Passage Resources Hebrew/Greek Your Content
Previous Next
Add parallel Print Page Options
Close NET

Isaiah 49
New English Translation

Delivery of the Exiles

49 Listen to me, you coastlands![a]
Pay attention, you people who live far away!
The Lord summoned me from birth;[b]
he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world.[c]
2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword,
he hid me in the hollow of his hand;
he made me like a sharpened[d] arrow,
he hid me in his quiver.[e]
3 He said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, through whom I will reveal my splendor.”[f]
4 But I thought,[g] “I have worked in vain;
I have expended my energy for absolutely nothing.”[h]
But the Lord will vindicate me;
my God will reward me.[i]
5 So now the Lord says,
the one who formed me from birth[j] to be his servant—
he did this[k] to restore Jacob to himself,
so that Israel might be gathered to him;
and I will be honored[l] in the Lord’s sight,
for my God is my source of strength[m]—
6 he says, “Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant,
to reestablish the tribes of Jacob,
and restore the remnant[n] of Israel?[o]
I will make you a light to the nations,[p]
so you can bring[q] my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.”
7 This is what the Lord,
the Protector[r] of Israel, their Holy One,[s] says
to the one who is despised[t] and rejected[u] by nations,[v]
a servant of rulers:
“Kings will see and rise in respect,[w]
princes will bow down,
because of the faithful Lord,
the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.”

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[x] and make you a covenant mediator for people,[y]
to rebuild[z] the land[aa]
and to reassign the desolate property.
9 You will say[ab] to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’
and to those who are in dark dungeons,[ac] ‘Emerge.’[ad]
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,[ae]
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.[af]
13 Shout for joy, O sky![ag]
Rejoice, O earth!
Let the mountains give a joyful shout!
For the Lord consoles his people
and shows compassion to the[ah] oppressed.

The Lord Remembers Zion

14 “Zion said, ‘The Lord has abandoned me,
the Lord[ai] has forgotten me.’
15 Can a woman forget her baby who nurses at her breast?[aj]
Can she withhold compassion from the child she has borne?[ak]
Even if mothers[al] were to forget,
I could never forget you![am]
16 Look, I have inscribed your name[an] 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![ao]
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.
19 Yes, your land lies in ruins;
it is desolate and devastated.[ap]
But now you will be too small to hold your residents,
and those who devoured you will be far away.
20 Yet the children born during your time of bereavement
will say within your hearing,
‘This place is too cramped for us,[aq]
make room for us so we can live here.’[ar]
21 Then you will think to yourself,[as]
‘Who bore these children for me?
I was bereaved and barren,
dismissed and divorced.[at]
Who raised these children?
Look, I was left all alone;
where did these children come from?’”

22 This is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“Look I will raise my hand to the nations;
I will raise my signal flag to the peoples.
They will bring your sons in their arms
and carry your daughters on their shoulders.
23 Kings will be your children’s[au] guardians;
their princesses will nurse your children.[av]
With their faces to the ground they will bow down to you,
and they will lick the dirt on[aw] your feet.
Then you will recognize that I am the Lord;
those who wait patiently for me are not put to shame.
24 Can spoils be taken from a warrior,
or captives be rescued from a conqueror?[ax]
25 Indeed,” says the Lord,
“captives will be taken from a warrior;
spoils will be rescued from a conqueror.
I will oppose your adversary
and I will rescue your children.
26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh;
they will get drunk on their own blood, as if it were wine.[ay]
Then all humankind[az] will recognize that
I am the Lord, your Deliverer,
your Protector,[ba] the Powerful One of Jacob.”[bb]

