The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Isaiah 49
1 Listen, islands, to me.
Listen, you peoples, from afar:
Yahweh has called me from the womb;
from the inside of my mother, he has
mentioned my name.
2 He has made my mouth like a sharp
sword. He has hidden me in the shadow of his
hand. He has made me a polished shaft.
He has kept me close in his quiver.
3 He said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
4 But I said, “I have labored in vain.
I have spent my strength in vain for
nothing; yet surely the justice due to me is with
Yahweh, and my reward with my God.”
5 Now Yahweh, he who formed me from
the womb to be his servant,
says to bring Jacob again to him,
and to gather Israel to him,
for I am honorable in Yahweh’s eyes,
and my God has become my strength.
6 Indeed, he says, “It is too light a thing that
you should be my servantto raise up
the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel.
I will also give you as a light to the nations,
that you may be my salvation to the
end of the earth.”
7 Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel, and his
Holy One, says to him whom man despises, to
him whom the nation abhors, to a
servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and rise up,
princes, and they shall worship,
because of Yahweh who is faithful,
even the Holy One ofIsrael, who has
chosen you.
8 Yahweh says, “I have answered you in an
acceptable time. I have helped you in a day of salvation.
I will preserve you and give you for a
covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to make them
inherit the desolate heritage,
9 saying to those who are bound, ‘Come
out! to those who are in darkness, ‘Show
your selves! “They shall feed along the paths,
and their pasture shall be on all treeless heights.
10 They shall not hunger nor thirst;
neither shall the heat nor sun strike
them,for he who has mercy on them will
lead them. He will guide them by springs of water.
11 I will make all my mountains a road,
and my highways shall be exalted.
12 Behold, these shall come from afar,
and behold, these from the north and
from the west and these from the land of Sinim.
13 Sing, heavens, and be joyful, earth!
Break out into singing, mountains!
For Yahweh has comforted his people,
and will have compassion on his afflicted.
14 But Zion said, “Yahweh has forsaken me,
and the Lord has forgotten me.
15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should not have compassion
on the son of her womb?
Yes, these may forget,
yet I will not forget you!
16 Behold, I have engraved you on the
palms of my hands. Your walls are continually before me.
17 Your children hurry. Your destroyers and those who
devastated you will leave you.
18 Lift up your eyes all around, and see:
all these gather themselves together,
and come to you. As I live,” says Yahweh,
“you shall surely clothe yourself with them all as with
an ornament, and dress yourself with them, like a
bride.
19 “For, as for your waste and your desolate
places, and your land that has been destroyed,
surely now that land will be too small for
the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will
be far away.
20 The children of your bereavement will
say in your ears, ‘This place is too small for me.
Give me a place to live in.
21 Thenyou will say inyourheart, ‘Whohas
conceived these for me, since I have
been bereaved of my children
and am alone, an exile, and wandering back and forth?
Who has brought these up?
Behold, I was left alone. Where were
these?’ ”
22 The Lord Yahweh says, “Behold, I will lift
up my hand to the nations,
and lift up my banner to the peoples.
They shall bring your sons in their bosom,
andyourdaughters shallbe carriedon
their shoulders.
23 Kings shall be your foster fathers,
and their queens your nursing mothers.
They will bow down to you with their faces
to the earth,
and lick the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am Yahweh;
and those who wait for me won’t be
disappointed.”
24 Shall the plunder be taken from the
mighty, or the lawful captives be delivered?
25 But Yahweh says, “Even the captives of
the mighty shall be taken away,
and the plunder retrieved from the
fierce, for I will contend with him who contends
with you and I will save your children.
26 I will feed those who oppress you with
their own flesh; and they will be drunk on their own
blood, as with sweet wine. Then all flesh shall know that I, Yahweh,
am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”