54 ‘Sing with joy,
    you woman who could not give birth to any children.
You have never known the pain of a child's birth,
    but now shout loudly with joy.
Be happy, because the woman who is alone
    will have many children.
She will have more children than the woman who has a husband.’^[a]
That is what the Lord says.
² Make your tent bigger!
    You need more room to live in.
Yes, do it!
    Make the tent's ropes longer!
    Make the pegs that hold it stronger!
³ The borders of your land will be wider in all directions.
Your descendants will take land from other nations.
    They will live in the cities that had become empty.
⁴ Do not be afraid.
    You will not be ashamed again.
Do not be frightened of shame.
    Nobody will make you ashamed.
You will forget the shame
    which you had when you were young.
You will forget that you were ashamed to be alone,
    like a widow.
⁵ Now your Maker is your husband.
    His name is the Lord Almighty.
Israel's Holy God is your Redeemer.
    He is called, ‘The God who rules the whole earth’.
⁶ ‘The Lord will now call you to come back to him.
You have been like a wife who was very upset,
    because her husband has left her.
You have been like a wife who married when she was young,
    and her husband sent her away.’
That is what your God says.
⁷ ‘For a short time I went away from you.
But now I will bring you back to myself,
    because I feel very sorry for you.
⁸ For a moment I became very angry with you,
    and I turned away from you.
But now I will be kind to you,
    because my love for you continues for ever.’
That is what the Lord, your Redeemer, says.
⁹ ‘This is like what I did in Noah's time.^[b]
At that time, I promised that a flood of water would never again destroy the earth.
Now, at this time, I have promised that I will not be angry with you again.
    I will not speak against you again.
¹⁰ The mountains may shake to pieces,
    and the hills may disappear.
But I will never take my love away from you.
My covenant that brings peace between us will never finish.’
That is what the Lord who is very kind to you says.
¹¹ ‘My city, enemies attacked you,
    like a strong storm.
    Nobody was there to help you.
Look! Now I will use beautiful jewels to build you again.
    I will build your foundation with blue sapphires.
¹² I will build your strong towers with rubies.
I will build your gates with valuable jewels,
    and I will build your walls with beautiful stones.^[c]
13 I, the Lord, will teach your children,
    and peace will fill their lives.
¹⁴ You will have a strong foundation of righteousness.
    Your cruel enemies will be far away.
You will have nothing to be afraid of.
    No trouble will come near to frighten you.
¹⁵ If anyone comes to attack you,
    I will not have sent them.
You will win against anyone who tries to attack you.
¹⁶ Look! I myself created the worker
    who knows how to use iron to make things.
He makes his fire very hot,
    and he makes weapons from the iron.
    He makes weapons that are strong to fight with.
I also created the armies
    who use their weapons to destroy people.
¹⁷ But nobody can make a weapon that will beat you,
    when your enemies attack you.
If people accuse you of bad things,
    you will show that they are wrong.
That is what the Lord will do
    as a gift for his servants.
Yes, I will show that they are right.’
That is what the Lord says.