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 49:1 tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “in far-off lands.”sn The Lord’s special servant, introduced in chap. 42, speaks here of his commission.
  2. Isaiah 49:1 tn Heb “called me from the womb.”
  3. Isaiah 49:1 tn Heb “from the inner parts of my mother he mentioned my name.”
  4. Isaiah 49:2 tn Or perhaps, “polished” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); NASB “a select arrow.”
  5. Isaiah 49:2 sn The figurative language emphasizes the servant’s importance as the Lord’s effective instrument. The servant’s mouth, which stands metonymically for his words, is compared to a sharp sword because he will be an effective spokesman on God’s behalf (see 50:4). The Lord holds his hand on the servant, ready to draw and use him at the appropriate time. The servant is like a sharpened arrow reserved in a quiver for just the right moment.
  6. Isaiah 49:3 sn This verse identifies the servant as Israel. This seems to refer to the exiled nation (cf. 41:8-9; 44:1-2, 21; 45:4; 48:20), but in vv. 5-6 this servant says he has been commissioned to reconcile Israel to God, so he must be distinct from the exiled nation. This servant is an ideal “Israel” who, like Moses of old, mediates a covenant for the nation (see v. 8), leads them out of bondage (v. 9a), and carries out God’s original plan for Israel by positively impacting the pagan nations (see v. 6b). By living according to God’s law, Israel was to be a model of God’s standards of justice to the surrounding nations (Deut 4:6-8). The sinful nation failed, but the servant, the ideal “Israel,” will succeed by establishing justice throughout the earth.
  7. Isaiah 49:4 tn Or “said” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “I replied.”
  8. Isaiah 49:4 tn Heb “for nothing and emptiness.” Synonyms are combined to emphasize the common idea.
  9. Isaiah 49:4 tn Heb “But my justice is with the Lord, and my reward [or “wage”] with my God.”
  10. Isaiah 49:5 tn Heb “from the womb” (so KJV, NASB).
  11. Isaiah 49:5 tn The words “he did this” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text the infinitive construct of purpose is subordinated to the previous statement.
  12. Isaiah 49:5 tn The vav (ו) + imperfect is translated here as a result clause; one might interpret it as indicating purpose, “and so I might be honored.”
  13. Isaiah 49:5 tn Heb “and my God is [perhaps, “having been”] my strength.” The disjunctive structure (vav [ו] + subject + verb) is interpreted here as indicating a causal circumstantial clause.
  14. Isaiah 49:6 tn Heb “the protected [or “preserved”] ones.”
  15. Isaiah 49:6 sn The question is purely rhetorical; it does not imply that the servant was dissatisfied with his commission or that he minimized the restoration of Israel.
  16. Isaiah 49:6 tn See the note at 42:6.
  17. Isaiah 49:6 tn Heb “be” (so KJV, ASV); CEV “you must take.”
  18. Isaiah 49:7 tn Heb “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.
  19. Isaiah 49:7 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
  20. Isaiah 49:7 tc The Hebrew text reads literally “to [one who] despises life.” It is preferable to read with the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa לבזוי, which should be vocalized as a passive participle, לִבְזוּי (livzuy, “to the one despised with respect to life” [נֶפֶשׁ is a genitive of specification]). The consonantal sequence וי was probably misread as ה in the MT tradition. The contextual argument favors the 1QIsaa reading. As J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 2:294) points out, the three terse phrases “convey a picture of lowliness, worthlessness, and helplessness.”
  21. Isaiah 49:7 tn MT’s Piel participle (“to the one who rejects”) does not fit contextually. The form should be revocalized as a Pual, “to the one rejected.”
  22. Isaiah 49:7 tn Parallelism (see “rulers,” “kings,” “princes”) suggests that the singular גּוֹי (goy) be emended to a plural or understood in a collective sense (see 55:5).
  23. Isaiah 49:7 tn For this sense of קוּם (qum), see Gen 19:1; 23:7; 33:10; Lev 19:32; 1 Sam 20:41; 25:41; 1 Kgs 2:19; Job 29:8.
  24. 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”).
  25. 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.
  26. Isaiah 49:8 tn The Hiphil of קוּם (qum, “arise”) is probably used here in the sense of “rebuild.”
  27. Isaiah 49:8 tn The “land” probably stands by metonymy for the ruins within it.
  28. Isaiah 49:9 tn Heb “to say.” In the Hebrew text the infinitive construct is subordinated to what precedes.
  29. Isaiah 49:9 tn Heb “in darkness” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “the prisoners of darkness.”
  30. Isaiah 49:9 tn Heb “show yourselves” (so ASV, NAB, NASB).
  31. 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.”
  32. 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.
  33. Isaiah 49:13 tn Or “O heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
  34. Isaiah 49:13 tn Heb “his” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
  35. Isaiah 49:14 tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (ʾadonay).
  36. Isaiah 49:15 tn Heb “her suckling”; NASB “her nursing child.”
  37. Isaiah 49:15 tn Heb “so as not to have compassion on the son of her womb?”
  38. Isaiah 49:15 tn Heb “these” (so ASV, NASB).
  39. 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.
  40. Isaiah 49:16 tn Heb “you.” Here the pronoun is put by metonymy for the person’s name.
  41. Isaiah 49:18 tn Heb “Lift up around your eyes and see.”
  42. Isaiah 49:19 tn Heb “Indeed your ruins and your desolate places, and the land of your destruction.” This statement is abruptly terminated in the Hebrew text and left incomplete.
  43. Isaiah 49:20 tn Heb “me.” The singular is collective.
  44. Isaiah 49:20 tn Heb “draw near to me so I can dwell.”
  45. Isaiah 49:21 tn Heb “and you will say in your heart.”
  46. Isaiah 49:21 tn Or “exiled and thrust away”; NIV “exiled and rejected.”
  47. Isaiah 49:23 tn Heb “your,” but Zion here stands by metonymy for her children (see v. 22b).
  48. Isaiah 49:23 tn Heb “you.” See the preceding note.
  49. Isaiah 49:23 tn Or “at your feet” (NAB, NIV); NLT “from your feet.”
  50. Isaiah 49:24 tc The Hebrew text has צָדִיק (tsadiq, “a righteous [one]”), but this makes no sense in the parallelism. The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa reads correctly עריץ (“violent [one], tyrant”; see v. 25).
  51. Isaiah 49:26 sn Verse 26a depicts siege warfare and bloody defeat. The besieged enemy will be so starved they will eat their own flesh. The bloodstained bodies lying on the blood-soaked battle site will look as if they collapsed in drunkenness.
  52. Isaiah 49:26 tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB).
  53. Isaiah 49:26 tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.
  54. Isaiah 49:26 tn Or “the Mighty One of Jacob.” See 1:24.
Close NLT

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

  1. 49:8 Greek version reads I heard you. Compare 2 Cor 6:2.
  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.
  3. 49:14 Hebrew Zion.
  4. 49:24 As in Dead Sea Scrolls, Syriac version, and Latin Vulgate (also see 49:25); Masoretic Text reads a righteous person.
  5. 49:26 Hebrew of Jacob. See note on 14:1.
Next
Isaiah 48
Isaiah 50
Next
dropdown
New English Translation (NET)

NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.