Thus says Jehovah: In a favorable time I have answered You, and in a day of salvation I have helped You; and I will preserve You, and give You as a covenant to the people, to establish the earth, to cause them to inherit the desolate possessions;

For Jehovah will comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places; and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Jehovah. Joy and gladness shall be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.

Rejoice, O barren one, you who have not borne; break forth into screams of delight, you who have not writhed in pangs. For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the one who is married, says Jehovah.

Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings. Do not spare, lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes;

Thus says Jehovah: Behold, I will bring back the captives of Jacob's tents, and will have mercy on his dwelling places. And the city shall be built on her own hill, and the palace shall remain in its own place.

And out of them shall come forth thanksgiving, and the voice of those who make merry. And I will multiply them, and they shall not diminish; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.

Thus says Jehovah: Again there shall be heard in this place, which you say is desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast;

the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who shall say, Praise Jehovah of Hosts, for Jehovah is good, for His mercy is eternal; and the voice of those who shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of Jehovah. For I will cause the captives of the land to return, as at the first, says Jehovah.

For indeed I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown.

I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and be fruitful; I will make you inhabited as in former times, and do better for you than at your beginnings. And you shall know that I am Jehovah.

Thus says the Lord Jehovah: Because they say to you, You devour men and bereave your nation,

Nor will I let you hear the insults of the nations anymore, nor bear the reproach of the peoples anymore, nor shall you cause your nation to stumble anymore, says the Lord Jehovah.

Yet the number of the sons of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered. And it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said to them, You are not My people, it shall be said to them, you are Sons of the Living God.

And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel shall be gathered together, and shall appoint over themselves one head. And they shall go up out of the land; for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

and said to him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem will be inhabited like unwalled villages, for the multitude of men and livestock in her midst.

And many nations shall be joined to Jehovah in that day, and they shall be My people. And I will dwell in your midst; and you shall know that Jehovah of Hosts has sent Me to you.

And I will bring them back out of the land of Egypt and gather them out of Assyria. And I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon, until no more room shall be found for them.

Your children shall make haste; those destroying you and laying waste to you shall go out from you.

But thus says Jehovah, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the ruthless shall escape. For I will contend with him who contends with you, and I will save your children.

And I will feed those who oppress you, with their own flesh; and they shall be drunk with their own blood, as with sweet wine; and all flesh shall know that I, Jehovah, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

i1 [To the chief Musician. Jonathelemrechokim. Michtam of David, when the Philistines took him in Gath.] i0 par Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up. Fighting daily, he oppresses me.

My enemies have panted after me daily; for they are many who proudly fight against me.

then they would have swallowed us alive, when their wrath was kindled against us.

let us swallow them up alive as Sheol, and whole, as those who go down into the Pit,

Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured; and all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity. And those who plunder you shall become plunder, and all who prey upon you I will give as prey.

For thus says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor, and it is time to thresh her. Yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.

And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up. And the nations shall not flow together to him any more; yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.

therefore prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord Jehovah: Because they made you desolate and swallowed you up on every side, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, and you are taken up by the lips of talkers and slandered by the people;