Isaiah 49
Holman Christian Standard Bible
The Servant Brings Salvation
49 Coastlands,[a] listen to me;
distant peoples, pay attention.
The Lord called(A) me before I was born.
He named me while I was in my mother’s womb.(B)
2 He made my words like a sharp sword;(C)
He hid me in the shadow of His hand.(D)
He made me like a sharpened arrow;
He hid me in His quiver.
3 He said to me, “You are My Servant, Israel;(E)
I will be glorified in him.”
4 But I myself said: I have labored in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing and futility;
yet my vindication is with the Lord,
and my reward is with my God.
5 And now, says the Lord,
who formed me from the womb to be His Servant,
to bring Jacob back to Him
so that Israel might be gathered to Him;
for I am honored in the sight of the Lord,
and my God is my strength—
6 He says,
“It is not enough for you to be My Servant
raising up the tribes of Jacob
and restoring the protected ones of Israel.
I will also make you a light for the nations,(F)
to be My salvation to the ends of the earth.”(G)
7 This is what the Lord,
the Redeemer(H) of Israel, his Holy One, says
to one who is despised,
to one abhorred by people,[b](I)
to a servant of rulers:
“Kings will see and stand up,
and princes[c] will bow down,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel(J)—and He has chosen you.”(K)
8 This is what the Lord says:
I will answer you in a time of favor,
and I will help you in the day of salvation.(L)
I will keep you, and I will appoint you
to be a covenant for the people,(M)
to restore the land,
to make them possess the desolate inheritances,
9 saying to the prisoners: Come out,(N)
and to those who are in darkness: Show yourselves.
They will feed along the pathways,
and their pastures will be on all the barren heights.(O)
10 They will not hunger or thirst,
the scorching heat or sun will not strike them;
for their compassionate One will guide them,
and lead them to springs of water.(P)
11 I will make all My mountains into a road,
and My highways will be raised up.(Q)
12 See, these will come from far away,
from the north and from the west,[d](R)
and from the land of Sinim.[e][f]
13 Shout for joy, you heavens!(S)
Earth, rejoice!
Mountains break into joyful shouts!
For the Lord has comforted His people,(T)
and will have compassion on His afflicted ones.(U)
Zion Remembered
14 Zion says, “The Lord has abandoned me;
The Lord has forgotten me!”
15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child,
or lack compassion for the child of her womb?
Even if these forget,
yet I will not forget you.
16 Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;(V)
your walls are continually before Me.
17 Your builders[g] hurry;
those who destroy and devastate you will leave you.
18 Look up, and look around.
They all gather together; they come to you.(W)
As I live”—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
“you will wear all your children[h] as jewelry,
and put them on as a bride does.
19 For your waste and desolate places
and your land marked by ruins—
will now be indeed too small for the inhabitants,(X)
and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20 Yet as you listen, the children
that you have been deprived of will say,
‘This place is too small for me;
make room for me so that I may settle.’(Y)
21 Then you will say within yourself,
‘Who fathered these for me?
I was deprived of my children and unable to conceive,
exiled and wandering—
but who brought them up?
See, I was left by myself—
but these, where did they come from?’”[i]
22 This is what the Lord God says:
Look, I will lift up My hand to the nations,
and raise My banner to the peoples.(Z)
They will bring your sons in their arms,
and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.(AA)
23 Kings will be your foster fathers,
and their queens[j] your nursing mothers.(AB)
They will bow down to you
with their faces to the ground,
and lick the dust at your feet.(AC)
Then you will know that I am Yahweh;(AD)
those who put their hope in Me
will not be put to shame.(AE)
24 Can the prey be taken from the mighty,
or the captives of the righteous[k] be delivered?
25 For this is what the Lord says:
“Even the captives of a mighty man will be taken,
and the prey of a tyrant will be delivered;
I will contend with the one who contends with you,
and I will save your children.
26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,(AF)
and they will be drunk with their own blood
as with sweet wine.
