Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them forth; he that spread abroad the earth and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:
I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth; ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein, the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.
Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up {cf15i their voice}, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit; let the inhabitants of Sela sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.
The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man; he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, he shall shout aloud; he shall do mightily against his enemies.
I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: {cf15i now} will I cry out like a travailing woman; I will gasp and pant together.
And I will bring the blind by a way that they know not; in paths that they know not will I lead them: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things will I do, and I will not forsake them.
Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I send? who is blind as he that is at peace {cf15i with me}, and blind as the LORD-S servant?
But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore.
Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD? he against whom we have sinned, and in whose ways they would not walk, neither were they obedient unto his law.
Therefore he poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle; and it set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.