Study Desk

"For your ruins and desolate places and your land [once the scene] of destruction— Certainly now [in the coming years] will be too cramped for the inhabitants, And those who once engulfed you will be far away.

"The children of your bereavement [those born in captivity] will yet say in your ears, 'The place is too cramped for me'; Make room for me that I may live here.

"Kings will be your attendants, And their princesses your nurses. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth And lick the dust of your feet; And you shall know [with an understanding based on personal experience] that I am the LORD; For they shall not be put to shame who wait and hope expectantly for Me.

Indeed, this is what the LORD says, "Even the captives of the mighty man will be taken away, And the tyrant's spoils of war will be rescued; For I will contend with your opponent, And I will save your children.

The LORD declares this; "Where is the certificate of divorce By which I have sent your mother away, [O Israel]? Or to which one of My creditors did I sell you [as slaves]? In fact, You were sold for your wickedness [your sin, your injustice, your wrongdoing], And for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

For the Lord GOD helps Me, Therefore, I have not been ashamed or humiliated. Therefore, I have made My face like flint, And I know that I shall not be put to shame.

"Look to Abraham your father And to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain; For I called him when he was but one, Then I blessed him and made him many."

For the LORD will comfort Zion [in her captivity]; He will comfort all her ruins. And He will make her wilderness like Eden, And her desert like the garden of the LORD; Joy and gladness will be found in her, Thanksgiving and the voice of a melody.

"Listen carefully to Me [says the LORD], O My people, And hear Me, O My nation; For a [divine] law will go forth from Me, And I will quickly establish My justice as a light to the peoples.

"My righteousness (justice) is near, My salvation has gone forth, And My arms will judge the peoples; The islands and coastlands will wait for Me, And they will wait with hope and confident expectation for My arm.

"Lift up your eyes to the heavens, Then look to the earth beneath; For the heavens will be torn to pieces and vanish like smoke, And the earth will wear out like a garment And its inhabitants will die in like manner. But My salvation will be forever, And My righteousness (justice) [and faithfully fulfilled promise] will not be broken.

"For the moth will eat them like a garment, And the worm will eat them like wool. But My righteousness and justice [faithfully promised] will exist forever, And My salvation to all generations."

Was it not You who dried up the [Red] Sea, The waters of the great deep, Who made the depths of the sea a pathway For the redeemed to cross over?

"For I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the LORD of hosts is His name.

These two tragedies have befallen you; Who will show sympathy for you and mourn with you? The desolation and destruction [on the land and city], famine and sword [on the inhabitants]; How shall I comfort you?

"I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, Who have said to you, 'Lie down so that we may walk over you.' You have even made your back like the ground And like the street for those who walk over it."

Awake, awake, Put on your strength, O Zion; Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; For the uncircumcised and the unclean Will no longer come into you.

For the LORD says this, "You were sold for nothing and you will be redeemed, but not with money."

For the Lord GOD says this, "My people went down at the first into Egypt to live there; and [many years later Sennacherib] the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.

Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices, Together they shout for joy; For they will see face to face The return of the LORD to Zion.