Then all flesh will know
that I, Yahweh, am your Savior,(AG)
and your Redeemer,(AH) the Mighty One of Jacob.”(AI)
Footnotes
- Isaiah 49:1 Or Islands
- Isaiah 49:7 Or by the nation
- Isaiah 49:7 Lit princes and they
- Isaiah 49:12 Lit sea
- Isaiah 49:12 DSS read of the Syenites
- Isaiah 49:12 Perhaps modern Aswan in southern Egypt
- Isaiah 49:17 DSS, Aq, Theod, Vg; MT, Syr, Sym read sons
- Isaiah 49:18 Lit all of them
- Isaiah 49:21 Lit where are they
- Isaiah 49:23 Lit princesses
- Isaiah 49:24 DSS, Syr, Vg read fearsome one, or tyrant
Isaiah 49
International Standard Version
The Servant of the Lord
49 “Listen to me, you coastlands!
Pay[a] attention, you people[b] from far away!
The Lord called me from the womb;
while I was still in my mother’s body,
he pronounced my name.
2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
he hid me in the shadow of his hands.[c]
He made me like a polished arrow
and hid me away in his quivers.[d]
3 He said to me: ‘You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will glorify myself.’
4 “I[e] said: ‘I’ve labored for nothing.
I’ve exhausted my strength on futility and on[f] emptiness.’
Yet surely my recompense is with the Lord,
and my reward is with my God.
5 “And now, says the Lord,
who formed you[g] from the womb as his servant
to bring Jacob back to him
so that Israel might be gathered[h] to him—
and I am honored in the Lord’s sight
and my God has been my help[i]—
6 he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant,
to raise up the tribes of Israel[j]
and bring back those of Jacob[k] I have preserved.
I’ll also make you as a light to the nations,
to be my salvation to the ends[l] of the earth.
7 “This is what my Lord[m] says—
the Lord your Redeemer, O Israel,[n]
and his Holy One—
to one despised by people,[o]
to those abhorred[p] as a nation,
to the servant of rulers:
“Kings see[q] and arise,
and princes[r] will bow down,
because of the Lord who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel,
the one who has[s] chosen you.”
The Restoration of Israel
8 “This what the Lord says:
“I’ll answer[t] you in a time of favor,
and on a day of salvation I’ll help[u] you.
I have watched over you,
and given you as a covenant for the people,
to restore the land,
to reassign the inheritances that have been devastated;
9 saying to captives, ‘Come out!’
and[v] to those who are in darkness, ‘Be free!’[w]
“They will feed on all the mountains,[x]
and their pasture will be on all the barren hills.
10 They won’t hunger or thirst,
nor will the desert heat or sun beat upon them;
for the one who has compassion on them will drive them
and guide them alongside springs of water.
11 I’ll turn all my mountains into a road,
and my highways will be raised up.
12 “Watch! They’ll come from far away—
some from the north and from the west,
and others from the region of China.”[y]
13 Shout with joy, you heavens,
and rock with glee, you earth!
Break out in song, you mountains![z]
The Lord is comforting[aa] his people
and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.
Zion Not Forgotten
14 “But Zion said, ‘The Lord has abandoned me,
and my God[ab] has forgotten me.’
15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child,
or have no compassion for the child of her womb?
Even these mothers may forget;
But as for me, I’ll never forget you!
16 Look! I’ve inscribed you on the palms of my hands,
and[ac] your walls are forever before me.
17 Your builders[ad] are working faster than your destroyers,
and those who devastated you go away from you.
18 Lift up your eyes and look around—
they have all gathered together
and are coming to you.
“As surely as I live,” says the Lord,
“you will clothe yourself with all of them like ornaments,
and tie them on like a bride.
19 Indeed, your ruins, your desolate places,
and your devastated land
will now be too crowded for your inhabitants,
while those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20 “The children who are grieving at present[ae]
will yet say in your hearing,
‘This place is too crowded for me;
make room for me,
so I may have a place to live.’
21 Then you’ll ask[af] in your heart,
‘Who bore these children for me,
although I was childless and barren,
and[ag] an exile[ah] and cast aside?
Who[ai] brought these up?
Look![aj] For my part I was left all alone;
but as for these, where have they come from?’
22 “For[ak] this what the Lord[al] says,
‘Watch! I’ll lift up my hand to the nations
and raise my banner to the[am] peoples.[an]
They will bring your sons in their arms,
and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.’
23 “Oh, yes![ao] Kings will be your foster fathers,
and their queens will be your nursing mothers.
