Isaiah 49
49
The Lord’s Servant Will Bring Salvation to the Nations
1Listen to me, you islands.
Pay attention, you people far away.
Before I was born, the Lord chose me.
While I was in my mother’s womb, he recorded my name.
2He made my tongue like a sharp sword
and hid me in the palm of his hand.
He made me like a sharpened arrow
and hid me in his quiver.
3He said to me,
“You are my servant Israel.
I will display my glory through you.”
4But I said,
“I have worked hard for nothing.
I have used my strength, but I didn’t accomplish anything.
Yet, certainly my case is in the Lord’s hands,
and my reward is with my God.”
5The Lord formed me in the womb to be his servant
in order to bring Jacob back to him
and gather Israel to him.
(The Lord honors me,
and my God has become my strength.)
6Now, the Lord says,
“You are not just my servant
who restores the tribes of Jacob
and brings back those in Israel whom I have preserved.
I have also made you a light for the nations
so that you would save people all over the world.”
7The Lord is the defender of Israel, its Holy One.
This is what the Lord says to the despised one, to the one scorned by the nation, to the slave of rulers:
Kings will see ⌞you⌟ and stand.
Princes will see ⌞you⌟ and bow.
The Lord is faithful.
The Holy One of Israel has chosen you.
8This is what the Lord says:
In the time of favor I will answer you.
In the day of salvation I will help you.
I will protect you.
I will appoint you as my promise #49:8 Or “covenant.” to the people.
You will restore the land.
You will make them inherit the desolate inheritance.
9You will say to the prisoners, “Come out,”
and to those who are in darkness, “Show yourselves.”
They will graze along every path,
and they will find pastures on every bare hill.
10They will never be hungry or thirsty,
nor will the sun or the burning, hot wind strike them.
The one who has compassion on them will lead them
and guide them to springs.
11I will turn all my mountains into roads,
and my highways will be restored.
12They will come from far away.
They will come from the north and from the west,
and they will come from the land of Sinim.
13Sing with joy, you heavens!
Rejoice, you earth!
Break into shouts of joy, you mountains!
The Lord has comforted his people
and will have compassion on his humble people.
The LORD Has Not Forgotten Israel
14But Zion said, “The Lord has abandoned me.
My Lord has forgotten me.”
15Can a woman forget her nursing child?
Will she have no compassion on the child from her womb?
Although mothers may forget,
I will not forget you.
16I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.
Your walls are always in my presence.
17Your children will hurry back.
Those who destroyed you and laid waste to you will leave you.
18Look up, look around, and watch!
All of your children are gathering together and returning to you.
“I solemnly swear as I live,” declares the Lord,
“you will wear all of them like jewels
and display them on yourself as a bride would.”
19Though you are destroyed and demolished and your land is in ruins,
you will be too crowded for ⌞your⌟ people now.
Those who devoured you will be long gone.
20The children taken from you will say to you,
“This place is too crowded for me.
Make room for me to live here.”
21Then you will ask yourself,
“Who has fathered these ⌞children⌟ for me?
I was childless and unable to have children.
I was exiled and rejected.
Who raised these ⌞children for me⌟?
I was left alone.
Where have they come from?”
22This is what the Almighty Lord says:
I will lift my hand ⌞to signal⌟ the nations.
I will raise my flag for the people.
They will bring your sons in their arms
and carry your daughters on their shoulders.
23Then kings will be your foster fathers,
and their queens will nurse you.
They will bow in front of you
with their faces touching the ground.
They will lick the dust at your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord.
Those who wait with hope for me will not be put to shame.
24Can loot be taken away from mighty men
or prisoners be freed from conquerors?
25This is what the Lord says:
Prisoners will be freed from mighty men.
Loot will be taken away from tyrants.
I will fight your enemies,
and I will save your children.
26I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,
and they will become drunk on their own blood
as though it were new wine.
Then all humanity will know that I am the Lord, who saves you,
the Mighty One of Jacob, who reclaims you.
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 49
49
The Servant of the Lord
1#Jer 1:5; Isa 42:1–4 Listen to me, O coastlands,
and pay attention, you peoples from afar.
