1All you people who live on islands in the ocean and in other distant areas,
2When I grew up, he caused my messages to be like [SIM] a sharp sword.
3He said to me, “You will serve my Israeli people,
4I replied, “My work has been useless;
5Yahweh formed me when I was in my mother’s womb in order that I would serve him;
6He says to me,
7Yahweh, the one who saves us,
8This is also what Yahweh says:
9I will say to those who were captured and ◄exiled/taken to Babylonia►,
10They will not be hungry or thirsty any more;
11And I will cause the mountains to become as though they were level roads,
12My people will return from far away;
13Because of what Yahweh has promised to do,
14The people of Jerusalem say,
15But Yahweh replies,
16Note that I have written your names on the palms of my hands;
17Soon your children will be returning there (OR, Those who rebuild your city will work more quickly than those who destroyed it),
18You will look around and see
19Your land has been ruined and caused to become desolate/abandoned [DOU],
20The children who were born while you were ◄exiled/in Babylonia► [MET] will return to Jerusalem and say,
21Then you will think to yourselves [MTY],
22This is what Yahweh our God says:
23Kings will serve you and will tutor/teach your children,
24There is no one [RHQ] who can snatch valuable things from a soldier who has captured those things in a war;
25But Yahweh says this:
26And I will cause your enemies to destroy themselves [MET]