6 “For there will be a day when watchmen

On the hills of Ephraim call out,

‘Arise, and alet us go up to Zion,

To the Lord our God.’ ”

7 For thus says the Lord,

“aSing aloud with gladness for Jacob,

And shout among the 1bchief of the nations;

Proclaim, give praise and say,

‘O Lord, csave Your people,

The dremnant of Israel.’

8 “Behold, I am abringing them from the north country,

And I will bgather them from the remote parts of the earth,

Among them the cblind and the dlame,

The woman with child and she who is in labor with child, together;

A great 1company, they will return here.

9 “aWith weeping they will come,

And by supplication I will lead them;

I will make them walk by bstreams of waters,

On a straight path in which they will cnot stumble;

For I am a dfather to Israel,

And Ephraim is eMy firstborn.”

10 Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,

And declare in the acoastlands afar off,

And say, “He who scattered Israel will bgather him

And keep him as a cshepherd keeps his flock.”

11 For the Lord has aransomed Jacob

And redeemed him from the hand of him who was bstronger than he.

12 “They will acome and shout for joy on the bheight of Zion,

And they will be cradiant over the 1bounty of the Lord—

Over the dgrain and the new wine and the oil,

And over the young of the eflock and the herd;

And their life will be like a fwatered garden,

And they will gnever languish again.

13 “Then the virgin will rejoice in the adance,

And the young men and the old, together,

For I will bturn their mourning into joy

And will comfort them and give them cjoy for their sorrow.

14 “I will 1fill the soul of the priests with 2abundance,

And My people will be asatisfied with My goodness,” declares the Lord.