New Living Translation NLT
Hebrew Names Version HNV
1 Listen to me, all you in distant lands! Pay attention, you who are far away! The LORD called me before my birth; from within the womb he called me by name.
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Listen, isles, to me; and listen, you peoples, from far: the LORD has called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother has he made mention of my name:
2 He made my words of judgment as sharp as a sword. He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand. I am like a sharp arrow in his quiver.
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and he has made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand has he hid me: and he has made me a polished shaft; in his quiver has he kept me close:
3 He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, and you will bring me glory.”
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and he said to me, You are my servant; Yisra'el, in whom I will be glorified.
4 I replied, “But my work seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose. Yet I leave it all in the LORD ’s hand; I will trust God for my reward.”
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But I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely the justice [due] to me is with the LORD, and my recompense with my God.
5 And now the LORD speaks— the one who formed me in my mother’s womb to be his servant, who commissioned me to bring Israel back to him. The LORD has honored me, and my God has given me strength.
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Now says the LORD who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Ya`akov again to him, and that Yisra'el be gathered to him (for I am honorable in the eyes of the LORD, and my God is become my strength);
6 He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”
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yes, he says, It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Ya`akov, and to restore the preserved of Yisra'el: I will also give you for a light to the Goyim, that you may be my salvation to the end of the eretz.
7 The LORD, the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel, says to the one who is despised and rejected by the nations, to the one who is the servant of rulers: “Kings will stand at attention when you pass by. Princes will also bow low because of the LORD, the faithful one, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
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Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Yisra'el, [and] his Holy One, to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers: Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall worship; because of the LORD who is faithful, [even] the Holy One of Yisra'el, who has chosen you.
8 This is what the LORD says: “At just the right time, I will respond to you. On the day of salvation I will help you. I will protect you and give you to the people as my covenant with them. Through you I will reestablish the land of Israel and assign it to its own people again.
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Thus says the LORD, In an acceptable time have I answered you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you; and I will preserve you, and give you for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritage:
9 I will say to the prisoners, ‘Come out in freedom,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Come into the light.’ They will be my sheep, grazing in green pastures and on hills that were previously bare.
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saying to those who are bound, Go forth; to those who are in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and on all bare heights shall be their pasture.
10 They will neither hunger nor thirst. The searing sun will not reach them anymore. For the LORD in his mercy will lead them; he will lead them beside cool waters.
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They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun strike them: for he who has mercy on them will lead them, even by springs of water will he guide them.
11 And I will make my mountains into level paths for them. The highways will be raised above the valleys.
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I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.
12 See, my people will return from far away, from lands to the north and west, and from as far south as Egypt. ”
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Behold, these shall come from far; and, behold, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.
13 Sing for joy, O heavens! Rejoice, O earth! Burst into song, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on them in their suffering.
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Sing, heavens; and be joyful, eretz; and break forth into singing, mountains: for the LORD has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted.
14 Yet Jerusalem says, “The LORD has deserted us; the Lord has forgotten us.”
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But Tziyon said, the LORD has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me.
15 “Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you!
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Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you.
16 See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands. Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins.
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Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.
17 Soon your descendants will come back, and all who are trying to destroy you will go away.
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Your children make haste; your destroyers and those who made you waste shall go forth from you.
18 Look around you and see, for all your children will come back to you. As surely as I live,” says the LORD, “they will be like jewels or bridal ornaments for you to display.
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Lift up your eyes round about, and see: all these gather themselves together, and come to you. As I live, says the LORD, you shall surely clothe you with them all as with an ornament, and gird yourself with them, like a bride.
19 “Even the most desolate parts of your abandoned land will soon be crowded with your people. Your enemies who enslaved you will be far away.
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For, as for your waste and your desolate places, and your land that has been destroyed, surely now shall you be too small for the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up shall be far away.
20 The generations born in exile will return and say, ‘We need more room! It’s crowded here!’
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The children of your bereavement shall yet say in your ears, The place is too small for me; give place to me that I may dwell.
21 Then you will think to yourself, ‘Who has given me all these descendants? For most of my children were killed, and the rest were carried away into exile. I was left here all alone. Where did all these people come from? Who bore these children? Who raised them for me?’”
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Then shall you say in your heart, Who has conceived these for me, seeing I have been bereaved of my children, and am solitary, an exile, and wandering back and forth? and who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where were they?
22 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “See, I will give a signal to the godless nations. They will carry your little sons back to you in their arms; they will bring your daughters on their shoulders.
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Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and set up my ensign to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
23 Kings and queens will serve you and care for all your needs. They will bow to the earth before you and lick the dust from your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD . Those who trust in me will never be put to shame.”
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Kings shall be your nursing fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers: they shall bow down to you with their faces to the eretz, and lick the dust of your feet; and you shall know that I am the LORD; and those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.
24 Who can snatch the plunder of war from the hands of a warrior? Who can demand that a tyrant let his captives go?
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Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captives be delivered?
25 But the LORD says, “The captives of warriors will be released, and the plunder of tyrants will be retrieved. For I will fight those who fight you, and I will save your children.
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But thus says the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered; for I will contend with him who contends with you, and I will save your children.
26 I will feed your enemies with their own flesh. They will be drunk with rivers of their own blood. All the world will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel. ”
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I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Ya`akov.