darkness, Show yourselves! They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be on all the barren heights.10 They shall not hunger nor thirst; nor shall the heat nor sun strike them; for He who has mercy on them will lead them; even by the springs of water He will guide them.11 And I will make all My mountains a way, and My highways shall be elevated.12 Behold, these shall come from afar; and, lo, those from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.13 Sing, O heavens! Be joyful, O earth! And break out into singing, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted His people, and will have mercy on His afflicted.14 But Zion said, Jehovah has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me.15 Can a woman forget her nursing infant, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Indeed, they may forget; yet I will not forget you.16 Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands; your walls are perpetually before Me.17 Your children shall make haste; those destroying you and laying waste to you shall go out from you.18 Lift up your eyes all around and see; they all gather and come to you. As I live, says Jehovah, you shall surely wear them as an ornament, and bind them on you as a bride does.19 For your waste and desolate places, and the land of your destruction, shall even now be too constricted to dwell there, and those who swallowed you up shall be far away.20 The sons of your bereavement shall yet say in your ears, The place is too narrow for me; let a place come to me so that I may have room to dwell.21 Then you shall say in your heart, Who has begotten these for me, since I am bereaved, and desolate, removed into exile. And who has raised up these? Behold, I was left alone. But these, where were they?22 Thus says the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations, and set up My banner to the people; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.23 And kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your wet nurses. They shall bow down to you, with faces to the earth, and lick up the dust of your feet. And you shall know that I am Jehovah; for they who wait for Me shall not be ashamed.24 Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?25 But thus says Jehovah, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the ruthless shall escape. For I will contend with him who contends with you, and I will save your children.26 And I will feed those who oppress you, with their own flesh; and they shall be drunk with their own blood, as with sweet wine; and all flesh shall know that I, Jehovah, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
1 Ilis, here ye, and puplis afer, perseyue ye; the Lord clepide me fro the wombe, he thouyte on my name fro the wombe of my modir.2 And he hath set my mouth as a scharp swerd, he defendide me in the schadewe of his hond, and settide me as a chosun arowe; he hidde me in his arowe caas,3 and seide to me, Israel, thou art my seruaunt, for Y schal haue glorie in thee.4 And Y seide, Y trauelide in veyn, Y wastide my strengthe with out cause, and veynli; therfor my doom is with the Lord, and my werk is with my God.5 And now the Lord, formynge me a seruaunt to hym silf fro the wombe, seith these thingis, that Y brynge ayen Jacob to hym. And Israel schal not be gaderid togidere; and Y am glorified in the iyen of the Lord, and my God is maad my strengthe.6 And he seyde, It is litil, that thou be a seruaunt to me, to reise the lynages of Jacob, and to conuerte the drastis of Israel; Y yaf thee in to the liyt of hethene men, that thou be myn helthe `til to the laste part of erthe.7 The Lord, ayenbiere of Israel, the hooli therof, seith these thingis to a dispisable soule, and to a folk had in abhomynacioun, to the seruaunt of lordis, Kyngis schulen se, and princes schulen rise togidere, and schulen worschipe, for the Lord, for he is feithful, and for the hooli of Israel, that chees thee.8 The Lord seith these thingis, In a plesaunt tyme Y herde thee, and in the dai of helthe Y helpide thee; and Y kepte thee, and yaf thee in to a bonde of pees of the puple, that thou schuldist reise the erthe, and haue in possessioun eritagis, `that ben distried;9 that thou schuldist seie to hem that ben boundun, Go ye out, and to hem that ben in derknessis, Be ye schewid. Thei schulen be fed on weies, and the lesewis of hem schulen be in alle pleyn thingis.10 Thei schulen not hungre, and thei schulen no more thirste, and heete, and the sunne schal not smyte hem; for the merciful doere of hem schal gouerne hem, and schal yyue drynk to hem at the wellis of watris.11 And Y schal sette alle myn hillis in to weie, and my pathis schulen be enhaunsid.12 Lo! these men schulen come fro fer, and lo! thei schulen come fro the north, and see, and these fro the south lond.13 Heuenes, herie ye, and, thou erthe, make ful out ioie; hillis, synge ye hertli heriyng; for the Lord coumfortide his puple, and schal haue merci on hise pore men.14 And Syon seide, The Lord hath forsake me, and the Lord hath foryete me.15 Whether a womman may foryete hir yonge child, that sche haue not merci on the sone of hir wombe? thouy sche foryetith, netheles Y schal not foryete thee.16 Lo! Y haue write thee in myn hondis; thi wallis ben euer bifore myn iyen.17 The bilderis ben comun; thei that distrien thee, and scateren, schulen go awei fro thee.18 Reise thin iyen in cumpas, and se; alle these men ben gaderid togidere, thei ben comun to thee. Y lyue, seith the Lord, for thou schalt be clothid with alle these as with an ournement, and thou as a spousesse schalt bynde hem to thee.19 For whi thi desertis, and thi wildirnessis, and the lond of thi fallyng now schulen be streit for enhabiteris; and thei schulen be dryuun awei fer, that swolewiden thee.20 Yit the sones of thi bareynesse schulen seie in thin eeris, The place is streit to me, make thou a space to me for to dwelle.21 And thou schalt seie in thin herte, Who gendride these sones to me? Y am bareyn, not berynge child; Y am led ouer, and prisoner; and who nurschide these sones? Y am destitute, and aloone; and where weren these?22 The Lord God seith these thingis, Lo! Y reise myn hond to hethene men, and Y schal enhaunce my signe to puplis; and thei schulen brynge thi sones in armes, and thei schulen bere thi douytris on shuldris.23 And kingis shulen be thi nurseris, and quenys shulen be thi nursis; with cheer cast doun in to erthe thei schulen worschipe thee, and thei schulen licke the dust of thi feet; and thou schalt wite, that Y am the Lord, on whom thei schulen not be schent, that abiden hym.24 Whether prey schal be takun awei fro a strong man? ether that that is takun of a stalworthe man, mai be saaf?25 For the Lord seith these thingis, Sotheli and caitifte schal be takun awey fro the stronge man, and that that is takun awei of a stalworthe man, schal be saued. Forsothe Y schal deme hem, that demyden thee, and Y schal saue thi sones.26 And Y schal fede thin enemyes with her fleischis, and thei schulen be greetli fillid with her blood as with must; and eche man schal wite, that Y am the Lord, sauynge thee, and thin ayenbiere, the strong of Jacob.