Isaiah 49
Lexham English Bible
Yahweh’s Servant Brings Salvation
49 Listen to me, coastlands,
and listen attentively, peoples from far away!
Yahweh called me from the womb;
from the body[a] of my mother he made my name known.
2 And he made[b] my mouth like a sharp sword;
he hid me in the shadow of his hand,
and he made[c] me like an sharpened arrow;
he hid me in his quiver.
3 And he said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will show my glory.”
4 But[d] I myself said, “I have labored in[e] vain;
I have used up my strength for nothing and vanity!
Nevertheless, my justice is with Yahweh,
and my reward is with my God.”
5 And now Yahweh says,
who formed me from the womb as a servant for him,
to bring Jacob back to him,
and that Israel might not[f] be gathered,
for[g] I am honored in the eyes of Yahweh,
and my God has become my strength.
6 And he says, “It is trivial for you to be[h] a servant for me,
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel.
I will give you as a light to the nations,
to be my salvation to the end of the earth.”
7 Thus says Yahweh, the redeemer of Israel, his holy one,
to the one who despises[i] life,
to the one who abhors the nation,
to the slave of rulers:
“Kings shall see and stand up;
princes, and they shall bow down,
for the sake of Yahweh, who is faithful,
the holy one of Israel, and he has chosen you.”
Yahweh Restores the Afflicted
8 Thus says Yahweh:
“I have answered you in a time of favor,
and helped you on a day of salvation,
and watched over you,
and given you as a covenant of the people,
to raise up the land,
to give the desolate hereditary property as an inheritance,
9 saying to the prisoners,[j] “Come out!”
to those who are in darkness, “Show yourselves!”
they shall feed along[k] the ways,
and their pasturage shall be on all the barren heights.
10 They shall not be hungry or thirsty,
and heat and sun shall not strike them,
for he who takes pity on them will lead them,
and he will guide them to springs of water.
11 And I will make[l] all my mountains like a road,
and my highways shall lead up.[m]
12 Look! These shall come from afar,
And look! These from the north and from the west
and these from the land of Sinim.”
13 Sing for joy, heavens, and rejoice, earth!
Mountains must break forth in rejoicing!
For Yahweh has comforted his people,
and he will take pity on his afflicted ones.
Yahweh Remembers Zion
14 But[n] Zion said, “Yahweh has forsaken me,
and the Lord has forgotten me!”
15 Can a woman forget her suckling,
refrain from having compassion on the child of her womb?
Indeed, these may forget,
but[o] I, I will not forget you!
16 Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.
17 Your children hasten;
your destroyers and those who laid you waste depart[p] from you.
18 Lift your eyes up all around and see;
all of them gather; they come to you.
As surely as I live,[q]
declares[r] Yahweh,
surely you shall put on all of them like an ornament,
and you shall bind them on like a bride.
19 Surely your sites of ruins and desolate places and land of ruins,[s]
surely now you will be too cramped for your[t] inhabitants,[u]
and those who engulfed you will be far away.
20 Yet the children born when you were bereaved[v] will say in your hearing,[w]
“The place is too cramped for me;
make room[x] for me so that I can dwell.”
21 Then[y] you will say in your heart,
“Who has borne me these?”
And, “I was bereaved and barren,
exiled and thrust away;
so[z] who raised these?
Look at me! I was left alone;
where have these come from?”[aa]
22 Thus says the Lord Yahweh:
“Look! I will lift my hand up to the nations,
and I will raise my signal to the peoples,
and they shall bring your sons in their bosom,
and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.[ab]
23 And kings shall be your guardians,[ac]
and their queens your nurses.
They shall bow down, faces[ad] to the ground, to you,
and they will lick up the dust of your feet.
Then[ae] you will know that I am Yahweh;
those who await me shall not be ashamed.
24 Can war-booty be taken from the mighty?
or can a captive of a righteous[af] person be rescued?
25 But thus says Yahweh:
“Indeed a captive of the mighty shall be taken,
and the war-booty of the tyrant shall be rescued,
for[ag] I myself will dispute with your opponent,
and I myself will save your children.
26 And I will feed your oppressors their own flesh,
and they shall be drunk with their blood as with wine.
