Isaiah 49

Chapter 49

Salvation Reaches to the End of the Earth

¹Listen to Me, O ^aislands,

And pay attention, you peoples from afar.

^bThe Lord called Me from the womb;

From the ¹body of My mother He named Me.

²He has made My ^amouth like a sharp sword,

In the ^bshadow of His hand He has concealed Me;

And He has also made Me a ¹select ^carrow,

He has hidden Me in His quiver.

³He said to Me, “^aYou are My Servant, Israel,

^bIn Whom I will ¹show My glory.”

⁴But I said, “I have ^atoiled in vain,

I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity;

Yet surely the justice due to Me is with the Lord,

And My ^breward with My God.”

⁵And now says ^athe Lord, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,

To bring Jacob back to Him, so that ^bIsrael might be gathered to Him

(For I am ^chonored in the sight of the Lord,

And My God is My ^dstrength),

⁶He says, “It is too ¹small a thing that You should be My Servant

To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the ^apreserved ones of Israel;

I will also make You a ^blight ²of the nations

So that My salvation may ³reach to the ^cend of the earth.”

⁷Thus says the Lord, the ^aRedeemer of Israel and its Holy One,

To the ^bdespised One,

To the One abhorred by the nation,

To the Servant of rulers,

“^cKings will see and arise,

Princes will also ^dbow down,

Because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You.”

⁸Thus says the Lord,

“In a ^afavorable time I have answered You,

And in a day of salvation I have helped You;

And I will ^bkeep You and ^cgive You for a covenant of the people,

To ^1drestore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages;

⁹Saying to those who are ^abound, ‘Go forth,’

To those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’

Along the roads they will feed,

And their pasture will be on all ^bbare heights.

¹⁰“They will ^anot hunger or thirst,

Nor will the scorching ^bheat or sun strike them down;

For ^cHe who has compassion on them will ^dlead them

And will guide them to ^esprings of water.

¹¹“I will make all ^aMy mountains a road,

And My ^bhighways will be raised up.

¹²“Behold, these will come ^afrom afar;

And lo, these will come from the ^bnorth and from the west,

And these from the land of Sinim.”

^13aShout for joy, O heavens! And rejoice, O earth!

Break forth into joyful shouting, O mountains!

For the ^bLord has comforted His people

And will ^chave compassion on His afflicted.

Promise to Zion

¹⁴But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,

And the Lord has forgotten me.”

¹⁵“Can a woman forget her nursing child

And have no compassion on the son of her womb?

Even these may forget, but ^aI will not forget you.

¹⁶“Behold, I have ^ainscribed you on the palms of My hands;

Your ^bwalls are continually before Me.

¹⁷“Your ¹builders hurry;

Your ^adestroyers and devastators

Will depart from you.

¹⁸“^aLift up your eyes and look around;

^bAll of them gather together, ^cthey come to you.

^dAs I live,” declares the Lord,

“You will surely ^eput on all of them as ¹jewels and bind them on as a bride.

¹⁹“For ^ayour waste and desolate places and your destroyed land—

Surely now you will be ^btoo cramped for the inhabitants,

And those who ^cswallowed you will be far away.

²⁰“The ^achildren of ¹whom you were bereaved will yet say in your ears,

‘The place is too cramped for me;

Make room for me that I may live here.’

²¹“Then you will ^asay in your heart,

‘Who has begotten these for me,

Since I have been bereaved of my children

And am ^bbarren, an ^cexile and a wanderer?

And who has reared these?

Behold, I was ^dleft alone;

^1eFrom where did these come?’ ”

²²Thus says the Lord ¹God,

“Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations

And set up My ^astandard to the peoples;

And they will ^bbring your sons in their bosom,

And your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.

²³“^aKings will be your guardians,

And their princesses your nurses.

They will ^bbow down to you with their faces to the earth

And ^click the dust of your feet;

And you will ^dknow that I am the Lord;

Those who hopefully ^ewait for Me will ^fnot be put to shame.

²⁴“^aCan the prey be taken from the mighty man,

Or the captives of ¹a tyrant be rescued?”

²⁵Surely, thus says the Lord,

“Even the ^acaptives of the mighty man will be taken away,

And the prey of the tyrant will be rescued;

For I will contend with the one who contends with you,

And I will ^bsave your sons.

²⁶“I will feed your ^aoppressors with their ^bown flesh,

And they will become drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine;

And ^call flesh will know that I, the Lord, am your ^dSavior

And your ^eRedeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”