< Esias 54 >
1 Rejoice, you barren that bear not; break forth and cry, you that do 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 place of your tent, and of your curtains: fix [the pins], spare not, lengthen your cords, and strengthen your pins;
3 spread forth [your tent] yet to the right and the left: for your seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and you shall make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
4 Fear not, because you has been put to shame, neither be confounded, because you was reproached: for you shall forget your former shame, and shall no more at all remember the reproach of your widowhood.
5 For [it is] the Lord that made you; the Lord of hosts is his name: and he that delivered you, he is the God of Israel, [and] shall be called [so] by the whole earth.
6 The Lord has not called you as a deserted and faint-hearted woman, nor as a woman hated from [her] youth, says your God.
7 For a little while I left you: but with great mercy will I have compassion upon you.
8 In a little wrath I turned away my face from you; but with everlasting mercy will I have compassion upon you, says the Lord that delivers you.
9 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 angry with you, neither when you are threatened,
10 shall the mountains depart, nor shall your hills be removed: so neither shall my mercy fail you, nor shall the covenant of your peace be at all removed: for the Lord [who is] gracious to you has spoken [it].
11 Afflicted and outcast you has not been comforted: behold, I [will] prepare carbuncle [for] your stones, and sapphire for your foundations;
12 and I will make your buttresses jasper, and your gates crystal, and your border precious stones.
13 And [I will cause] all your sons [to be] taught of God, and your children [to be] in great peace.
14 And you shall be built in righteousness: abstain from injustice, and you shall not fear; and trembling shall not come near you.
15 Behold, strangers shall come to you by me, and shall sojourn with you, and shall run to you for refuge.
16 Behold, I have created you, not as the coppersmith blowing coals, and bringing out a vessel [fit] for work; but I have created you, not for ruin, that [I] should destroy [you].
17 I will not suffer any weapon formed against you to prosper; and every voice that shall rise up against you for judgement, you shall vanquish them all; and your adversaries shall be [condemned] thereby. There is an inheritance to them that serve the Lord, and you shall be righteous before me, says the Lord.
A Dove is Sent Forth from the Ark