Isaiah 49

THE SERVANT BRINGS SALVATION

49Coasts and islands,^A listen to me;

distant peoples, pay attention.

The Lord called^a me before I was born.

He named me while I was in my mother’s womb.^b

²He made my words like a sharp sword;^c

he hid me in the shadow of his hand.^d

He made me like a sharpened arrow;

he hid me in his quiver.

³He said to me, “You are my servant,^e

Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”

⁴But I myself said: I have labored in vain,

I have spent my strength for nothing and futility;

yet my vindication is with the Lord,

and my reward is with my God.

⁵And 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;

for I am honored in the sight of the Lord,

and my God is my strength—

⁶he says,

“It is not enough for you to be my servant

raising up the tribes of Jacob

and restoring the protected ones of Israel.

I will also make you a light for the nations,^f

to be my salvation to the ends of the earth.”^g

⁷This is what the Lord,

the Redeemer^h of Israel, his Holy One, says

to one who is despised,

to one abhorred by people,^Ai

to a servant of rulers:

“Kings will see, princes will stand up,

and they^B will all bow down

because of the Lord, who is faithful,

the Holy One of Israel^j—and he has chosen you.”^k

⁸This is what the Lord says:

I will answer you in a time of favor,

and I will help you in the day of salvation.^l

I will keep you, and I will appoint you

to be a covenant for the people,^m

to restore the land,

to make them possess the desolate inheritances,

⁹saying to the prisoners, “Come out,”ⁿ

and to those who are in darkness, “Show yourselves.”

They will feed along the pathways,

and their pastures will be on all the barren heights.^o

¹⁰They will not hunger or thirst,

the scorching heat or sun will not strike them;

for their compassionate one will guide them,

and lead them to springs.^p

¹¹I will make all my mountains into a road,

and my highways will be raised up.^q

¹²See, these will come from far away,

from the north and from the west,^Cr

and from the land of Sinim.^DE

¹³Shout for joy, you heavens!^s

Earth, rejoice!

Mountains break into joyful shouts!

For the Lord has comforted his people,^t

and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.^u

ZION REMEMBERED

¹⁴Zion says, “The Lord has abandoned me;

the Lord has forgotten me!”

¹⁵“Can a woman forget her nursing child,

or lack compassion for the child of her womb?

Even if these forget,

yet I will not forget you.

¹⁶Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;^v

your walls are continually before me.

¹⁷Your builders^F hurry;

those who destroy and devastate you will leave you.

¹⁸Look up, and look around.

They all gather together; they come to you.^a

As I live”—

this is the Lord’s declaration—

“you will wear all your children^A as jewelry,

and put them on as a bride does.

¹⁹For your waste and desolate places

and your land marked by ruins

will now be indeed too small for the inhabitants,^b

and those who swallowed you up will be far away.

²⁰Yet as you listen, the children

that you have been deprived of will say,

‘This place is too small for me;

make room for me so that I may settle.’^c

²¹Then you will say within yourself,

‘Who fathered these for me?

I was deprived of my children and unable to conceive,

exiled and wandering—

but who brought them up?

See, I was left by myself—

but these, where did they come from?’ ”^B

²²This is what the Lord God says:

Look, I will lift up my hand to the nations,

and raise my banner to the peoples.^d

They will bring your sons in their arms,

and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.^e

²³Kings will be your guardians

and their queens^C your nursing mothers.^f

They will bow down to you

with their faces to the ground

and lick the dust at your feet.^g

Then you will know that I am the Lord;^h

those who put their hope in me

will not be put to shame.ⁱ

²⁴Can the prey be taken from a mighty man,

or the captives of a tyrant^D be delivered?

²⁵For this is what the Lord says:

“Even the captives of a mighty man will be taken,

and the prey of a tyrant will be delivered;

I will contend with the one who contends with you,

and I will save your children.

²⁶I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,^j

and they will be drunk with their own blood

as with sweet wine.

Then all humanity will know

that I, the Lord, am your Savior,^k

and your Redeemer,^l the Mighty One of Jacob.”^m