| New Living Translation | Christian Standard Bible |
| 1Listen 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. | 1Coasts and islands, listen to me; distant peoples, pay attention. The LORD called me before I was born. He named me while I was in my mother's womb. |
| 2He 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. | 2He made my words like a sharp sword; he hid me in the shadow of his hand. He made me like a sharpened arrow; he hid me in his quiver. |
| 3He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, and you will bring me glory.” | 3He said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified." |
| 4I 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.” | 4But I myself said: I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and futility; yet my vindication is with the LORD, and my reward is with my God. |
| 5And 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. | 5And now, says the LORD, who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him so that Israel might be gathered to him; for I am honored in the sight of the LORD, and my God is my strength-- |
| 6He 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.” | 6he says, "It is not enough for you to be my servant raising up the tribes of Jacob and restoring the protected ones of Israel. I will also make you a light for the nations, to be my salvation to the ends of the earth." |
| 7The 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.” Promises of Israel’s Restoration | 7This is what the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, says to one who is despised, to one abhorred by people, to a servant of rulers: "Kings will see, princes will stand up, and they will all bow down because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel--and he has chosen you." |
| 8This 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. | 8This is what the LORD says: I will answer you in a time of favor, and I will help you in the day of salvation. I will keep you, and I will appoint you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land, to make them possess the desolate inheritances, |
| 9I 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. | 9saying to the prisoners: Come out, and to those who are in darkness: Show yourselves. They will feed along the pathways, and their pastures will be on all the barren heights. |
| 10They 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. | 10They will not hunger or thirst, the scorching heat or sun will not strike them; for their compassionate one will guide them, and lead them to springs. |
| 11And I will make my mountains into level paths for them. The highways will be raised above the valleys. | 11I will make all my mountains into a road, and my highways will be raised up. |
| 12See, my people will return from far away, from lands to the north and west, and from as far south as Egypt. ” | 12See, these will come from far away, from the north and from the west, and from the land of Sinim. |
| 13Sing 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. | 13Shout for joy, you heavens! Earth, rejoice! Mountains break into joyful shouts! For the LORD has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. |
| 14Yet Jerusalem says, “The LORD has deserted us; the Lord has forgotten us.” | 14Zion says, "The LORD has abandoned me; 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! | 15"Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the child of her womb? Even if these forget, yet I will not forget you. |
| 16See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands. Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins. | 16Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me. |
| 17Soon your descendants will come back, and all who are trying to destroy you will go away. | 17Your builders hurry; those who destroy and devastate you will leave you. |
| 18Look 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. | 18Look up, and look around. They all gather together; they come to you. As I live"--this is the LORD's declaration--"you will wear all your children as jewelry, and put them on as a bride does. |
| 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. | 19For your waste and desolate places and your land marked by ruins--will now be indeed too small for the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away. |
| 20The generations born in exile will return and say, ‘We need more room! It’s crowded here!’ | 20Yet as you listen, the children that you have been deprived of will say, 'This place is too small for me; make room for me so that I may settle.' |
| 21Then 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?’” | 21Then you will say within yourself, 'Who fathered these for me? I was deprived of my children and unable to conceive, exiled and wandering--but who brought them up? See, I was left by myself--but these, where did they come from?'" |
| 22This 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. | 22This is what the Lord GOD says: Look, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and raise my banner to the peoples. They will bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders. |
| 23Kings 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.” | 23Kings will be your guardians and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down to you with their faces to the ground and lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who put their hope in me will not be put to shame. |
| 24Who can snatch the plunder of war from the hands of a warrior? Who can demand that a tyrant let his captives go? | 24Can the prey be taken from a mighty man, or the captives of a tyrant be delivered? |
| 25But 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. | 25For this is what the LORD says: "Even the captives of a mighty man will be taken, and the prey of a tyrant will be delivered; I will contend with the one who contends with you, and I will save your children. |
| 26I 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. ” | 26I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they will be drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine. Then all people will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob." |
| Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. | The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. |
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