Isaiah:49-52

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* Listen , O isles , unto me ; and hearken , ye people , from far ; The LORD hath called me from the womb ; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name . * And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword ; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me , and made me a polished shaft ; in his quiver hath he hid me ; * And said unto me , Thou art my servant , O Israel , in whom I will be glorified . * Then I said , I have laboured in vain , I have spent my strength for nought , and in vain : yet surely my judgment is with the LORD , and my work with my God . * And now , saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant , to bring Jacob again to him , Though Israel be not gathered , yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD , and my God shall be my strength . * And he said , It is a light thing that thou shouldest 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 mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth . * Thus saith the LORD , the Redeemer of Israel , and his Holy One , to him whom man despiseth , to him whom the nation abhorreth , to a servant of rulers , Kings shall see and arise , princes also shall worship , because of the LORD that is faithful , and the Holy One of Israel , and he shall choose thee . * Thus saith the LORD , In an acceptable time have I heard thee , and in a day of salvation have I helped thee : and I will preserve thee , and give thee for a covenant of the people , to establish the earth , to cause to inherit the desolate heritages ; * That thou mayest say to the prisoners , Go forth ; to them that are in darkness , Shew yourselves . They shall feed in the ways , and their pastures shall be in all high places . * They shall not hunger nor thirst ; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them : for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them , even by the springs of water shall he guide them . * And I will make all my mountains a way , and my highways shall be exalted . * Behold , 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 the LORD hath comforted his people , and will have mercy upon his afflicted . * But Zion said , The LORD hath forsaken me , and my Lord hath forgotten me . * Can a woman forget her sucking child , that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb ? yea , they may forget , yet will I not forget thee . * Behold , I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands ; thy walls are continually before me . * Thy children shall make haste ; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee . * Lift up thine eyes round about , and behold : all these gather themselves together , and come to thee . As I live , saith the LORD , thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all , as with an ornament , and bind them on thee , as a bride doeth . * For thy waste and thy desolate places , and the land of thy destruction , shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants , and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away . * The children which thou shalt have , after thou hast lost the other , shall say again in thine ears , The place is too strait for me : give place to me that I may dwell . * Then shalt thou say in thine heart , Who hath begotten me these , seeing I have lost my children , and am desolate , a captive , and removing to and fro ? and who hath brought up these ? Behold , I was left alone ; these , where had they been ? * Thus saith the Lord GOD , Behold , I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles , and set up my standard to the people : and they shall bring thy sons in their arms , 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 face toward the earth , and lick up the dust of thy feet ; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD : for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me . * Shall the prey be taken from the mighty , or the lawful captive delivered ? * But thus saith 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 that contendeth with thee , and I will save thy children . * And I will feed them that 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 the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer , the mighty One of Jacob . * Thus saith the LORD , Where is the bill of your mother 's divorcement , whom I have put away ? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you ? Behold , for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves , and for your transgressions is your mother put away . * Wherefore , when I came , was there no man ? when I called , was there none to answer ? Is my hand shortened at all , that it cannot redeem ? or have I no power to deliver ? behold , at my rebuke I dry up the sea , I make the rivers a wilderness : their fish stinketh , because there is no water , and dieth for thirst . * I clothe the heavens with blackness , and I make sackcloth their covering . * The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned , that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary : he wakeneth morning by morning , he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned . * The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear , and I was not rebellious , neither turned away back . * I gave my back to the smiters , and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair : I hid not my face from shame and spitting . * For the Lord GOD will help me ; therefore shall I not be confounded : therefore have I set my face like a flint , and I know that I shall not be ashamed . * He is near that justifieth me ; who will contend with me ? let us stand together : who is mine adversary ? let him come near to me . * Behold , the Lord GOD will help me ; who is he that shall condemn me ? lo , they all shall wax old as a garment ; the moth shall eat them up . * Who is among you that feareth the LORD , that obeyeth the voice of his servant , that walketh in darkness , and hath no light ? let him trust in the name of the LORD , and stay upon his God . * Behold , all ye that kindle a fire , that compass yourselves about with sparks : walk in the light of your fire , and in the sparks that ye have kindled . This shall ye have of mine hand ; ye shall lie down in sorrow . * Hearken to me , ye that follow after righteousness , ye that seek the LORD : look unto the rock whence ye are