主的僕人
1眾海島啊，聽我說！
遠方的眾民啊，要留心聽！
我還沒有出生，
耶和華就呼召我；
我還沒有離開母腹，
祂就點我的名。
2祂使我的口像利劍，
用祂的手護庇我；
祂使我成為磨亮的箭，
把我藏在祂的箭囊中。
3祂對我說：「以色列啊，
你是我的僕人，
我要藉著你彰顯我的榮耀。」
4但我說：「我虛耗精力，
徒勞無功。
然而，耶和華必公正地待我，
我的報酬在我的上帝那裡。」
5我在母腹之中，耶和華便塑造我做祂的僕人，
叫我領雅各歸向祂，
把以色列人召集到祂那裡。
我在耶和華眼中是尊貴的，
我的上帝是我的力量。
6祂對我說：「我不僅要你做我的僕人，
去復興雅各的眾支派，
使以色列的餘民重歸故土，
我還要使你成為外族人的光，
好把我的救恩帶到地極。」
7以色列的救贖主和聖者——耶和華對受藐視、
被本國人憎恨、
遭官長奴役的那位說：
「因為揀選你的以色列的聖者耶和華是信實的，
君王必在你面前肅然起立，
首領必在你面前俯伏下拜。」
以色列的復興
8耶和華說：
「在悅納的時候，我應允了你；
在拯救的日子，我幫助了你。
我要保護你，
使你做我跟民眾立約的中保，
復興家園，
分配荒涼的產業。
9你要對被囚禁的人說，
『出來吧！』
要對暗牢中的人說，
『你們自由了。』
他們在路上必有吃的，
光禿的山嶺必有食物。
10他們不再饑渴，
也不再被熱風和烈日灼傷，
因為憐憫他們的那位必引導他們，
領他們到泉水邊。
11我要使我的群山變為通途，
修築我的大路。
12看啊，他們必從遠方來，
有的來自北方，有的來自西方，
還有的來自希尼49·12 「希尼」可能指遙遠的東方或南方某地。。」
13諸天啊，要歡呼！
大地啊，要快樂！
群山啊，要歌唱！
因為耶和華必安慰祂的子民，
憐憫祂受苦的百姓。
14但錫安說：「耶和華撇棄了我，
主把我忘了。」
15耶和華說：「母親豈能忘記自己吃奶的嬰兒，
不憐憫自己親生的孩子？
就算有母親忘記，
我也不會忘記你。
16看啊，我已經把你銘刻在我的手掌上，
你的牆垣在我的看顧之下。
17你的兒女必很快回來，
毀滅和破壞你的必離你而去。
18舉目四下看看吧，
你的兒女正聚集到你這裡。
我憑我的永恆起誓，
你必把他們作為飾物戴在身上，
如新娘一樣用他們妝扮自己。
這是耶和華說的。
19「你那曾經荒廢、淒涼、
遭到毀壞之地現在必容不下你的居民，
那些吞滅你的人必遠遠地離開你。
20你流亡期間所生的子女必在你耳邊說，
『這地方太小了，
再給我們一些地方住吧。』
21你會在心裡問，『我喪失了兒女、
不再生育、流亡在外、漂流不定，
誰給我生了這些兒女？
誰把他們養大？
我孤身一人，
他們是從哪裡來的？』」
22主耶和華說：
「我必向列國招手，
向萬民豎立我的旗幟，
他們必抱著你的兒子、
背著你的女兒回來。
23列王必做你的養父，
王后必做你的褓姆。
他們必向你俯伏下拜，
舔你腳上的塵土。
那時你便知道我是耶和華，
信靠我的必不致失望。」
24勇士搶去的能奪回來嗎？
暴君擄走的能救回來嗎？
25但耶和華說：
「勇士擄去的必被奪回，
暴君搶去的必被救出。
我必與你的敵人爭戰，
拯救你的兒女。
26我要使那些欺壓你的人吞吃自己的肉，
喝自己的血喝得酩酊大醉，
好像喝酒一樣。
那時候，世人都必知道我耶和華是你的救主，
是你的救贖主，
是雅各的大能者。」
The servant of the Lord
1Listen to me, you islands;
hear this, you distant nations:
before I was born the Lord called me;
from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.
2He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow
and concealed me in his quiver.
3He said to me, ‘You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will display my splendour.’
4But I said, ‘I have laboured in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing at all.
Yet what is due to me is in the Lord’s hand,
and my reward is with my God.’
5And now the Lord says –
he who formed me in the womb to be his servant
to bring Jacob back to him
and gather Israel to himself,
for I am49:5 Or him, / but Israel would not be gathered; / yet I will be honoured in the eyes of the Lord
and my God has been my strength –
6he says:
‘It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.’
7This is what the Lord says –
the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel –
to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation,
to the servant of rulers:
‘Kings will see you and stand up,
princes will see and bow down,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.’
Restoration of Israel
8This is what the Lord says:
‘In the time of my favour 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,
9to 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.
10They will neither hunger nor thirst,
nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them.
He who has compassion on them will guide them
and lead them beside springs of water.
11I will turn all my mountains into roads,
and my highways will be raised up.
12See, they will come from afar –
some from the north, some from the west,
some from the region of Aswan.49:12 Dead Sea Scrolls; Masoretic Text Sinim’
13Shout for joy, you heavens;
rejoice, you earth;
burst into song, you mountains!
For the Lord comforts his people
and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.
14But Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me,
the Lord has forgotten me.’
15‘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!
16See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are ever before me.
17Your children hasten back,
and those who laid you waste depart from you.
18Lift up your eyes and look around;
all your children 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.
19‘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.
20The 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.”
21Then 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?” ’
22This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
‘See, I will beckon to the nations,
I will lift up my banner to the peoples;
they will bring your sons in their arms
and carry your daughters on their hips.
23Kings 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.’
24Can plunder be taken from warriors,
or captives be rescued from the fierce49:24 Dead Sea Scrolls, Vulgate and Syriac (see also Septuagint and verse 25); Masoretic Text righteous?
25But 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.
26I 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 Saviour,
your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.’
