From the bowels of my mother hath he mentioned my

name.

2 And he hath made my mouth a sharp sword;

In the shadow of his hand he hath concealed me :
Yea he hath made me a polished shaft;

He hath laid me up in store in his quiver:

3 And he hath said unto me, Thou art my servant; Israel, in whom I will be glorified.

4 And I said: I have laboured in vain ;

For nought, and for vanity, I have spent my strength: Nevertheless my cause is with JEHOVAH;

And the reward of my work with my God.

5 And now thus saith JEHOVAH,

(Who formed me from the womb to be his servant, To bring back again Jacob unto him,

And that Israel unto him may be gathered:

Therefore am I glorious in the eyes of JEHOVAH,
And my God is my strength):

6 It is a small thing for thee, that thou shouldst be my servant,

To raise up the cions of Jacob,

And to restore the branches of Israel :

I will even give thee for a light to the nations,

To be my salvation to the end of the earth.

7 Thus saith JEHOVAH,

8

The redeemer of Israel, his Holy One;

To him, whose person is despised, whom the nation

holds in abhorrence;

To the subject of rulers:

Kings shall see him, and rise up;

Princes, and they shall worship him:

For the sake of JEHOVAH, who is faithful;

Of the Holy One of Israel, for he hath chosen thee.

Thus saith JEHOVAH :

In the season of acceptance have I heard thee,

And in the day of salvation have I helped thee;

And I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people;

To restore the land, to give possession of the desolate heritages.

9 Saying to the bounden, Go forth;

And to those that are in darkness, Appear:

They shall feed beside the ways,

And on all the eminences shall be their pasture. 10 They shall not hunger, neither shall they thirst; Neither shall the glowing heat, or the sun, smite them : For he, that hath compassion on them, shall lead them; And shall guide them to the bursting springs of water. 11 And I will make all my mountains an even way; And my causeways shall be raised on high.

12 Lo! these shall come from afar ;

13

14

And lo! these from the north and the west;
And these from the land of Sinim.

Sing aloud, O ye heavens; and rejoice, O earth;
Ye mountains, burst forth into song:

For JEHOVAH hath comforted his people,

And will have compassion on his afflicted.

But Sion sayeth: JEHOVAH hath forsaken me;
And my Lord hath forgotten me.

15 Can a woman forget her sucking infant;

That she should have no tenderness for the son of her womb?

Even these may forget;

But I will not forget thee.

16 Behold, on the palms of my hands have I delineated

thee:

Thy walls are for ever in my sight.

17 They, that destroyed thee, shall soon become thy builders;

And they, that laid thee waste, shall become thine offspring.

18 Lift up thine eyes around, and see;

All these are gathered together, they come to thee.

As I live, saith JEHOVAH,

Surely thou shalt clothe thyself with them all, as with a rich dress;

And bind them about thee, as a bride her jewels.

19 For thy waste, and thy desolate places,

And thy land laid in ruins ;

Even now it shall be straitened with inhabitants;

And they, that devoured thee, shall be removed far away. 20 The sons, of whom thou wast bereaved, shall yet say in

thine ears,

This place is too strait for me; make room for me, that
I may dwell.

21 And thou shalt say in thine heart: Who hath begotten
me these?

22

I was bereaved of my children, and solitary;

An exile, and an outcast; who then hath nursed these up?

Lo! I was abandoned, and alone; these then, where were they?

Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH:

Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations;
And to the peoples will I exalt my signal;

And they shall bring thy sons in their bosom,

And thy daughters shall be borne on their shoulder:

23 And kings shall be thy foster-fathers,

24

And their queens thy nursing mothers:

With their faces to the earth they shall bow down unto thee,

And shall lick the dust of thy feet.

And thou shalt know that I am JEHOVAH;

And that they, who trust in him, shall not be ashamed.

Shall the spoil be taken away from the mighty? Or shall the prey seized by the terrible be rescued? 25 Yea, thus saith JEHOVAH:

Even the prey of the mighty shall be retaken;

And the spoil seized by the terrible shall be rescued:
For with those that contend with thee, I will contend;
And thy children I will deliver.

26 And I will gorge thine oppressors with their own flesh;
And with their own blood, as with new wine, will I
drench them:

CHAP. 1

L.

And all flesh shall know,

That I JEHOVAH am thy saviour:

And that thy redeemer is the Mighty One of Jacob.

THUS saith JEHOVAH:

Where is this bill of your mother's divorcement,

By which I dismissed her?

Or who is he among my creditors,

To whom I have sold you?

Behold, for your iniquities are ye sold;

And for your transgressions is your mother dismissed.

2 Wherefore came I, and there was no man? Called I, and none answered?

Is then my hand so greatly shortened, that I cannot redeem?

And have I no power to deliver?

Behold, at my rebuke I make dry the sea;

I make the rivers a desert:

Their fish is dried up, because there is no water;
And dieth away for thirst.

3 I clothe the heavens with blackness;

And sackcloth I make their covering.

4 THE Lord JEHOVAH hath given me the tongue of the learned;

That I might know how to speak a seasonable word to the weary.

He wakeneth, morning by morning,

He wakeneth mine ear, to hearken with the attention of a learner.

5 The Lord JEHOVAH hath opened mine ear;

And I was not rebellious;

Neither did I withdraw myself backward.

6 I gave my back to the smiters,

And my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair:
My face I hid not from shame and spitting.

7 For the Lord JEHOVAH is my helper;

Therefore I am not ashamed.

Therefore have I set my face as a flint;

And I know that I shall not be confounded.

8 He that justifieth me is near at hand:

Who is he that will contend with me? let us stand forth together:

Who is mine adversary? let him come on to the contest. 9 Behold, the Lord JEHOVAH is my advocate:

10

Who is he that shall condemn me?

Lo! all of them shall wax old as a garment;
The moth shall consume them.

Who is there among you that feareth JEHOVAH?
Let him hearken unto the voice of his servant :
That walketh in darkness, and hath no light?
Let him trust in the name of JEHOVAH;

And rest himself on the support of his God.

11 Behold, all ye who kindle a fire;
Who heap the fuel round about:
Walk ye in the light of your fire,
And of the fuel which ye have kindled.
This ye shall have at my hand;

CHAP. 1

Ye shall lie down in sorrow.

HEARKEN unto me, ye that pursue righteousness, Ye that seek JEHOVAH.

Look unto the rock, from whence ye were hewn; And to the hollow of the cave, whence ye were digged. 2 Look unto Abraham your father;

and unto Sarah who bore you:

For I called him, being a single person,
And I blessed him, and I multiplied him.
3 Thus therefore shall JEHOVAH console Sion;
He shall console all her desolations :

4

And he shall make her wilderness like Eden;
And her desert like the garden of JEHOVAH :
Joy and gladness shall be found in her;
Thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.

For the law from me shall proceed;

And my judgment will I cause to break forth for a light to the peoples.

5 My righteousness is at hand; my salvation goeth forth; And mine arm shall dispense judgment to the peoples:

Me the distant lands shall expect;

And to mine arm shall they look with confidence.

6 Lift up unto the heavens your eyes;

And look down unto the earth beneath :

Verily the heavens shall dissolve, like smoke;

And the earth shall wax old, like a garment;

And its inhabitants shall perish, like the vilest insect:
But my salvation shall endure for ever;

And my righteousness shall not decay.

Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness;

The people, in whose heart is my law:

Fear not the reproach of wretched man;