Israel a light to the nations
  that Israel should be gathered to him, ^note
  now the Lord calls me again: ^note
   6   it is too slight a task for you, as my servant,
  to restore the tribes of Jacob,
    to bring back the descendants of Israel:
  I will make you a light to the nations,
  to be my salvation ^note to earth's farthest bounds.


   7   Thus says the Holy One, the Lord who ransoms Israel,
    to one who thinks little of himself, ^note
    whom every nation abhors,
    the slave of tyrants:
  When they see you kings shall rise,
  princes shall rise and bow down,
  because of the Lord who is faithful,
because of the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.


   8   Thus says the Lord:
    In the hour of my favour I answered you,
    and I helped you on the day of deliverance, ^note
    putting the land to rights
  and sharing out afresh its desolate fields;
   9   I said to the prisoners, ‘Go free’,
  and to those in darkness, ‘Come out and be seen.’
  They shall find pasture in the desert sands ^note
  and grazing on all the dunes.
     10   They shall neither hunger nor thirst,
  no scorching heat or sun shall distress them;
    for one who loves them shall lead them
    and take them to water at bubbling springs.
   11   I will make every hill a path
    and build embankments for my highways.
12   See, they come; some from far away,
these from the north and these from the west
    and those from the land of Syene. ^note
13   Shout for joy, you heavens, rejoice, O earth,
  you mountains, break into songs of triumph,
  for the Lord has comforted his people
    and has had pity on his own in their distress.

Israel a light to the nations

     14   But Zion says,
‘The Lord has forsaken me; my God ^note has forgotten me.’
   15   Can a woman forget the infant at her breast,
  or a loving mother the child of her womb?
Even these forget, yet I will not forget you.
   16   Your walls are always before my eyes,
  I have engraved them on the palms of my hands.
   17   Those who are to rebuild you make better speed
    than those who pulled you down,
  while those who laid you waste depart.
   18   Raise your eyes and look around you:
see how they assemble, how they are flocking back to you.
    By my life I, the Lord, swear it,
  you shall wear them proudly as your jewels,
    and adorn yourself with them like a bride;
   19   I did indeed make you waste and desolate,
    I razed you to the ground,
  but your boundaries ^note shall now be too narrow
  for your inhabitants—
  and those who laid you in ruins are far away.
20   The children born in your bereavement shall yet say in your hearing,
‘This place is too narrow; make room for me to live in.’
   21   Then you will say to yourself,
  ‘All these children, how did I come by them,
  bereaved and barren as I was? ^note
  Who reared them
  when I was left alone, left by myself;
  where did I get them all?’


   22   The Lord God says,
Now is the time: I will beckon to the nations
  and hoist a signal to the peoples,
  and they shall bring your sons in their arms
  and carry your daughters on their shoulders;
   23   kings shall be your foster-fathers
    and their princesses shall be your nurses.
They shall bow to the earth before you
    and lick the dust from your feet;
  and you shall know that I am the Lord
  and that none who look to me will be disappointed.
   24   Can his prey be taken from the strong man,

Israel a light to the nations
  or the captive be rescued from the ruthless ^note?
     25   And the Lord answers,
  The captive shall be taken even from the strong,
    and the prey of the ruthless shall be rescued;
  I will contend with all who contend against you
    and save your children from them.
26   I will force your oppressors to feed on their own flesh
and make them drunk with their own blood as if with fresh wine,
    and all mankind shall know
  that it is I, the Lord, who save you,
    I your ransomer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

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