Isaiah 49

49Listen, ^aO isles, unto me;

And hearken, ye people, ^bfrom far;

^cThe Lord hath called me ^dfrom the womb;

From the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.

²And he hath made ^emy mouth ^flike a sharp sword;

^gIn the shadow of his hand hath he hid me,

And made me ^ha polished shaft;

In his quiver hath he hid me;

³And said unto me, ⁱThou art my servant,

O Israel, ^kin whom I will be glorified.

⁴Then I said, ^lI have laboured in vain,

I have spent my strength ^mfor nought, and in vain:

Yet surely ⁿmy judgment is with the Lord,

And ^||my work with my God.

⁵And now, saith ^cthe Lord ^othat formed me ^dfrom the womb to be his servant,

To bring Jacob again to him,

^||Though Israel be not gathered,

Yet shall I ^pbe glorious in the eyes of the Lord,

And my God shall be my strength.

⁶And he said, ^||qIt is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant

To raise up the tribes of Jacob,

And to restore the ^||rpreserved of Israel:

^sI will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles,

That thou mayest be ^tmy salvation unto the end of the earth.

^7uThus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One,

^v||To him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers,

^wKings shall see and arise,

Princes also shall worship,

Because of ^xthe Lord that is faithful,

And the Holy One of Israel, and ^yhe shall choose thee.

⁸Thus saith the Lord,

^zIn an acceptable time have I heard thee,

And in a day of salvation have I helped thee:

And I will preserve thee, and ^agive thee for a covenant of the people,

To ^||establish the earth, ^aato cause to inherit the desolate heritages;

⁹That thou mayest say ^bcto the prisoners, Go forth;

^bTo them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves.

They shall feed in the ways,

And their pastures shall be in all high places.

^10dThey shall not hunger nor thirst;

^eNeither shall ^fthe heat nor sun smite them:

For he that hath mercy on them ^gshall lead them,

Even by ^hthe springs of water ^gshall he guide them.

¹¹And ⁱI will make all my mountains a way,

And my highways shall be exalted.

¹²Behold, ^kthese shall come from far:

And, lo, these ^lfrom the north and ^lfrom the west;

And these from the land of Sinim.

^13mSing, O heavens; and ⁿbe joyful, O earth;

And ^mbreak forth into singing, ^oO mountains:

For the Lord hath comforted his people,

And will have mercy upon his afflicted.

^14pBut Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me,

And my Lord hath forgotten me.

¹⁵Can a woman forget her sucking child,

^†That she should not have compassion on ^qthe son of her womb?

Yea, ^rthey may forget,

^sYet will I not forget thee.

¹⁶Behold, ^tI have graven thee upon the palms of my hands;

Thy walls are continually before me.

¹⁷Thy children shall make haste;

^uThy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.

^18vLift up thine eyes round about, and behold:

^vAll these gather themselves together, and come to thee.

^wAs I live, saith the Lord, ^xthou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament,

And ^xxbind them on thee, ^yas a bride doeth.

¹⁹For ^yythy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of ^uthy destruction,

^zShall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants,

And they that ^aswallowed thee up shall be far away.

^20bThe children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears,

The place is too strait for me:

^cGive place to me that I may dwell.

²¹Then shalt thou say in thine heart, ^dWho hath begotten me these,

Seeing I have lost my children, and ^eam desolate,

A captive, and removing to and fro?

And who hath brought up these?

Behold, I was left alone;

These, where had they been?

²²Thus saith the Lord God,

^fBehold, ^gI will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles,

And ^hset up my standard to the people:

And ⁱthey shall bring thy sons in their ^†arms,

And thy daughters ^jshall be carried upon their shoulders.

²³And ^kkings shall be thy ^†nursing fathers,

And their ^†queens thy nursing mothers:

^ilThey shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth,

And ^mlick up the dust of thy feet;

And thou shalt know that I am the Lord:

For ⁿthey shall not be ashamed that wait for me.

^24oShall the prey be taken from the mighty,

Or ^†the lawful captive delivered?

²⁵But thus saith the Lord,

Even the ^†captives of the mighty shall be taken away,

And the prey of the terrible shall be delivered:

For I will contend with ^phim that contendeth with thee,

And I will save thy children.

²⁶And ^qI will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh;

And ^rthey shall be drunken with their own blood, as with ^||sweet wine:

And all flesh ^sshall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour

And ^tthy Redeemer, ^uthe mighty One of Jacob.