Isaiah 54
1 Shout for joy, barren one who has borne no children! Break into cries and shouts of joy, you who were never in labour! For the children of the forsaken one are more in number than the children of the wedded wife, says Yahweh.
2 Widen the space of your tent, extend the curtains of your home, do not hold back! Lengthen your ropes, make your tent-pegs firm,
3 for you will burst out to right and to left, your race will dispossess the nations and repopulate deserted towns.
4 Do not fear, you will not be put to shame again, do not worry, you will not be disgraced again; for you will forget the shame of your youth and no longer remember the dishonour of your widowhood.
5 For your Creator is your husband, Yahweh Sabaoth is his name, the Holy One of Israel is your redeemer, he is called God of the whole world.
6 Yes, Yahweh has called you back like a forsaken, grief-stricken wife, like the repudiated wife of his youth, says your God.
7 I did forsake you for a brief moment, but in great compassion I shall take you back.
8 In a flood of anger, for a moment I hid my face from you. But in everlasting love I have taken pity on you, says Yahweh, your redeemer.
9 For me it will be as in the days of Noah when I swore that Noah’s waters should never flood the world again. So now I swear never to be angry with you and never to rebuke you again.
10 For the mountains may go away and the hills may totter, but my faithful love will never leave you, my covenant of peace will never totter, says Yahweh who takes pity on you.
11 Unhappy creature, storm-tossed, unpitied, look, I shall lay your stones on agates and your foundations on sapphires.
12 I shall make your battlements rubies, your gateways firestone and your entire wall precious stones.
13 All your children will be taught by Yahweh and great will be your children’s prosperity.
14 In saving justice you will be made firm, free from oppression: you will have nothing to fear; free from terror: it will not approach you.
15 Should anyone attack you, that will not be my doing, and whoever does attack you, for your sake will fall.
16 I created the smith who blows on the charcoal-fire to produce a weapon for his use; I also created the destroyer to ruin it.
17 No weapon forged against you will succeed. Any voice raised against you in court you will refute. Such is the lot of the servants of Yahweh, the saving justice I assure them, declares Yahweh.
peace