The Lord called me from the womb;
from the body of my mother He named me.
2#Isa 11:4; Rev 1:16 He has made my mouth like a sharp sword;
in the shadow of His hand He has hidden me
and made me a select arrow;
in His quiver He has hidden me.
3#Isa 44:23; Zec 3:8 He said to me, “You are My servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
4#Isa 53:10–12; 65:23 Then I said, “I have labored in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity,
yet surely the justice due to me is with the Lord,
and my reward with my God.”
5#Mt 17:5; 28:18 Now says the Lord,
who formed me from the womb to be His servant,
to bring Jacob back to Him,
so that Israel might be gathered to Him
(yet I am honored in the eyes of the Lord,
and my God is my strength),
6#Isa 42:6; Lk 2:32 He says,
“It is a light thing that you should be My servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also make you a light to the nations
so that My salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
7#Isa 52:15; 53:3 Thus says the Lord,
the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One,
to the despised one, to the one whom the nation abhors,
to the servant of rulers:
“Kings shall see and arise,
princes also shall worship,
because of the Lord who is faithful
and the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.”
The Restoration of Israel
8#Isa 42:6; Ps 69:13; 2Co 6:2Thus says the Lord:
In an acceptable time I have heard you,
and in a day of salvation I have helped you;
and I will preserve you, and give you
as a covenant of the people,
to restore the earth,
to make them inherit the desolate heritages,
9#Isa 42:7; 61:1 saying to the prisoners, “Go forth,”
to those who are in darkness, “Show yourselves.”
They shall feed along the paths,
and their pastures shall be in all desolate heights;
10#Rev 7:16–17 they shall not hunger nor thirst,
neither shall the heat nor sun strike them;
for He who has mercy on them shall lead them,
even by the springs of water He shall guide them.
11#Isa 11:16; 62:10 I will make all My mountains a road,
and My highways shall be raised up.
12#Isa 43:5–6 See, these shall come from afar;
and these will come from the north and from the west,
and these from the land of Sinim.
13#Isa 44:23; 51:3 Sing, O heavens!
And be joyful, O earth!
And break forth into singing, Omountains!
For the Lord has comforted His people
and will have mercy on His afflicted.
14#Isa 40:27 But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
and the Lord has forgotten me.”
15#Isa 44:21 Can a woman forget her nursing child,
and have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget.
16#SS 8:6; Hag 2:23 See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;
your walls are continually before Me;
17your builders hurry;
your destroyers and those who devastated you shall depart from you.
18#Isa 49:12; 54:9 Lift up your eyes and look all around;
all these gather themselves together and come to you.
As I live, says the Lord,
you shall surely put on all of them as ornaments
and bind them on you as a bride does.
19#Zec 10:10; Ps 56:1–2 For your waste and your desolate places,
and the land of your destruction,
shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants,
and those who swallowed you up shall be far away.
20The children whom you shall have,
after you have lost the others,
shall say again in your ears,
“The place is too cramped for me;
make room for me that I may dwell here.”
21Then you shall say in your heart,
“Who bore these for me,
since I have lost my children and am barren,
a captive and a wanderer?
And who has brought these up?
I was left alone;
from where did these come?”
22Thus says the Lord God:
See, I will lift up My hand to the nations
and set up My standard to the peoples;
and they shall bring your sons in their arms,
and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders;
23#Isa 60:3; 60:16 kings shall be your foster fathers
and their queens your nursing mothers;
they shall bow down to you with their faces toward the ground
and lick up the dust of your feet.
And you shall know that I am the Lord,
for those who wait for Me shall not be ashamed.
24#Mt 12:29 Can the prey be taken from the mighty
or the captives of a tyrant be delivered?
25#Jer 50:33–34For thus says the Lord:
Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away,
and the prey of the tyrant shall be delivered;
for I will contend with him who contends with you,
and I will save your sons.
26#Isa 9:20; Eze 39:7 I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh,
and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine.
And all flesh shall know
that I, the Lord, am your Savior
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
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