Day 274 of 730

¹Listen, islands, to me; and listen, you peoples, from far: the Lord has called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother has he made mention of my name:

²and he has made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand, he has hidden me: and he has made me a polished shaft; in his quiver has he kept me close:

³and he said to me, "You are my servant; Israel, in whom I will be glorified."

⁴But I said, "I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely the justice due to me is with the Lord, and my reward with my God."

⁵Now says the Lord who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, and that Israel be gathered to him (for I am honorable in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength);

⁶yes, he says, "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give you for a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth."

⁷Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers: "Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall worship; because of the Lord who is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

⁸Thus says the Lord, "In an acceptable time have I answered you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you; and I will preserve you, and give you for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritage:

⁹saying to those who are bound, 'Come out!'; to those who are in darkness, 'Show yourselves!' "They shall feed in the ways, and on all bare heights shall be their pasture.

¹⁰They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun strike them: for he who has mercy on them will lead them, even by springs of water he will guide them.

¹¹I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.

¹²Behold, these shall come from far; and behold, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim."

¹³Sing, heavens; and be joyful, earth; and break forth into singing, mountains: for the Lord has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted.

¹⁴But Zion said, "The Lord has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me."

¹⁵"Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you!

¹⁶Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.

¹⁷Your children make haste; your destroyers and those who made you waste shall go forth from you.

¹⁸Lift up your eyes all around, and see: all these gather themselves together, and come to you. As I live," says the Lord, "you shall surely clothe yourself with them all as with an ornament, and dress yourself with them, like a bride.

¹⁹"For, as for your waste and your desolate places, and your land that has been destroyed, surely now you shall be too small for the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up shall be far away.

²⁰The children of your bereavement shall yet say in your ears, The place is too small for me; give place to me that I may dwell.

²¹Then you will say in your heart, 'Who has conceived these for me, since I have been bereaved of my children, and am solitary, an exile, and wandering back and forth? Who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where were they?'"

²²Thus says the Lord God, "Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and set up my banner to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.

²³Kings shall be your nursing fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers: they shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of your feet; and you shall know that I am the Lord; and those who wait for me shall not be disappointed."

²⁴Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives of a tyrant be delivered?

²⁵But thus says the Lord, "Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered; for I will contend with him who contends with you, and I will save your children.

²⁶I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob."

¹Thus says the Lord, "Where is the bill of your mother's divorce, with which I have put her away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities were you sold, and for your transgressions was your mother put away.

²Why, when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it can't redeem? or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stink, because there is no water, and die for thirst.

³I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering."

⁴The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him who is weary: he wakens morning by morning, he wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.

⁵The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away backward.

⁶I gave my back to the strikers, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair; I did not hide my face from shame and spitting.

⁷For the Lord God will help me; therefore I have not been confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be disappointed.

⁸He is near who justifies me; who will bring charges against me? Let us stand up together: who is my adversary? Let him come near to me.

⁹Behold, the Lord God will help me; who is he who shall condemn me? Behold, all they shall wax old as a garment, the moth shall eat them up.

¹⁰Who is among you who fears the Lord, who obeys the voice of his servant? He who walks in darkness, and has no light, let him trust in the name of the Lord, and rely on his God.

¹¹Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who adorn yourselves with torches around yourselves; walk in the flame of your fire, and among the brands that you have kindled. You shall have this of my hand; you shall lie down in sorrow.

¹If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, let Israel now say,

²if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us;

³then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their wrath was kindled against us;

⁴then the waters would have overwhelmed us, the stream would have gone over our soul;

⁵then the proud waters would have gone over our soul.

⁶Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as a prey to their teeth.

⁷Our soul has escaped like a bird out of the fowler's snare. The snare is broken, and we have escaped.

⁸Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

¹Like snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honor is not fitting for a fool.

²Like a fluttering sparrow, like a darting swallow, so the undeserved curse doesn't come to rest.

³A whip is for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the back of fools!

⁴Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him.

⁵Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.

⁶One who sends a message by the hand of a fool is cutting off feet and drinking violence.

⁷Like the legs of the lame that hang loose: so is a parable in the mouth of fools.

⁸As one who binds a stone in a sling, so is he who gives honor to a fool.

⁹Like a thornbush that goes into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools.

¹⁰As an archer who wounds all, so is he who hires a fool or he who hires those who pass by.

¹¹As a dog that returns to his vomit, so is a fool who repeats his folly.

¹²Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

¹³The sluggard says, "There is a lion in the road! A fierce lion roams the streets!"

¹⁴As the door turns on its hinges, so does the sluggard on his bed.

¹⁵The sluggard buries his hand in the dish. He is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth.

¹⁶The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who answer with discretion.

¹⁷Like one who grabs a dog's ears is one who passes by and meddles in a quarrel not his own.

¹⁸Like a madman who shoots firebrands, arrows, and death,

¹⁹is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, "Am I not joking?"

²⁰For lack of wood a fire goes out. Without gossip, a quarrel dies down.

²¹As coals are to hot embers, and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindling strife.

²²The words of a whisperer are as dainty morsels, they go down into the innermost parts.

²³Like silver dross on an earthen vessel are the lips of a fervent one with an evil heart.

²⁴A malicious man disguises himself with his lips, but he harbors evil in his heart.

²⁵When his speech is charming, do not believe him; for there are seven abominations in his heart.

²⁶His malice may be concealed by deception, but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.

²⁷Whoever digs a pit shall fall into it. Whoever rolls a stone, it will come back on him.

²⁸A lying tongue hates those it hurts; and a flattering mouth works ruin.