1: Listen, far-flung islands, pay attention, faraway people: GOD put me to work from the day I was born. The moment I entered the world he named me.
2: He gave me speech that would cut and penetrate. He kept his hand on me to protect me. He made me his straight arrow and hid me in his quiver.
3: He said to me, "You're my dear servant, Israel, through whom I'll shine."
4: But I said, "I've worked for nothing. I've nothing to show for a life of hard work. Nevertheless, I'll let GOD have the last word. I'll let him pronounce his verdict."
5: "And now," GOD says, this God who took me in hand from the moment of birth to be his servant, To bring Jacob back home to him, to set a reunion for Israel--What an honor for me in GOD's eyes! That God should be my strength!
6: He says, "But that's not a big enough job for my servant--just to recover the tribes of Jacob, merely to round up the strays of Israel. I'm setting you up as a light for the nations so that my salvation becomes global!"
7: GOD, Redeemer of Israel, The Holy of Israel, says to the despised one, kicked around by the nations, slave labor to the ruling class: "Kings will see, get to their feet--the princes, too--and then fall on their faces in homage Because of GOD, who has faithfully kept his word, The Holy of Israel, who has chosen you."
8: GOD also says: "When the time's ripe, I answer you. When victory's due, I help you. I form you and use you to reconnect the people with me, To put the land in order, to resettle families on the ruined properties.
9: I tell prisoners, "Come on out. You're free!' and those huddled in fear, "It's all right. It's safe now.' There'll be foodstands along all the roads, picnics on all the hills--
10: Nobody hungry, nobody thirsty, shade from the sun, shelter from the wind, For the Compassionate One guides them, takes them to the best springs.
11: I'll make all my mountains into roads, turn them into a superhighway.
12: Look: These coming from far countries, and those, out of the north, These streaming in from the west, and those from all the way down the Nile!"
13: Heavens, raise the roof! Earth, wake the dead! Mountains, send up cheers! GOD has comforted his people. He has tenderly nursed his beaten-up, beaten-down people.
14: But Zion said, "I don't get it. GOD has left me. My Master has forgotten I even exist."
15: "Can a mother forget the infant at her breast, walk away from the baby she bore? But even if mothers forget, I'd never forget you--never.
16: Look, I've written your names on the backs of my hands. The walls you're rebuilding are never out of my sight.
17: Your builders are faster than your wreckers. The demolition crews are gone for good.
18: Look up, look around, look well! See them all gathering, coming to you? As sure as I am the living God"--GOD's Decree--"you're going to put them on like so much jewelry, you're going to use them to dress up like a bride.
19: "And your ruined land? Your devastated, decimated land? Filled with more people than you know what to do with! And your barbarian enemies, a fading memory.
20: The children born in your exile will be saying, "It's getting too crowded here. I need more room.'
21: And you'll say to yourself, "Where on earth did these children come from? I lost everything, had nothing, was exiled and penniless. So who reared these children? How did these children get here?'"
22: The Master, GOD, says: "Look! I signal to the nations, I raise my flag to summon the people. Here they'll come: women carrying your little boys in their arms, men carrying your little girls on their shoulders.
23: Kings will be your babysitters, princesses will be your nursemaids. They'll offer to do all your drudge work--scrub your floors, do your laundry. You'll know then that I am GOD. No one who hopes in me ever regrets it."
24: Can plunder be retrieved from a giant, prisoners of war gotten back from a tyrant?
25: But GOD says, "Even if a giant grips the plunder and a tyrant holds my people prisoner, I'm the one who's on your side, defending your cause, rescuing your children.
26: And your enemies, crazed and desperate, will turn on themselves, killing each other in a frenzy of self-destruction. Then everyone will know that I, GOD, have saved you--I, the Mighty One of Jacob."