Isaiah 49:8-18
New English Translation
8 This is what the Lord says:
“At the time I decide to show my favor, I will respond to you;
in the day of deliverance I will help you;
I will protect you[a] and make you a covenant mediator for people,[b]
to rebuild[c] the land[d]
and to reassign the desolate property.
9 You will say[e] to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’
and to those who are in dark dungeons,[f] ‘Emerge.’[g]
They will graze beside the roads;
on all the slopes they will find pasture.
10 They will not be hungry or thirsty;
the sun’s oppressive heat will not beat down on them,[h]
for one who has compassion on them will guide them;
he will lead them to springs of water.
11 I will make all my mountains into a road;
I will construct my roadways.”
12 Look, they come from far away!
Look, some come from the north and west,
and others from the land of Sinim.[i]
13 Shout for joy, O sky![j]
Rejoice, O earth!
Let the mountains give a joyful shout!
For the Lord consoles his people
and shows compassion to the[k] oppressed.
The Lord Remembers Zion
14 “Zion said, ‘The Lord has abandoned me,
the Lord[l] has forgotten me.’
15 Can a woman forget her baby who nurses at her breast?[m]
Can she withhold compassion from the child she has borne?[n]
Even if mothers[o] were to forget,
I could never forget you![p]
16 Look, I have inscribed your name[q] on my palms;
your walls are constantly before me.
17 Your children hurry back,
while those who destroyed and devastated you depart.
18 Look all around you![r]
All of them gather to you.
As surely as I live,” says the Lord,
“you will certainly wear all of them like jewelry;
you will put them on as if you were a bride.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 49:8 tn The translation assumes the verb is derived from the root נָצָר (natsar, “protect”). Some prefer to derive it from the root יָצָר (yatsar, “form”).
- Isaiah 49:8 tn Heb “a covenant of people.” A person cannot literally be a covenant; בְּרִית (berit) is probably metonymic here, indicating a covenant mediator. Here עָם (ʿam, “people”) appears to refer to Israel. See the note at 42:6.
- Isaiah 49:8 tn The Hiphil of קוּם (qum, “arise”) is probably used here in the sense of “rebuild.”
- Isaiah 49:8 tn The “land” probably stands by metonymy for the ruins within it.
- Isaiah 49:9 tn Heb “to say.” In the Hebrew text the infinitive construct is subordinated to what precedes.
- Isaiah 49:9 tn Heb “in darkness” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “the prisoners of darkness.”
- Isaiah 49:9 tn Heb “show yourselves” (so ASV, NAB, NASB).
- Isaiah 49:10 tn Heb “and the heat and the sun will not strike them.” In Isa 35:7, its only other occurrence in the OT, שָׁרָב (sharav) stands parallel to “parched ground” and in contrast to “pool.” In later Hebrew and Aramaic it refers to “dry heat, heat of the sun” (Jastrow 1627 s.v.). Here it likely has this nuance and forms a hendiadys with “sun.”
- Isaiah 49:12 tc The MT reads “Sinim” here; the Dead Sea Scrolls read “Syene,” a location in Egypt associated with modern Aswan. A number of recent translations adopt this reading: “Syene” (NAB, NRSV); “Aswan” (NIV); “Egypt” (NLT).sn The precise location of the land of Sinim is uncertain, but since the north and west are mentioned in the previous line, it was a probably located in the distant east or south.
- Isaiah 49:13 tn Or “O heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
- Isaiah 49:13 tn Heb “his” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
- Isaiah 49:14 tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (ʾadonay).
- Isaiah 49:15 tn Heb “her suckling”; NASB “her nursing child.”
- Isaiah 49:15 tn Heb “so as not to have compassion on the son of her womb?”
- Isaiah 49:15 tn Heb “these” (so ASV, NASB).
- Isaiah 49:15 sn The argument of v. 15 seems to develop as follows: The Lord has an innate attachment to Zion, just like a mother does for her infant child. But even if mothers were to suddenly abandon their children, the Lord would never forsake Zion. In other words, the Lord’s attachment to Zion is like a mother’s attachment to her infant child, but even stronger.
- Isaiah 49:16 tn Heb “you.” Here the pronoun is put by metonymy for the person’s name.
- Isaiah 49:18 tn Heb “Lift up around your eyes and see.”
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