²² Thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations,
    ^(A)and raise my signal to the peoples;
^(B)and they shall bring your sons in their arms,^[a]
    and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
^23 (C)Kings shall be your foster fathers,
    and their queens your nursing mothers.
^(D)With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,
    and ^(E)lick the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord;
    ^(F)those who wait for me ^(G)shall not be put to shame.”

²⁴ Can the prey be taken from the mighty,
    or the captives of a tyrant^[b] be rescued?
²⁵ For thus says the Lord:
^(H)“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken,
    and the prey of the tyrant be rescued,
for I will contend with those who contend with you,
    and I will save your children.
^26 (I)I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,
    and they shall be drunk ^(J)with their own blood as with wine.
Then all flesh shall know
    that ^(K)I am the Lord your Savior,
    and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

⁴ The Lord God has given ^(A)me
    the tongue of those who are taught,
that ^(B)I may know how to sustain with a word
    ^(C)him who is weary.
Morning by morning he awakens;
    he awakens my ear
    to hear as those who are taught.
^5 (D)The Lord God has opened my ear,
    ^(E)and I was not rebellious;
    I turned not backward.
^6 (F)I gave my back to those who strike,
    and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard;
I hid not my face
    from disgrace and spitting.

⁷ But the Lord God helps me;
    therefore I have not been disgraced;
^(G)therefore I have set my face like a flint,
    and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
^{8     (H)}He who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
    Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary?
    Let him come near to me.
^9 (I)Behold, the Lord God helps me;
    who will declare me guilty?
Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;
    the moth will eat them up.

¹⁰ Who among you fears the Lord
    and obeys ^(J)the voice of his servant?
^(K)Let him who walks in darkness
    and has no light
trust in the name of the Lord
    and rely on his God.
¹¹ Behold, all you who kindle a fire,
    who equip yourselves with burning torches!
Walk by the light of your fire,
    and by the torches that you have kindled!
^(L)This you have from my hand:
    you shall lie down in torment.

^4 (S)“Give attention to me, my people,
    and give ear to me, my nation;
^(T)for a law^[a] will go out from me,
    and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.
^5 (U)My righteousness draws near,
    my salvation has gone out,
    and my arms will judge the peoples;
^(V)the coastlands hope for me,
    and for my arm they wait.
^6 (W)Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
    and look at the earth beneath;
^(X)for the heavens vanish like smoke,
    the earth will wear out like a garment,
    and they who dwell in it will die in like manner;^[b]
(Y)but my salvation will be forever,
    and my righteousness will never be dismayed.

^7 (Z)“Listen to me, you who know righteousness,
    the people ^(AA)in whose heart is my law;
^(AB)fear not the reproach of man,
    nor be dismayed at their revilings.
^8 (AC)For the moth will eat them up like a garment,
    and the worm will eat them like wool,
^(AD)but my righteousness will be forever,
    and my salvation to all generations.”

¹² “I, I am he ^(A)who comforts you;
    who are you that you are afraid of ^(B)man who dies,
    of the son of man who is made ^(C)like grass,
¹³ and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,
    ^(D)who stretched out the heavens
    and ^(E)laid the foundations of the earth,
and you fear continually all the day
    because of the wrath of ^(F)the oppressor,
when he sets himself to destroy?
    And where is the wrath of ^(G)the oppressor?
^14 (H)He who is bowed down shall speedily be released;
    he shall not die and go down ^(I)to the pit,
    neither shall his bread be lacking.
¹⁵ I am the Lord your God,
    ^(J)who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
    the Lord of hosts is his name.
^16 (K)And I have put my words in your mouth
    ^(L)and covered you in the shadow of my hand,
^(M)establishing^[a] the heavens
    and ^(N)laying the foundations of the earth,
    and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”