Isaiah 54
1 “Shout for joy, O barren woman, who bears no children; break forth in song and cry aloud, you who have never travailed; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,”
Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that dost not travail: for more are the children of the desolate than of her that has a husband: for the Lord has said,
2 “Enlarge the site of your tent, stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, do not hold back. Lengthen your ropes and drive your stakes in deep.
Enlarge the place of thy tent, and of thy curtains: fix [the pins], spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy pins;
3 For you will spread out to the right and left; your descendants will dispossess the nations and inhabit the desolate cities.
spread forth [thy tent] yet to the right and the left: for thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and thou shalt make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
4 Do not be afraid, for you will not be put to shame; do not be intimidated, for you will not be humiliated. For you will forget the shame of your youth and will remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.
Fear not, because thou has been put to shame, neither be confounded, because thou was reproached: for thou shalt forget thy former shame, and shalt no more at all remember the reproach of thy widowhood.
5 For your husband is your Maker— the LORD of Hosts is His name— the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth.
For [it is] the Lord that made thee; the Lord of hosts is his name: and he that delivered thee, he is the God of Israel, [and] shall be called [so] by the whole earth.
6 For the LORD has called you back, like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit, like the rejected wife of one’s youth,” says your God.
The Lord has not called thee as a deserted and faint-hearted woman, nor as a woman hated from [her] youth, saith thy God.
7 “For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will bring you back.
For a little while I left thee: but with great mercy will I have compassion upon thee.
8 In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD your Redeemer.
In a little wrath I turned away my face from thee; but with everlasting mercy will I have compassion upon thee, saith the Lord that delivers thee.
9 “For to Me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you or rebuke you.
From the time of the water of Noe this is my [purpose]: as I sware to him at that time, [saying] of the earth, I will no more be wroth with thee, neither when thou art threatened,
10 Though the mountains may be removed and the hills may be shaken, My loving devotion will not depart from you, and My covenant of peace will not be broken,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.
shall the mountains depart, nor shall thy hills be removed: so neither shall my mercy fail thee, nor shall the covenant of thy peace be at all removed: for the Lord [who is] gracious to thee has spoken [it].
11 “O afflicted city, lashed by storms, without solace, surely I will set your stones in antimony and lay your foundations with sapphires.
Afflicted and outcast thou has not been comforted: behold, I [will] prepare carbuncle [for] thy stones, and sapphire for thy foundations;
12 I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.
and I will make thy buttresses jasper, and thy gates crystal, and thy border precious stones.
13 Then all your sons will be taught by the LORD, and great will be their prosperity.
And [I will cause] all thy sons [to be] taught of God, and thy children [to be] in great peace.
14 In righteousness you will be established, far from oppression, for you will have no fear. Terror will be far removed, for it will not come near you.
And thou shalt be built in righteousness: abstain from injustice, and thou shalt not fear; and trembling shall not come nigh thee.
15 If anyone attacks you, it is not from Me; whoever assails you will fall before you.
Behold, strangers shall come to thee by me, and shall sojourn with thee, and shall run to thee for refuge.
16 Behold, I have created the craftsman who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its task; and I have created the destroyer to wreak havoc.
Behold, I have created thee, not as the coppersmith blowing coals, and bringing out a vessel [fit] for work; but I have created thee, not for ruin, that [I] should destroy [thee].
17 No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me,”
I will not suffer any weapon formed against thee to prosper; and every voice that shall rise up against thee for judgment, thou shalt vanquish them all; and thine adversaries shall be [condemned] thereby. There is an inheritance to them that serve the Lord, and ye shall be righteous before me, saith the Lord.
A Dove is Sent Forth from the Ark