hewn , and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged . * Look unto Abraham your father , and unto Sarah that bare you : for I called him alone , and blessed him , and increased him . * For the LORD shall comfort Zion : he will comfort all her waste places ; and he will make her wilderness like Eden , and her desert like the garden of the LORD ; joy and gladness shall be found therein , thanksgiving , and the voice of melody . * Hearken unto me , my people ; and give ear unto me , O my nation : for a law shall proceed from me , and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people . * My righteousness is near ; my salvation is gone forth , and mine arms shall judge the people ; the isles shall wait upon me , and on mine arm shall they trust . * Lift up your eyes to the heavens , and look upon the earth beneath : for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke , and the earth shall wax old like a garment , and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner : but my salvation shall be for ever , and my righteousness shall not be abolished . * Hearken unto me , ye that know righteousness , the people in whose heart is my law ; fear ye not the reproach of men , neither be ye afraid of their revilings . * For the moth shall eat them up like a garment , and the worm shall eat them like wool : but my righteousness shall be for ever , and my salvation from generation to generation . * Awake , awake , put on strength , O arm of the LORD ; awake , as in the ancient days , in the generations of old . Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab , and wounded the dragon ? * Art thou not it which hath dried the sea , the waters of the great deep ; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over ? * Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return , and come with singing unto Zion ; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head : they shall obtain gladness and joy ; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away . * I , even I , am he that comforteth you : who art thou , that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die , and of the son of man which shall be made as grass ; * And forgettest the LORD thy maker , that hath stretched forth the heavens , and laid the foundations of the earth ; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor , as if he were ready to destroy ? and where is the fury of the oppressor ? * The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed , and that he should not die in the pit , nor that his bread should fail . * But I am the LORD thy God , that divided the sea , whose waves roared : The LORD of hosts is his name . * And I have put my words in thy mouth , and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand , that I may plant the heavens , and lay the foundations of the earth , and say unto Zion , Thou art my people . * Awake , awake , stand up , O Jerusalem , which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury ; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling , and wrung them out . * There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth ; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up . * These two things are come unto thee ; who shall be sorry for thee ? desolation , and destruction , and the famine , and the sword : by whom shall I comfort thee ? * Thy sons have fainted , they lie at the head of all the streets , as a wild bull in a net : they are full of the fury of the LORD , the rebuke of thy God . * Therefore hear now this , thou afflicted , and drunken , but not with wine : * Thus saith thy Lord the LORD , and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people , Behold , I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling , even the dregs of the cup of my fury ; thou shalt no more drink it again : * But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee ; which have said to thy soul , Bow down , that we may go over : and thou hast laid thy body as the ground , and as the street , to them that went over . * Awake , awake ; put on thy strength , O Zion ; put on thy beautiful garments , O Jerusalem , the holy city : for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean . * Shake thyself from the dust ; arise , and sit down , O Jerusalem : loose thyself from the bands of thy neck , O captive daughter of Zion . * For thus saith the LORD , Ye have sold yourselves for nought ; and ye shall be redeemed without money . * For thus saith the Lord GOD , My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there ; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause . * Now therefore , what have I here , saith the LORD , that my people is taken away for nought ? they that rule over them make them to howl , saith the LORD ; and my name continually every day is blasphemed . * Therefore my people shall know my name : therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak : behold , it is I . * How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings , that publisheth peace ; that bringeth good tidings of good , that publisheth salvation ; that saith unto Zion , Thy God reigneth ! * Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice ; with the voice together shall they sing : for they shall see eye to eye , when the LORD shall bring again Zion . * Break forth into joy , sing together , ye waste places of Jerusalem : for the LORD hath comforted his people , he hath redeemed Jerusalem . * The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations ; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God . * Depart ye , depart ye , go ye out from thence , touch no unclean thing ; go ye out of the midst of her ; be ye clean , that bear the vessels of the LORD . * For ye shall not go out with haste , nor go by flight : for the LORD will go before you ; and the God of Israel will be your rereward . * Behold , my servant shall deal prudently , he shall be exalted and extolled , and be very high . * As many were astonied at thee ; his visage was so marred more than any man , and his form more than the sons of men : * So shall he sprinkle many nations ; the kings shall shut their mouths at him : for that which had not been told them shall they see ; and that which they had not heard shall they consider . * Who hath believed our report ? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed ?

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