Isaiah 49
English Standard Version
The Servant of the Lord
49 Listen to me, (A)O coastlands,
and give attention, you peoples (B)from afar.
(C)The Lord called me from the womb,
from the body of my mother he named my name.
2 (D)He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
(E)in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow;
in his quiver he hid me away.
3 And he said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, (F)in whom I will be glorified.”[a]
4 (G)But I said, “I have labored in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my right is with the Lord,
and my recompense with my God.”
5 (H)And now the Lord says,
he (I)who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him;
and that Israel might be gathered to him—
for (J)I am honored in the eyes of the Lord,
and my God has become my strength—
6 he says:
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
(K)I will make you (L)as a light for the nations,
that (M)my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
7 Thus says the Lord,
(N)the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
(O)to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,
the servant of rulers:
(P)“Kings shall see and arise;
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
The Restoration of Israel
8 Thus says the Lord:
(Q)“In a (R)time of favor I have answered you;
in a day of salvation I have helped you;
I will keep you (S)and give you
as a covenant to the people,
to establish the land,
(T)to apportion the desolate heritages,
9 (U)saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’
to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’
(V)They shall feed along the ways;
on all bare heights shall be their pasture;
10 (W)they shall not hunger or thirst,
neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them,
for he who has pity on them (X)will lead them,
and by springs of water will guide them.
11 (Y)And I will make all my mountains a road,
and my highways shall be raised up.
12 (Z)Behold, these shall come from afar,
and behold, (AA)these from the north and from the west,[b]
and these from the land of Syene.”[c]
13 (AB)Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;
break forth, O mountains, into singing!
For the Lord (AC)has comforted his people
and will have compassion on his afflicted.
14 But Zion said, (AD)“The Lord has forsaken me;
my Lord has forgotten me.”
15 (AE)“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
16 Behold, (AF)I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.
17 Your builders make haste;[d]
(AG)your destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you.
18 (AH)Lift up your eyes around and see;
they all gather, they come to you.
(AI)As I live, declares the Lord,
(AJ)you shall put them all on as an ornament;
you shall bind them on as a bride does.
19 “Surely your waste and your desolate places
and your devastated land—
(AK)surely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants,
and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20 (AL)The children of your bereavement
will yet say in your ears:
(AM)‘The place is too narrow for me;
make room for me to dwell in.’
21 Then you will say in your heart:
‘Who has borne me these?
(AN)I was bereaved and barren,
exiled and put away,
but who has brought up these?
Behold, I was left alone;
from where have these come?’”
22 Thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations,
(AO)and raise my signal to the peoples;
(AP)and they shall bring your sons in their arms,[e]
and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
23 (AQ)Kings shall be your foster fathers,
and their queens your nursing mothers.
(AR)With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,
and (AS)lick the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord;
(AT)those who wait for me (AU)shall not be put to shame.”
24 Can the prey be taken from the mighty,
or the captives of a tyrant[f] be rescued?
25 For thus says the Lord:
(AV)“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken,
and the prey of the tyrant be rescued,
for I will contend with those who contend with you,
and I will save your children.
26 (AW)I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,
and they shall be drunk (AX)with their own blood as with wine.
Then all flesh shall know
that (AY)I am the Lord your Savior,
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 49:3 Or I will display my beauty
- Isaiah 49:12 Hebrew from the sea
- Isaiah 49:12 Dead Sea Scroll; Masoretic Text Sinim
- Isaiah 49:17 Dead Sea Scroll; Masoretic Text Your children make haste
- Isaiah 49:22 Hebrew in their bosom
- Isaiah 49:24 Dead Sea Scroll, Syriac, Vulgate (see also verse 25); Masoretic Text of a righteous man
Yeshayah 49
Orthodox Jewish Bible
49 Listen, O iyim (islands), unto Me [Moshiach]; and pay heed, ye nations afar off; Hashem hath called Me from the beten (belly, womb) [See Isaiah 7:14; Gn 3:15; Ps 22:9f; Mic 5:1-2] from the inward parts of immi hath He remembered My Shem.
2 And He hath made My mouth like a sharpened cherev; in the tzel (shadow) of His Yad hath He concealed Me, and made Me a polished arrow; in His quiver hath He hid Me;
3 And said unto Me [Moshiach, i.e., the She’erit of the She’erit, the true and worthy Israel and also the King who personifies the People], Thou art Avdi, O Yisroel, Thou in Whom I glorify Myself.
4 Then I [Moshiach] said, I have toiled in vain, I have spent My ko’ach for tohu, and hevel; yet surely My mishpat is with Hashem, and My peulah with Elohai.
