CHAPTER 54
“Shout for joy,
O barren woman,
who bears no children;
break forth
into 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,”
says
the LORD.
“Enlarge
the site
of your tent,
stretch out
the curtains
of your dwellings,
do not
hold back.
Lengthen
your ropes
and drive your stakes deep.
For
you will spread out
to the right
and left;
your descendants
will dispossess
the nations
and inhabit
the desolate
cities.
Do not
be afraid,
for
you will not
be put to shame;
do not
be humiliated,
for
you will not
be disgraced.
For
you will forget
the shame
of your youth,
and remember
no
more
the reproach
of your widowhood.
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
the LORD
has called you back,
like a wife
deserted
and wounded
in spirit,
the wife
of one’s youth
when
she is rejected,”
says
your God.
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.
“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.
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.
“O afflicted city,
lashed by storms,
without
solace,
surely
I
will set
your stones
in antimony
and lay your foundations
with sapphires.
I will make
your pinnacles
of rubies,
your gates
of sparkling
jewels,
and all
your walls
of precious
stones.
In righteousness
you will be established,
far
from oppression,
for
you will have no
fear,
and removed from terror,
for
it will not
come near
you.
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.
No
weapon
formed
against you
shall prosper,
and you will refute
every
tongue
that accuses
you.
This
is the heritage
of the LORD’s
servants,
and their vindication
is from Me,”
declares
the LORD.