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Isaiah 49:8-23
New King James Version
Isaiah 49:8-23
New King James Version
8 Thus says the Lord:
“In an (A)acceptable[a] time I have heard You,
And in the day of salvation I have helped You;
I will [b]preserve You (B)and give You
As a covenant to the people,
To restore the earth,
To cause them to inherit the desolate [c]heritages;
9 That You may say (C)to the prisoners, ‘Go forth,’
To those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’
“They shall feed along the roads,
And their pastures shall be on all desolate heights.
10 They shall neither (D)hunger nor thirst,
(E)Neither heat nor sun shall strike them;
For He who has mercy on them (F)will lead them,
Even by the springs of water He will guide them.
11 (G)I will make each of My mountains a road,
And My highways shall be elevated.
12 Surely (H)these shall come from afar;
Look! Those from the north and the west,
And these from the land of Sinim.”
13 (I)Sing, O heavens!
Be joyful, O earth!
And break out in singing, O mountains!
For the Lord has comforted His people,
And will have mercy on His afflicted.
God Will Remember Zion
14 (J)But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
And my Lord has forgotten me.”
15 “Can(K) a woman forget her nursing child,
[d]And not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Surely they may forget,
(L)Yet I will not forget you.
16 See, (M)I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;
Your walls are continually before Me.
17 Your [e]sons shall make haste;
Your destroyers and those who laid you waste
Shall go away from you.
18 (N)Lift up your eyes, look around and see;
All these gather together and come to you.
As I live,” says the Lord,
“You shall surely clothe yourselves with them all (O)as an ornament,
And bind them on you as a bride does.
19 “For your waste and desolate places,
And the land of your destruction,
(P)Will even now be too small for the inhabitants;
And those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20 (Q)The children you will have,
(R)After you have lost the others,
Will say again in your ears,
‘The place is too small for me;
Give me a place where I may dwell.’
21 Then you will say in your heart,
‘Who has begotten these for me,
Since I have lost my children and am desolate,
A captive, and wandering to and fro?
And who has brought these up?
There I was, left alone;
But these, where were they?’ ”
22 (S)Thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations,
And set up My [f]standard for the peoples;
They shall bring your sons in their [g]arms,
And your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders;
23 (T)Kings shall be your foster fathers,
And their queens your nursing mothers;
They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth,
And (U)lick up the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord,
(V)For they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 49:8 favorable
- Isaiah 49:8 keep
- Isaiah 49:8 inheritances
- Isaiah 49:15 Lit. From having compassion
- Isaiah 49:17 DSS, LXX, Tg., Vg. builders
- Isaiah 49:22 banner
- Isaiah 49:22 Lit. bosom
Isaiah 49:8-23
New International Version
Isaiah 49:8-23
New International Version
Restoration of Israel
8 This is what the Lord says:
“In the time of my favor(A) I will answer you,
and in the day of salvation I will help you;(B)
I will keep(C) you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people,(D)
to restore the land(E)
and to reassign its desolate inheritances,(F)
9 to say to the captives,(G) ‘Come out,’
and to those in darkness,(H) ‘Be free!’
“They will feed beside the roads
and find pasture on every barren hill.(I)
10 They will neither hunger nor thirst,(J)
nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them.(K)
He who has compassion(L) on them will guide(M) them
and lead them beside springs(N) of water.
11 I will turn all my mountains into roads,
and my highways(O) will be raised up.(P)
12 See, they will come from afar(Q)—
some from the north, some from the west,(R)
some from the region of Aswan.[a]”
13 Shout for joy,(S) you heavens;
rejoice, you earth;(T)
burst into song, you mountains!(U)
For the Lord comforts(V) his people
and will have compassion(W) on his afflicted ones.(X)
15 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child(AA) she has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you!(AB)
16 See, I have engraved(AC) you on the palms of my hands;
your walls(AD) are ever before me.
17 Your children hasten back,
and those who laid you waste(AE) depart from you.
18 Lift up your eyes and look around;
all your children gather(AF) and come to you.
As surely as I live,(AG)” declares the Lord,
“you will wear(AH) them all as ornaments;
you will put them on, like a bride.
19 “Though you were ruined and made desolate(AI)
and your land laid waste,(AJ)
now you will be too small for your people,(AK)
and those who devoured(AL) you will be far away.
20 The children born during your bereavement
will yet say in your hearing,
‘This place is too small for us;
give us more space to live in.’(AM)
21 Then you will say in your heart,
‘Who bore me these?(AN)
I was bereaved(AO) and barren;
I was exiled and rejected.(AP)
Who brought these(AQ) up?
I was left(AR) all alone,(AS)
but these—where have they come from?’”
22 This is what the Sovereign Lord(AT) says:
“See, I will beckon to the nations,
I will lift up my banner(AU) to the peoples;
they will bring(AV) your sons in their arms
and carry your daughters on their hips.(AW)
23 Kings(AX) will be your foster fathers,
and their queens your nursing mothers.(AY)
They will bow down(AZ) before you with their faces to the ground;
they will lick the dust(BA) at your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord;(BB)
those who hope(BC) in me will not be disappointed.(BD)”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 49:12 Dead Sea Scrolls; Masoretic Text Sinim
New King James Version (NKJV) 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.