I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said,‘ You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you.

你是我从地极所领来的，从地角所召来的，且对你说：“你是我的仆人；我拣选你，并不弃绝你。

你是我从地极领来，从地角召来的，我对你说：“你是我的仆人；我拣选你，并不弃绝你。”

你是我从地极领来，从地角召来的，我对你说：“你是我的仆人；我拣选你，并不弃绝你。”

我把你从地极带来，从遥远的角落召来。我对你说，‘你是我的仆人，我拣选了你，没有丢弃你。

你是我从地极抓来的，我从地的远方召你来，对你说：“你是我的仆人，我拣选了你，并没有弃绝你。”

你是我从地极领来，从地角召来的；我对你说：“你是我的仆人；我拣选了你，没有弃绝你。”

你是我從地極所領來的，從地角所召來的，且對你說：你是我的僕人；我揀選你，並不棄絕你。

你是我從地極領來，從地角召來的，我對你說：「你是我的僕人；我揀選你，並不棄絕你。」

你是我從地極領來，從地角召來的，我對你說：「你是我的僕人；我揀選你，並不棄絕你。」

我把你從地極帶來，從遙遠的角落召來。我對你說，『你是我的僕人，我揀選了你，沒有丟棄你。

你是我從地極抓來的，我從地的遠方召你來，對你說：“你是我的僕人，我揀選了你，並沒有棄絕你。”

我從地儘邊所抓來的，從地極角所召來的，我對你說：『你是我的僕人；我揀選了你，並不棄絕你。』

你是我從地極領來，從地角召來的；我對你說：「你是我的僕人；我揀選了你，沒有棄絕你。」

我自地極援爾、自天涯召爾、謂曰、爾乃我僕、我已簡爾、未嘗遺棄、

自地極天涯、召之以至、曰、我簡爾為僕、不汝遐棄。

我自地極援引爾、自地之遠方召爾至、謂爾曰、爾乃我之僕、我選爾、不棄爾、

I gathered you from one end of the earth to the other. From the farthest places on earth I brought you together. I said,‘ You are my servants.’ I have chosen you. I have not turned my back on you.

you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you,“ You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off”;

I have called you back from the ends of the earth, saying,‘ You are my servant.’ For I have chosen you and will not throw you away.

I brought you from the ends of the earth and called you from its farthest corners. I said to you: You are my servant; I have chosen you; I haven’t rejected you.

You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth And called from its remotest parts, And said to you,‘ You are My servant, I have chosen you and have not rejected you.

You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, And called from its farthest regions, And said to you,‘ You are My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away:

thou whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called from the corners thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee and not cast thee away;

I brought you from the ends of the earth and called you from its farthest corners. I said to you: You are My servant; I have chosen you and not rejected you.

[ Thou] whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou[ art] my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.

you whom I am bringing back from the earth’s extremities, and have summoned from the remote regions– I told you,“ You are my servant.” I have chosen you and not rejected you.

You whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called from its corners, and said to you,‘ You are my servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away.’

For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own.

Joshua said to all the people,“ This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:‘ Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods.But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac,and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt.

For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things— and the things that are not— to nullify the things that are,so that no one may boast before him.

For the Lord will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance.

And they sang a new song, saying:“ You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.

“ You are the Lord God, who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and named him Abraham.You found his heart faithful to you, and you made a covenant with him to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites and Girgashites. You have kept your promise because you are righteous.“ You saw the suffering of our ancestors in Egypt; you heard their cry at the Red Sea.You sent signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all his officials and all the people of his land, for you knew how arrogantly the Egyptians treated them. You made a name for yourself, which remains to this day.You divided the sea before them, so that they passed through it on dry ground, but you hurled their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into mighty waters.By day you led them with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire to give them light on the way they were to take.“ You came down on Mount Sinai; you spoke to them from heaven. You gave them regulations and laws that are just and right, and decrees and commands that are good.You made known to them your holy Sabbath and gave them commands, decrees and laws through your servant Moses.In their hunger you gave them bread from heaven and in their thirst you brought them water from the rock; you told them to go in and take possession of the land you had sworn with uplifted hand to give them.“ But they, our ancestors, became arrogant and stiff- necked, and they did not obey your commands.They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them,even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said,‘ This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,’ or when they committed awful blasphemies.“ Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud did not fail to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take.You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst.For forty years you sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen.“ You gave them kingdoms and nations, allotting to them even the remotest frontiers. They took over the country of Sihon king of Heshbon and the country of Og king of Bashan.You made their children as numerous as the stars in the sky, and you brought them into the land that you told their parents to enter and possess.Their children went in and took possession of the land. You subdued before them the Canaanites, who lived in the land; you gave the Canaanites into their hands, along with their kings and the peoples of the land, to deal with them as they pleased.They captured fortified cities and fertile land; they took possession of houses filled with all kinds of good things, wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves and fruit trees in abundance. They ate to the full and were well-nourished; they reveled in your great goodness.“ But they were disobedient and rebelled against you; they turned their backs on your law. They killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you; they committed awful blasphemies.So you delivered them into the hands of their enemies, who oppressed them. But when they were oppressed they cried out to you. From heaven you heard them, and in your great compassion you gave them deliverers, who rescued them from the hand of their enemies.“ But as soon as they were at rest, they again did what was evil in your sight. Then you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies so that they ruled over them. And when they cried out to you again, you heard from heaven, and in your compassion you delivered them time after time.“ You warned them in order to turn them back to your law, but they became arrogant and disobeyed your commands. They sinned against your ordinances, of which you said,‘ The person who obeys them will live by them.’ Stubbornly they turned their backs on you, became stiff- necked and refused to listen.For many years you were patient with them. By your Spirit you warned them through your prophets. Yet they paid no attention, so you gave them into the hands of the neighboring peoples.But in your great mercy you did not put an end to them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.“ Now therefore, our God, the great God, mighty and awesome, who keeps his covenant of love, do not let all this hardship seem trifling in your eyes— the hardship that has come on us, on our kings and leaders, on our priests and prophets, on our ancestors and all your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today.In all that has happened to us, you have remained righteous; you have acted faithfully, while we acted wickedly.Our kings, our leaders, our priests and our ancestors did not follow your law; they did not pay attention to your commands or the statutes you warned them to keep.Even while they were in their kingdom, enjoying your great goodness to them in the spacious and fertile land you gave them, they did not serve you or turn from their evil ways.“ But see, we are slaves today, slaves in the land you gave our ancestors so they could eat its fruit and the other good things it produces.Because of our sins, its abundant harvest goes to the kings you have placed over us. They rule over our bodies and our cattle as they please. We are in great distress.“ In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites and our priests are affixing their seals to it.”

“ Who has stirred up one from the east, calling him in righteousness to his service? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow.

Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west.I will say to the north,‘ Give them up!’ and to the south,‘ Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth—

Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story— those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.

People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.

“ But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend,

I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah— how he appealed to God against Israel:

Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?

This is what the Lord says:‘ If I have not made my covenant with day and night and established the laws of heaven and earth,then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his sons to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them.’”