54 Sing happily you barren women who has never given birth.

Break into a cheery song and celebrate, you who’ve never been in labour,

because the desolate woman now has more children than the married woman did says Yahweh.[ref]

2 Widen your tent and stretch your tent curtains further out without restraint.

Make your tent ropes longer and drive your stakes in deep

3 because you’ll spread out both to the right and to the left,

and your descendants will conquer nations

and settle in cities that had become desolate.

4 Don’t be afraid because you won’t be put to shame,

≈ and don’t be discouraged because you won’t be disgraced,

because you’ll forget the shame from your youth.

≈ You’ll no longer remember the disgrace from when you were made a widow

5 because your husband is the one who made you—

his name is Commander-in-chief Yahweh.

Yisrael’s (Israel) holy one is your protector.

He’s called the god of the whole world.

6 Yes, Yahweh has called you back

as if you were an abandoned wife with a wounded spirit,

≈ or a young wife who was rejected.

Your god says:

7 I abandoned you for a little while,

^ but now I’ll bring you back with great compassion.

8 I kept away from you for a while in a flood of severe anger,

but with my permanent loyal commitment, I’ll have compassion on you.

Yahweh who paid the price for your freedom says:

9 For me, this is like Noah’s flood—

just as I promised to never again to cover the earth,

so too I promise not to be angry at you or to rebuke you.

10 Even if the mountains disappear and the hills shake,

my loyal commitment to you won’t disappear and my agreement for peace won’t be shaken,

says Yahweh, the one who has compassion for you.