Then[ah] all flesh shall know that I am Yahweh,
your savior and redeemer, the strong one of Jacob.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 49:1 Literally “intestines”
- Isaiah 49:2 Literally “put”
- Isaiah 49:2 Literally “put”
- Isaiah 49:4 Or “And”
- Isaiah 49:4 Or “for”
- Isaiah 49:5 The reading tradition (Qere) has “to him”
- Isaiah 49:5 Or “and”
- Isaiah 49:6 Literally “from being you”
- Isaiah 49:7 A Dead Sea Scroll reads “is despised with respect to”
- Isaiah 49:9 Literally “captured ones”
- Isaiah 49:9 Literally “on”
- Isaiah 49:11 Literally “put”
- Isaiah 49:11 Or “be high”
- Isaiah 49:14 Or “And”
- Isaiah 49:15 Or “and”
- Isaiah 49:17 Or “move away”
- Isaiah 49:18 Literally “Life I”
- Isaiah 49:18 Literally “declaration of”
- Isaiah 49:19 Hebrew “ruin”
- Isaiah 49:19 Literally “cramped by”
- Isaiah 49:19 Hebrew “inhabitant”
- Isaiah 49:20 Literally “of your bereavement”
- Isaiah 49:20 Literally “ears”
- Isaiah 49:20 Literally “approach”
- Isaiah 49:21 Or “And”
- Isaiah 49:21 Or “and”
- Isaiah 49:21 Literally “these where they”
- Isaiah 49:22 Hebrew “shoulder”
- Isaiah 49:23 Literally “those who nurture”
- Isaiah 49:23 Literally “noses”
- Isaiah 49:23 Or “And”
- Isaiah 49:24 The Dead Sea Scroll has “violent”
- Isaiah 49:25 Or “and”
- Isaiah 49:26 Or “And”
Isaiah 49
New Living Translation
The Lord’s Servant Commissioned
49 Listen to me, all you in distant lands!
Pay attention, you who are far away!
The Lord called me before my birth;
from within the womb he called me by name.
2 He made my words of judgment as sharp as a sword.
He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand.
I am like a sharp arrow in his quiver.
3 He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel,
and you will bring me glory.”
4 I replied, “But my work seems so useless!
I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose.
Yet I leave it all in the Lord’s hand;
I will trust God for my reward.”
5 And now the Lord speaks—
the one who formed me in my mother’s womb to be his servant,
who commissioned me to bring Israel back to him.
The Lord has honored me,
and my God has given me strength.
6 He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me.
I will make you a light to the Gentiles,
and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”
7 The Lord, the Redeemer
and Holy One of Israel,
says to the one who is despised and rejected by the nations,
to the one who is the servant of rulers:
“Kings will stand at attention when you pass by.
Princes will also bow low
because of the Lord, the faithful one,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
Promises of Israel’s Restoration
8 This is what the Lord says:
“At just the right time, I will respond to you.[a]
On the day of salvation I will help you.
I will protect you and give you to the people
as my covenant with them.
Through you I will reestablish the land of Israel
and assign it to its own people again.
9 I will say to the prisoners, ‘Come out in freedom,’
and to those in darkness, ‘Come into the light.’
They will be my sheep, grazing in green pastures
and on hills that were previously bare.
10 They will neither hunger nor thirst.
The searing sun will not reach them anymore.
For the Lord in his mercy will lead them;
he will lead them beside cool waters.
11 And I will make my mountains into level paths for them.
The highways will be raised above the valleys.
12 See, my people will return from far away,
from lands to the north and west,
and from as far south as Egypt.[b]”
13 Sing for joy, O heavens!
Rejoice, O earth!
Burst into song, O mountains!
For the Lord has comforted his people
and will have compassion on them in their suffering.
14 Yet Jerusalem[c] says, “The Lord has deserted us;
the Lord has forgotten us.”
15 “Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child?
Can she feel no love for the child she has borne?
But even if that were possible,
I would not forget you!
16 See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.
Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins.
17 Soon your descendants will come back,
and all who are trying to destroy you will go away.
18 Look around you and see,
for all your children will come back to you.
As surely as I live,” says the Lord,
“they will be like jewels or bridal ornaments for you to display.
19 “Even the most desolate parts of your abandoned land
will soon be crowded with your people.
Your enemies who enslaved you
will be far away.
20 The generations born in exile will return and say,
‘We need more room! It’s crowded here!’
21 Then you will think to yourself,
‘Who has given me all these descendants?
For most of my children were killed,
and the rest were carried away into exile.
I was left here all alone.
Where did all these people come from?
Who bore these children?
Who raised them for me?’”
22 This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“See, I will give a signal to the godless nations.
They will carry your little sons back to you in their arms;
they will bring your daughters on their shoulders.
23 Kings and queens will serve you
and care for all your needs.
They will bow to the earth before you
and lick the dust from your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord.
Those who trust in me will never be put to shame.”
24 Who can snatch the plunder of war from the hands of a warrior?
Who can demand that a tyrant[d] let his captives go?
25 But the Lord says,
“The captives of warriors will be released,
and the plunder of tyrants will be retrieved.
For I will fight those who fight you,
and I will save your children.
26 I will feed your enemies with their own flesh.
They will be drunk with rivers of their own blood.
All the world will know that I, the Lord,
am your Savior and your Redeemer,
the Mighty One of Israel.[e]”
Footnotes
- 49:8 Greek version reads I heard you. Compare 2 Cor 6:2.
- 49:12 As in Dead Sea Scrolls, which read from the region of Aswan, which is in southern Egypt. Masoretic Text reads from the region of Sinim.
- 49:14 Hebrew Zion.
- 49:24 As in Dead Sea Scrolls, Syriac version, and Latin Vulgate (also see 49:25); Masoretic Text reads a righteous person.
- 49:26 Hebrew of Jacob. See note on 14:1.
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