<p class="poetry">This is what the <sc>Lordsc>, your protector,<n id="1" /> says,p> <p class="poetry">the Holy One of Israel:<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I am the <sc>Lordsc> your God,p> <p class="poetry">who teaches you how to succeed,p> <p class="poetry">who leads you in the way you should go.p>

<p class="poetry">Look all around you!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">All of them gather to you.p> <p class="poetry">As surely as I live,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;you will certainly wear all of them like jewelry;p> <p class="poetry">you will put them on as if you were a bride.p>

<p class="poetry">I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh;p> <p class="poetry">they will get drunk on their own blood, as if it were wine.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Then all humankind<n id="2" /> will recognize thatp> <p class="poetry">I am the <sc>Lordsc>, your deliverer,p> <p class="poetry">your protector,<n id="3" /> the powerful ruler of Jacob.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">For I will not be hostile<n id="1" /> foreverp> <p class="poetry">or perpetually angry,p> <p class="poetry">for then man&#8217;s spirit would grow faint before me,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">the life-giving breath I created.p>

<p class="poetry">You will drink the milk of nations;p> <p class="poetry">you will nurse at the breasts of kings.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Then you will recognize that I, the <sc>Lordsc>, am your deliverer,p> <p class="poetry">your protector,<n id="2" /> the powerful ruler of Jacob.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">For I, the <sc>Lordsc>, love justicep> <p class="poetry">and hate robbery and sin.p> <p class="poetry">I will repay them because of my faithfulness;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I will make a permanent covenant with them.p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Who is this who comes from Edom,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">dressed in bright red, coming from Bozrah?<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Who<n id="3" /> is this one wearing royal attire,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">who marches confidently<n id="5" /> because of his great strength?p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;It is I, the one who announces vindication,p> <p class="poetry">and who is able to deliver!&#8221;<n id="6" />p>

<p class="poetry">But be happy and rejoice forevermorep> <p class="poetry">over what I am about to create!p> <p class="poetry">For look, I am ready to create Jerusalem<n id="1" /> to be a source of joy,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and her people to be a source of happiness.<n id="3" />p>

&#8220;For just as the new heavens and the new earth I am about to make will remain standing before me,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>, &#8220;so your descendants and your name will remain.

<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">The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Pharaoh&#8217;s wise advisers give stupid advice.p> <p class="poetry">How dare you say to Pharaoh,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I am one of the sages,p> <p class="poetry">one well-versed in the writings of the ancient kings?&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Instead the <sc>Lordsc> will rule there as our mighty king.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Rivers and wide streams will flow through it;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">no war galley will enter;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">no large ships will sail through.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;With my many chariots I climbed upp> <p class="poetry">the high mountains,p> <p class="poetry">the slopes of Lebanon.p> <p class="poetry">I cut down its tall cedarsp> <p class="poetry">and its best evergreens.p> <p class="poetry">I invaded its most remote regions,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">its thickest woods.p>

<p class="poetry">You are my witnesses,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;my servant whom I have chosen,p> <p class="poetry">so that you may consider<n id="1" /> and believe in me,p> <p class="poetry">and understand that I am he.p> <p class="poetry">No god was formed before me,p> <p class="poetry">and none will outlive me.<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">Tell me! Present the evidence!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Let them consult with one another!p> <p class="poetry">Who predicted this in the past?p> <p class="poetry">Who announced it beforehand?p> <p class="poetry">Was it not I, the <sc>Lordsc>?p> <p class="poetry">I have no peer, there is no God but me,p> <p class="poetry">a God who vindicates and delivers;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">there is none but me.p>

<p class="poetry">Then you will think to yourself,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Who bore these children for me?p> <p class="poetry">I was bereaved and barren,p> <p class="poetry">dismissed and divorced.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Who raised these children?p> <p class="poetry">Look, I was left all alone;p> <p class="poetry">where did these children come from?&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Kings will be your children&#8217;s<n id="1" /> guardians;p> <p class="poetry">their princesses will nurse your children.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">With their faces to the ground they will bow down to youp> <p class="poetry">and they will lick the dirt on<n id="3" /> your feet.p> <p class="poetry">Then you will recognize that I am the <sc>Lordsc>;p> <p class="poetry">those who wait patiently for me are not put to shame.p>

<p class="poetry">No foreigner who becomes a follower of<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> should say,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> will certainly<n id="2" /> exclude me from his people.&#8217;p> <p class="poetry">The eunuch should not say,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Look, I am like a dried-up tree.&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Whom are you worried about?p> <p class="poetry">Whom do you fear, that you would act so deceitfullyp> <p class="poetry">and not remember mep> <p class="poetry">or think about me?<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Because I have been silent for so long,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">you are not afraid of me.<n id="3" />p>