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
1599 Geneva Bible
49 1 The Lord God exhorteth all nations to believe his promises. 6 Christ is the salvation of all that believe, and will deliver them from the tyranny of their enemies.
1 Hear ye me, O isles, and hearken, ye people from far. The Lord hath called [a]me from [b]the womb, and made mention of my name from my mother’s belly.
2 And he hath made my mouth like a sharp [c]sword: under the shadow of his hand hath he [d]hid me, and made me a chosen shaft, and hid me in his quiver,
3 And said unto me, Thou art my servant [e]Israel, for I will be glorious in thee.
4 And I said, I have [f]labored in vain: I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing; but my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God.
5 And now saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant, that I may bring Jacob again to him (though Israel be not gathered, [g]yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord; and my God shall be my strength.)
6 And he said, It is a small thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the desolations of Israel: I will also give [h]thee for a light of the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the world.
7 Thus saith the Lord the redeemer of Israel, and his holy One, to him that is despised in soul, to a nation that is abhorred, to a [i]servant of rulers, Kings shall see, and [j]arise, and princes shall worship, because of the Lord, that is faithful: and the holy One of Israel, which hath chosen thee.
8 Thus saith the Lord, [k]In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and will give [l]thee for a covenant of the people, that thou mayest raise up the [m]earth, and obtain the inheritance of the desolate heritages:
9 That thou mayest say to the [n]prisoners, Go forth; and to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves; they shall feed in the ways, and their [o]pastures shall be in all the tops of the hills.
10 They shall not be hungry, neither shall they be thirsty, neither shall the heat smite them, nor the sun, for he that hath compassion [p]on them, shall lead them; even to the springs of water shall he drive them.
11 And I will make all my mountains, as a way, and my paths shall be exalted.
12 Behold, these shall come from far: and lo, these from the North and from the West, and these from the land of [q]Sinim.
13 Rejoice, O [r]heavens; and be joyful, O earth; burst forth into praise, O mountains; for God hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.
14 But Zion said, The Lord hath [s]forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.
15 Can a woman forget her child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? though they should forget, yet will I not forget thee.
16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palm of mine [t]hands: thy [u]walls are ever in my sight.
17 Thy builders make [v]haste: thy destroyers and they that made thee waste, are departed from thee.
18 Lift up thine eyes round about and behold: all these gather themselves together and come to thee: as I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely [w]put them all upon thee as a garment, and gird thyself with them like a bride.
19 For thy desolations, and thy waste places, and thy land destroyed, shall surely be now narrow for them that shall dwell in it, and they that dwell devour thee, shall be far away.
20 The children of thy barrenness shall say again in thine ears, The place is strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.
21 Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I am barren and desolate, a captive and a wanderer to and fro? and who hath nourished them? behold, I was left alone: whence are these?
22 Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the [x]Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people, and they shall bring thy sons in their arms: and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.
23 And Kings [y]shall be thy nursing fathers, and Queens shall be thy nurses: they shall worship thee with their faces toward the earth, and lick up the [z]dust of thy feet: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.
24 Shall the prey be [aa]taken from the mighty? or the just captivity delivered?
25 But thus saith the Lord, [ab]Even the captivity of the mighty shall be taken away: and the prey of the tyrant shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children,
26 And will feed them that spoil thee, with [ac]their own flesh, and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine; and all flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 49:1 This is spoken in the person of Christ, to assure the faithful that these promises should come to pass: for they were all made in him, and in him should be performed.
- Isaiah 49:1 This is meant of the time that Christ should be manifested to the world, as Ps. 2:7.
- Isaiah 49:2 By the sword and shaft, he signifieth the virtue and efficacy of Christ’s doctrine.
- Isaiah 49:2 God hath taken me to his protection and defense: this chiefly is meant of Christ, and may also be applied to the ministers of his word.
- Isaiah 49:3 By Israel is meant Christ, and all the body of the faithful, as the members, and their head.
- Isaiah 49:4 Thus Christ in his members complaineth, that his labor and preaching take none effect, yet he is contented that his doings are approved of God.
- Isaiah 49:5 Though the Jews refuse my doctrine, yet God will approve my ministry.
- Isaiah 49:6 To declare my Gospel, to the Gentiles, Isa. 42:6; Acts 13:47; Luke 2:32.
- Isaiah 49:7 Meaning, the Jews, whom tyrants kept in bondage.
- Isaiah 49:7 The benefit of their deliverance shall be so great, that great and small shall acknowledge it, and reverence God for it.
- Isaiah 49:8 Thus he speaketh of his Church when he would show his mercy toward it, 2 Cor. 6:2.
- Isaiah 49:8 Meaning, Christ alone.
- Isaiah 49:8 Signifying, that before Christ renew the earth by his word, there is nothing but confusion and disorder.
- Isaiah 49:9 To them that are in the prison of sin and death.
- Isaiah 49:9 Being in Christ’s protection, they shall be safe against all dangers, and free from the fear of the enemies.
- Isaiah 49:10 Meaning, that there should be nothing in their way from Babylon that should hinder or hurt them: but this is accomplished spiritually.
- Isaiah 49:12 Meaning, the South country, so that Christ shall deliver his from all the parts of the world.
- Isaiah 49:13 Read Isa. 44:23.
- Isaiah 49:14 He objecteth what the faithful might say in their long affliction, and answereth thereunto to comfort them, with a most proper similitude, and full of consolation.
- Isaiah 49:16 Because I would not forget thee.
- Isaiah 49:16 Meaning, the good order of policy, and discipline.
- Isaiah 49:17 I have continual care to build thee up again, and to destroy thine enemies.
- Isaiah 49:18 He showeth what are the ornaments of the Church: to have many children, which are assembled by the word of God, and governed by his Spirit.
- Isaiah 49:22 He showeth that Christ will not only gather this great number of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles.
- Isaiah 49:23 Meaning, that Kings shall be converted to the Gospel, and bestow their power and authority for the preservation of the Church.
- Isaiah 49:23 Being joined with the Church, they shall humble themselves to Christ their head, and give him all honor.
- Isaiah 49:24 He maketh this as an objection, as though the Chaldeans were strong, and had them in just possession.
- Isaiah 49:25 This is the answer to their objection, that none is stronger than the Lord, neither hath a more just title unto them.
- Isaiah 49:26 I will cause them to destroy one another, as Judg. 7:22; 2 Chron. 20:22; Isa. 19:2.
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