<p class="poetry">From the ends of the earth we<n id="1" /> hear songs &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">the Just One is majestic.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">But I<n id="3" /> say, &#8220;I&#8217;m wasting away! I&#8217;m wasting away! I&#8217;m doomed!p> <p class="poetry">Deceivers deceive, deceivers thoroughly deceive!&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">So now, do not mock,p> <p class="poetry">or your chains will become heavier!p> <p class="poetry">For I have heard a message about decreed destruction,p> <p class="poetry">from the sovereign master, the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies, against the entire land.<n id="1" />p>

Now, O <sc>Lordsc> our God, rescue us from his power, so all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the <sc>Lordsc>.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Who has measured out the waters<n id="1" /> in the hollow of his hand,p> <p class="poetry">or carefully<n id="2" /> measured the sky,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">or carefully weighed<n id="4" /> the soil of the earth,p> <p class="poetry">or weighed the mountains in a balance,p> <p class="poetry">or the hills on scales?<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">Do you not know?p> <p class="poetry">Have you not heard?p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> is an eternal God,p> <p class="poetry">the creator of the whole earth.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">He does not get tired or weary;p> <p class="poetry">there is no limit to his wisdom.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">you whom I am bringing back<n id="1" /> from the earth&#8217;s extremities,p> <p class="poetry">and have summoned from the remote regions &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">I told you, &#8220;You are my servant.&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">I have chosen you and not rejected you.p>

<p class="poetry">This is what the true God,<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc>, says &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">the one who created the sky and stretched it out,p> <p class="poetry">the one who fashioned the earth and everything that lives on it,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">the one who gives breath to the people on it,p> <p class="poetry">and life to those who live on it:<n id="3" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">This is what the <sc>Lordsc>, your protector,<n id="1" /> says,p> <p class="poetry">the one who formed you in the womb:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I am the <sc>Lordsc>, who made everything,p> <p class="poetry">who alone stretched out the sky,p> <p class="poetry">who fashioned the earth all by myself,<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Leave Babylon!p> <p class="poetry">Flee from the Babylonians!p> <p class="poetry">Announce it with a shout of joy!p> <p class="poetry">Make this known!p> <p class="poetry">Proclaim it throughout the earth!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Say, &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> protects<n id="2" /> his servant Jacob.p>

<p class="poetry">For your husband is the one who made you &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies is his name.p> <p class="poetry">He is your protector,<n id="1" /> the Holy One of Israel.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">He is called &#8220;God of the entire earth.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Look, the <sc>Lordsc> announces to the entire earth:<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Say to Daughter Zion,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Look, your deliverer comes!p> <p class="poetry">Look, his reward is with himp> <p class="poetry">and his reward goes before him!&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">My hand discovered the wealth of the nations, as if it were in a nest,p> <p class="poetry">as one gathers up abandoned eggs,p> <p class="poetry">I gathered up the whole earth.p> <p class="poetry">There was no wing flapping,p> <p class="poetry">or open mouth chirping.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">he will swallow up death permanently.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">The sovereign <sc>Lordsc> will wipe away the tears from every face,p> <p class="poetry">and remove his people&#8217;s disgrace from all the earth.p> <p class="poetry">Indeed, the <sc>Lordsc> has announced it!<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">For this is what the <sc>Lordsc> says,p> <p class="poetry">the one who created the sky &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">he is the true God,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">the one who formed the earth and made it;p> <p class="poetry">he established it,p> <p class="poetry">he did not create it without order,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">he formed it to be inhabited &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I am the <sc>Lordsc>, I have no peer.p>

<p class="poetry">he says, &#8220;Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant,p> <p class="poetry">to reestablish the tribes of Jacob,p> <p class="poetry">and restore the remnant<n id="1" /> of Israel?<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I will make you a light to the nations,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">so you can bring<n id="4" /> my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Look up at the sky!p> <p class="poetry">Look at the earth below!p> <p class="poetry">For the sky will dissipate<n id="1" /> like smoke,p> <p class="poetry">and the earth will wear out like clothes;p> <p class="poetry">its residents will die like gnats.p> <p class="poetry">But the deliverance I give<n id="2" /> is permanent;p> <p class="poetry">the vindication I provide<n id="3" /> will not disappear.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;As far as I am concerned, this is like in Noah&#8217;s time,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">when I vowed that the waters of Noah&#8217;s flood<n id="2" /> would never again cover the earth.p> <p class="poetry">In the same way I have vowed that I will not be angry at you or shout at you.p>

<n id="1" /><p class="poetry">The rain and snow fall from the skyp> <p class="poetry">and do not return,p> <p class="poetry">but instead water the earthp> <p class="poetry">and make it produce and yield crops,p> <p class="poetry">and provide seed for the planter and food for those who must eat.p>