Chapter 49

Salvation Reaches to the End of the Earth

1 Listen 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.

2 He 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.

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

bIn Whom I will 1show My glory.”

4 But 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.”

5 And 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),

6 He 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.”

7 Thus 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.”

8 Thus 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;

9 Saying 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.”

13 aShout 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

14 But 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?’ ”

22 Thus 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?”

25 Surely, 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.”