Isaiah:49

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* Listen , O isles , to me , and hearken , ye peoples from far . LORD has called me from the womb . From the bowels of my mother he has made mention of my name . * And he has made my mouth like a sharp sword . He has hid me in the shadow of his hand , and he has made me a polished shaft . He has kept me close in his quiver . * And he said to me , Thou are my servant , Israel , in whom I will be glorified . * 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 LORD , and my recompense with my God . * And now says LORD who formed me from the womb to be his servant , to bring Jacob again to him , and that Israel be gathered to him (for I am honorable in the eyes of LORD , and my God has become my strength ), * yea , he says , It is too light a thing that thou should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob , and to restore the preserved of Israel . I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles , that thou may be my salvation to the e * Thus says LORD , the Redeemer of Israel , [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 , rulers , and they shall worship , because of LORD who is faithful * Thus says LORD , In an acceptable time I have heard thee , and in a day of salvation I have helped thee . And I will preserve thee , and give thee for a covenant of the people , to raise up the land , to make them inherit the desolate he * saying to those who are bound , Go forth to those who are in darkness . Show yourselves . They shall feed in the ways , and their pasture shall be on all bare heights . * They shall not hunger nor thirst , neither shall the heat nor sun smite them . For he who has mercy on them will lead them . He will guide them even by springs of water . * And I will make all my mountains a way , and my highways shall be exalted . * Lo , these shall come from far , and , lo , these from the north and from the west , and these from the land of Sinim . * Sing , O heavens , and be joyful , O earth , and break forth into singing , O mountains . For LORD has comforted his people , and will have compassion upon his afflicted . * But Zion said , LORD has forsaken me , and LORD has forgotten me . * Can a woman forget her sucking child , that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb ? Yea , these may forget , yet I will not forget thee . * Behold , I have engraved thee upon the palms of my hands . Thy walls are continually before me . * Thy sons make haste . Thy destroyers and those who made thee waste shall go forth from thee . * Lift up thine eyes round about , and behold . All these gather themselves together , and come to thee . As I live , says LORD , thou shall surely clothe thee with them all , as with an ornament , and gird thyself with them , like a bride . * For , as for thy waste and thy desolate places , and thy land that has been destroyed , surely now thou shall be too narrow for the inhabitants , and those who swallowed thee up shall be far away . * The sons of thy bereavement shall yet say in thine ears , The place is too narrow for me . Give a place to me that I may dwell . * Then thou shall say in thy heart , Who has begotten these for me , seeing I have been bereaved of my sons , and am solitary , an exile , and wandering to and fro ? And who has brought up these ? Behold , I was left alone , these , where were * Thus says lord LORD : Behold , I will lift up my hand to the nations , and set up my ensign to the peoples . And they shall bring thy sons in their bosom , and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders . * And kings shall be thy nursing fathers , and their queens thy nursing mothers . They shall bow down to thee with their faces to the earth , and lick the dust of thy feet . And thou shall know that I am LORD , and those who wait for me s * Shall the prey be taken from the mighty , or the lawful captives be delivered ? * But thus says 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 thee , and I will save thy sons . * And I will feed those who oppress thee with their own flesh . And they shall be drunken with their own blood , as with sweet wine . And all flesh shall know that I , LORD , am thy Savior and thy Redeemer , the Mighty One of Jacob .

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