Restoration of Israel

       This is what THE LORD says:

       "In the time of MY favor I will answer you,

          and in the day of salvation I will help you;

       I will keep you and will make you

          to be a covenant for the people,

       to restore the land

          and to reassign its desolate inheritances,

       to say to the captives, 'Come out,'

          and to those in darkness, 'Be free!'

       "They will feed beside the roads

          and find pasture on every barren hill.

       They will neither hunger nor thirst,

          nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them.

       HE who has compassion on them will guide them

          and lead them beside springs of water.

       I will turn all MY mountains into roads,

          and MY highways will be raised up.

       See, they will come from afar--

          some from the north, some from the west,

          some from the region of Aswan."

       Shout for joy, O heavens;

          rejoice, O earth;

          burst into song, O mountains!

       For THE LORD comforts HIS people

          and will have compassion on HIS afflicted ones.

       But Zion said, "THE LORD has forsaken me,

          THE LORD has forgotten me."

       "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast

          and have no compassion on the child she has borne?

       Though she may forget,

          I will not forget you!

       See, I have engraved you on the palms of MY hands;

          your walls are ever before ME.

       Your sons hasten back,

          and those who laid you waste depart from you.

       Lift up your eyes and look around;

          all your sons gather and come to you.

       As surely as I live," declares THE LORD,

          "you will wear them all as ornaments;

          you will put them on, like a bride.

       "Though you were ruined and made desolate

          and your land laid waste,

       now you will be too small for your people,

          and those who devoured you will be far away.

       The children born during your bereavement

          will yet say in your hearing,

       'This place is too small for us;

          give us more space to live in.'

       Then you will say in your heart,

          'Who bore me these?

       I was bereaved and barren;

          I was exiled and rejected.

          Who brought these up?

       I was left all alone,

          but these--where have they come from?' "

       This is what THE SOVEREIGN LORD says:

       "See, I will beckon to the Gentiles,

          I will lift up MY banner to the peoples;

       they will bring your sons in their arms

          and carry your daughters on their shoulders.

       Kings will be your foster fathers,

          and their queens your nursing mothers.

       They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground;

          they will lick the dust at your feet.

       Then you will know that I AM THE LORD;

          those who hope in ME will not be disappointed."

       Can plunder be taken from warriors,

          or captives rescued from the fierce?

       But this is what THE LORD says:

       "Yes, captives will be taken from warriors,

          and plunder retrieved from the fierce;

       I will contend with those who contend with you,

          and your children I will save.

       I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh;

          they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine.

       Then all mankind will know

          that I, THE LORD, AM your Savior,

          your Redeemer, THE MIGHTY ONE OF JACOB."

ISAIAH: CHAPTER 49, VERSES 8 - 26

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Everlasting Salvation for Zion

       "Listen to ME, you who pursue righteousness

          and who seek THE LORD:

       Look to the rock from which you were cut

          and to the quarry from which you were hewn;

       look to Abraham, your father,

          and to Sarah, who gave you birth.

       When I called him he was but one,

          and I blessed him and made him many.

       THE LORD will surely comfort Zion

          and will look with compassion on all her ruins;

       HE will make her deserts like Eden,

          her wastelands like the garden of THE LORD.

       Joy and gladness will be found in her,

          thanksgiving and the sound of singing.

       "Listen to ME, MY people;

          hear ME, MY nation:

       The law will go out from ME;

          MY justice will become a light to the nations.

       MY righteousness draws near speedily,

          MY salvation is on the way,

          and MY arm will bring justice to the nations.

       The islands will look to ME

          and wait in hope for MY arm.

       Lift up your eyes to the heavens,

          look at the earth beneath;

       the heavens will vanish like smoke,

          the earth will wear out like a garment

          and its inhabitants die like flies.

       But MY salvation will last forever,

          MY righteousness will never fail.

       "Hear ME, you who know what is right,

          you people who have MY law in your hearts:

       Do not fear the reproach of men

          or be terrified by their insults.

       For the moth will eat them up like a garment;

          the worm will devour them like wool.

       But MY righteousness will last forever,

          MY salvation through all generations."

       Awake, Awake! Clothe YOURSELF with strength,

          O arm of THE LORD;

       awake, as in days gone by,

          as in generations of old.

       Was it not YOU who cut Rahab to pieces,

          who pierced that monster through?

       Was it not YOU who dried up the sea,

          the waters of the great deep,

       who made a road in the depths of the sea

          so that the redeemed might cross over?

       The ransomed of THE LORD will return.

          They will enter Zion with singing;

          everlasting joy will crown their heads.

       Gladness and joy will overtake them,

          and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

       "I, even I, AM HE who comforts you.

          Who are you that you fear mortal men,

          the sons of men, who are but grass,

       that you forget THE LORD your Maker,

          who stretched out the heavens

          and laid the foundations of the earth,

       that you live in constant terror every day

          because of the wrath of the oppressor,

          who is bent on destruction?

       For where is the wrath of the oppressor?

          The cowering prisoners will soon be set free;

       they will not die in their dungeon,

          nor will they lack bread.

       For I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD,

          who churns up the sea so that its waves roar--

          THE LORD ALMIGHTY is HIS name.

       I have put MY words in your mouth

          and covered you with the shadow of MY hand--

       I who set the heavens in place,

          who laid the foundations of the earth,

          and who say to Zion, 'You are MY people.' "

ISAIAH: CHAPTER 51, VERSES 1 - 16

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The Future Glory of Zion

       "Sing, O barren woman,

          you who never bore a child;

       burst into song, shout for joy,

          you who were never in labor;

       because more are the children of the desolate woman

          than of her who has a husband,"

                                                 says THE LORD.

       "Enlarge the place of your tent,

          stretch your tent curtains wide,

          do not hold back;

       lengthen your cords,

          strengthen your stakes.

       For you will spread out to the right and to the left;

          your descendants will dispossess nations

          and settle in their desolate cities.

       "Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame.

          Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.

       You will forget the shame of your youth

          and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.

       For your Maker is your husband--

          THE LORD ALMIGHTY is HIS name--

       THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL is your Redeemer;

          HE is called THE GOD OF ALL THE EARTH.

       THE LORD will call you back

          as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit--

       a wife who married young,

          only to be rejected," says your GOD.

       "For a brief moment I abandoned you,

          but with deep compassion I will bring you back.

       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.

       "To ME this is like the days of Noah,

          when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth.

       So now I have sworn not to be angry with you,

          never to rebuke you again.

       Though the mountains be shaken

          and the hills be removed,

       yet MY unfailing love for you will not be shaken

          nor MY covenant of peace be removed,"

          says THE LORD, who has compassion on you.

       "O afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted,

          I will build you with stones of turquoise,

          your foundations with sapphires.

       I will make your battlements of rubies,

          your gates of sparkling jewels,

          and all your walls of precious stones.

       All your sons will be taught by THE LORD,

          and great will be your children's peace.

       In righteousness you will be established:

       Tyranny will be far from you;

          you will have nothing to fear.

       Terror will be far removed;

          it will not come near you.

       If anyone does attack you, it will not be MY doing;

          whoever attacks you will surrender to you.

       "See, it is I who created the blacksmith

          who fans the coals into flame

          and forges a weapon fit for its work.

       And it is I who have created the destroyer to work havoc;

          no weapon forged against you will prevail,

          and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.

       This is the heritage of the servants of THE LORD,

          and this is their vindication from ME,"

                                                 declares THE LORD.

ISAIAH: CHAPTER 54

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