They will bow to you with their faces to the ground,
and lick the dust from your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord;
those who hope in me will not be disappointed.
24 “Can they seize plunder[ap] from warriors,
or[aq] can the captives of tyrants[ar] be rescued?
25 But this is what the Lord says:
“He will seize[as] even the warriors’ plunder,[at]
and the captives[au] of tyrants will be rescued.
I myself will quarrel with those who have a quarrel with you,[av]
and I myself will save your children.
26 “I’ll make those who mistreat you[aw] eat their own flesh,
and they will get drunk on their own blood, as with new wine.
“Then all mankind will know that I am the Lord
your Savior and your Redeemer,
the Mighty One of Jacob.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 49:1 So 1QIsaa LXX; 1QIsab MT read and pay
- Isaiah 49:1 Lit. peoples; i.e. non-Israelis then in the land
- Isaiah 49:2 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT LXX read hand
- Isaiah 49:2 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab 4QIsad MT LXX read quiver
- Isaiah 49:4 So 1QIsaa; 4QIsad MT LXX read But I
- Isaiah 49:4 So 1QIsaa LXX; 1QIsab MT lack on
- Isaiah 49:5 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT LXX me
- Isaiah 49:5 So 1QIsaa MTqere LXX; 4QIsad MT might not be gathered (misspelling)
- Isaiah 49:5 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT LXX strength
- Isaiah 49:6 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT LXX Jacob
- Isaiah 49:6 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT LXX Israel
- Isaiah 49:6 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT LXX end
- Isaiah 49:7 So 1QIsaa 1QIsab; MT LXX lacks my Lord
- Isaiah 49:7 So 1QIsaa LXX; 1QIsab MT read the Redeemer of Israel
- Isaiah 49:7 So 1QIsaa 4QIsad; MT CaiGen LXX reads to one people despise
- Isaiah 49:7 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX reads one abhorred
- Isaiah 49:7 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT read Kings will see; LXX reads Kings will see him
- Isaiah 49:7 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab reads They will rise; MT LXX read princes will rise, and they
- Isaiah 49:7 So 1QIsaa; MT reads and the one who has; LXX reads and I have
- Isaiah 49:8 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX reads I have answered
- Isaiah 49:8 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT LXX read I have helped
- Isaiah 49:9 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT lack and
- Isaiah 49:9 Or darkness, ‘Show yourselves!’
- Isaiah 49:9 So 1QIsaa; MT reads by the roads; LXX reads in all their roads
- Isaiah 49:12 Lit. Syenes; so 1QIsaa; MT reads Syene; LXX reads Persians
- Isaiah 49:13 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read Let the mountains break out; MTqere, mss read And break out, you mountains
- Isaiah 49:13 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read has comforted
- Isaiah 49:14 So 1QIsaa corrector; Lit. my God written above my Lord; MT LXX read my Lord
- Isaiah 49:16 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read and
- Isaiah 49:17 So 1QIsaa Aquila Vulg LXX; MT reads sons
- Isaiah 49:20 Lit. children of your bereavement
- Isaiah 49:21 Lit. say
- Isaiah 49:21 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack and
- Isaiah 49:21 LXX lacks and an exile
- Isaiah 49:21 So 1QIsaa. MT LXX read And who
- Isaiah 49:21 So 1QIsaa MT; LXX lacks Look!
- Isaiah 49:22 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack For
- Isaiah 49:22 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads my Lord the Lord
- Isaiah 49:22 So 1QIsaa; MT lacks the
- Isaiah 49:22 So 1QIsaa MT; LXX reads islands
- Isaiah 49:23 Or And aha!; so 1QIsaa cf. Isa 55:1; MT LXX read And it will happen that
- Isaiah 49:24 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads plunder be seized
- Isaiah 49:24 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT lacks or
- Isaiah 49:24 So 1QIsaa LXX Targ Vulg; MT reads righteous ones
- Isaiah 49:25 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads will be seized;
- Isaiah 49:25 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX reads captives
- Isaiah 49:25 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX reads plunder
- Isaiah 49:25 So 1QIsaa; MT Vulg read with your contender; LXX reads your cause
- Isaiah 49:26 So 1QIsaa probably misspells this word as I will eat.
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