5 And now, saith Hashem My Yotzer from the beten to be Eved of Him, to bring back Ya’akov to Him, so that Yisroel would be gathered to Him; so shall I [Moshiach] be honored in the eyes of Hashem, and Elohai shall be My oz (strength).
6 And He said, It is too small a thing that Thou shouldest be Eved to Me to raise up the Shivtei Ya’akov, and to bring back the Netzurei Yisroel (Preserved of Israel, the She’erit); I will also give Thee for Ohr Goyim, that Thou mayest be My Yeshuah (Salvation) unto the ketzeh ha’aretz.
7 Thus saith Hashem, the Go’el Yisroel, and His Kadosh, to Him of despised nefesh [See 53:11,3], to Him whom the Goy (Nation, i.e., Israel; see Isaiah 53:3,8) abhorreth, to the Eved Moshelim: Melachim shall see and arise, Sarim also shall worship [52:15], because of Hashem Who is Ne’eman and the Kadosh Yisroel, that hath chosen Thee.
8 Thus saith Hashem, In a time of [My] ratzon (favor) have I answered Thee {Moshiach], and in a Yom Yeshuah have I helped Thee; and I will preserve Thee, and give Thee for a Brit Am [See Jer. 31:31-34; Mk 14:24 OJBC] to raise up Eretz, to reapportion desolate nechalot (inheritances; Josh chp 13-21). [T.N. Notice that in the previous verse the Moshiach is depicted as a new Yehoshua, which is also his namesake, Yehoshua Tzemach Shmo, Zech 6:11-12.]
9 That thou mayest say to the asurim (the prisoners, those of the Golus) to them that are in choshech, Reveal yourselves. They shall feed in the derakhim and their pastures shall be in kol shefayim (high hills).
10 They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the sharav [35:7] nor shemesh beat on them; for He that hath rachamim on them shall guide them, even by the springs of mayim shall He lead them.
11 And I will make all My harim into derech, and My highways shall be exalted.
12 Hinei, these shall come from afar; and, hinei, these from the tzafon and from the yam; and these from Eretz Sinim [Sinites].
13 Sing joyfully, O Shomayim; and rejoice, O Eretz; and break forth into singing, O Harim; for Hashem hath comforted His people, and will have rachamim upon his afflicted ones.
14 But Tziyon said, Hashem hath forsaken me, and Adonoi hath forgotten me.
15 Can an isha forget her nursing baby, that she should not have rachamim on her ben beten? Indeed, they may forget, yet I will not forget thee.
16 Behold, I have engraved thee upon the palms of My hands; thy chomot are continually before Me.
17 Thy banim shall make haste [to return from the Golus]; thy destroyers and they that laid thee waste shall depart from thee.
18 Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold; all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith Hashem, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with jewelry and put them on like a kallah.
19 For thy ruins and thy desolate places, and the eretz of thy devastation, shall even now be too narrow for the inhabitants [of Tziyon returned from the Golus], and they that devoured thee shall be far away.
20 Furthermore, the Bnei Shikkulayich (the Children of thy Bereavement, i.e., the sons born while the Mother was bereaved of other children lost) shall say again in thine oznayim, The makom is too cramped for me; geshah (fall back, make room, give place) to me that I may dwell.
21 Then shalt thou say in thine lev, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I am shekhulah (bereaved) of my children, and am galmudah (barren, incapable of having children), a captive of the Golus, and thrust away as rejected? So who has reared these? Behold I was left a lone survivor; these, where were they? Where did they come from?
22 Thus saith Adonoi Hashem, Hinei, I will lift up Mine Yad to the Goyim, and set up My nes (banner, rallying flag, [i.e., Moshiach; see Isa 11:10]) to the Nations; and they shall bring thy banim in their arms, and thy banot shall be carried upon their shoulders.
23 And melachim shall be thy omenim (foster fathers, supporters, nurturers), and their sarot thy wet nurses; they shall bow down before thee with their face toward eretz, and lick the aphar of thy raglayim; and thou shalt know that I am Hashem; for they shall not be put to shame that wait for Me.
24 Shall the malko’ach (plunder, prey, booty) be taken from the gibbor; shall the shevi tzaddik be delivered?
25 But thus saith Hashem, Even the Shevi gibbor shall be taken, and the malko’ach of the aritz (the fierce, the tyrant) shall escape; for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy banim.
26 And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own basar; and they shall be shikkor (drunk) with their own dahm, as with asis (new wine); and kol basar shall know that I Hashem am thy Moshi’a and thy Go’el, the Avir Ya’akov (Mighty One of Jacob).
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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