CHAPTER 54
1 Thou barren, that childest not, praise; thou that childest not, sing praising, and make joy; for why many sons be of the forsaken, more than of her that had [the] husband, saith the Lord.
2 Alarge thou the place of thy tent, and stretch forth the skins of thy tabernacles; spare thou not, make long thy ropes, and make firm thy nails.
3 For thou shalt pierce to the right side and to the left side; and thy seed shall inherit heathen men, and shall dwell in forsaken cities.
4 Do not thou dread, for thou shalt not be shamed, neither thou shalt be ashamed. For it shall not shame thee; for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and thou shalt no more think on the shame of thy widowhood.
5 For he that made thee, shall be lord of thee; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thine again-buyer, the Holy of Israel, shall be called God of all earth.
6 For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and mourning in spirit, and a wife, that is cast away from youth. Thy Lord God said,
7 At a point in little time, I forsook thee, and I shall gather thee together in great merciful doings.
8 In a moment of indignation I hid my face a little from thee, and in mercy everlasting I had mercy on thee, said thine again-buyer, the Lord.
9 As in the days of Noah, this thing is to me, to whom I swore, that I should no more bring waters of the great flood on the earth; so I swore, that I shall be no more wroth to thee, and that I blame not thee.
10 Forsooth hills [or mountains] shall be moved together, and little hills shall tremble together; but my mercy shall not go away from thee, and the bond of my peace shall not be moved, saith the merciful doer, the Lord.
11 Thou little and poor, drawn out by tempest, without any comfort, lo! I shall strew thy stones by order, and I shall found thee in sapphires;
12 and I shall set jasper thy towers, and thy gates into engraved stones, and all thine ends into desirable stones.
13 And I shall set all thy sons taught of the Lord; and the multitude of peace to thy sons,
14 and thou shalt be founded in rightfulness [or rightwiseness]. Go thou away far from false challenge, for thou shalt not dread; and from dread, for it shall not nigh to thee.
15 Lo! a stranger shall come, that was not with me; he, that was some-time thy comeling, shall be joined to thee.
16 Lo! I made a smith blowing coals in [the] fire, and bringing forth a vessel into his work; and I have made a slayer, for to lose.
17 Each vessel which is made against thee, shall not be addressed; and in the doom thou shalt deem each tongue against-standing thee. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and the rightfulness [or rightwiseness] of them at me, saith the Lord.