Isaiah 49
49
Chapter 49
The Lord's Servant
1Listen to me, you islands.
Listen carefully, you people who live far away.
The Lord called me to serve him
before I was born.
Before my mother gave birth,
he used my name to speak to me.
2The message that he gave me to speak
was like a sharp sword.
He kept me safe in his hand.
He made me like a sharp arrow
that he keeps safe and ready to use.
3He said to me, ‘You are my servant, Israel.
Because of you, I will cause people to know that I am great.’
4I said, ‘My work has been useless.
I have worked hard with no results.’
But the Lord will do what is right for me.
He will give me what I deserve for my work.
5The Lord chose me to be his servant, even before I was born. He chose me to bring Jacob's descendants back to himself. He chose me to bring Israel's people together to serve him. As a result, the Lord will honour me. He is the one who makes me strong. The Lord, my God, says,
6‘As my servant, I have a greater job for you to do.
It will not only be to make Jacob's tribes strong again.
It will not only be to bring back Israel's people that I have kept safe.
It will also be your job
to bring light to the other nations.
You will show people all over the world
that I have the power to save them.’
7The Lord is Israel's Redeemer, their Holy God. Nations refuse to accept his servant. Their people hate him and their rulers have made him their slave. The Lord says to his servant,
‘Kings will see you and they will rise up to respect you.
Princes will bend down low in front of you.
They will see that the Lord is faithful.
He is Israel's Holy God,
who has chosen you to serve him.’
8This is what the Lord says:
‘I will answer your prayers
at the time that I have chosen to help you.
Yes, I will come to save you on that day.
I will keep you safe,
so that I can make a covenant with people through you.
You will make the land safe again.
People will return to live there,
in places that had become empty.
9You will say to the prisoners,
“Come out!”
You will say to people who are in dark prisons,
“Come outside!”
Then they will be free to find food for themselves.
They will eat along the road and on the tops of the hills.
10They will not be hungry or thirsty.
The strong heat of the sun will not hurt them.
The one who loves them will be their guide.
He will lead them to drink from springs of water.
11I will make all my mountains become roads.
I will build good roads for my people to travel on.
12Look! People will return to the land
from places that are far away.
Yes, some of them will come from the north and from the west.
And some will come from the land of Sinim.’ #49:12 ‘Sinim’ may have been a place in Egypt. It might be the place that we call ‘Aswan’ today.
13Shout with joy, everything in the sky!
Be happy, everything on the earth!
Sing loudly, you mountains!
Be happy, because the Lord comforts his people.
He will be kind to his people who have trouble and pain.
14But Zion's people said,
‘The Lord has left us alone.
The Lord God has forgotten about us.’
15The Lord replies,
‘Can a mother forget the baby
who drinks milk at her breast?
Can she refuse to be kind to the child
that she has given birth to?
Perhaps those mothers might forget their children.
But I would not ever forget you, Zion. #49:15 Here, the Lord is talking to Jerusalem (Zion), as if it is a person.
16Look! I have written your name on my own hand.
I always see the walls of your city in my mind.
17Your children will hurry back to you,
to build you again.
The enemies who destroyed you will go away.
18Look all round you!
See all your people as they return together.’
The Lord says, ‘I tell you clearly, as the God who lives,
you will be happy with your people.
They will make you beautiful again,
like a bride with her beautiful jewels.
19Enemies have destroyed your land.
Its towns have become heaps of stones.
But soon your land will be too small for all your people to live in.
The enemies who destroyed you will be far away from you.
20The children who were born in a foreign land
will return to you.
You will hear them say,
“This place is too small for us.
Find more room for us to live in.”
21Then you will think, “Who gave me all these children?
Who is their father?
I was alone, with no husband.
They killed my children
or they took them away to a foreign land.
I could no longer give birth.
So where did all these children come from?” ’
22The Almighty Lord says,
‘Look! I will lift up my hand,
to call the nations.
I will raise up a flag
as a sign to those people.
Then they will bring back your sons and your daughters.
They will carry them in their arms and on their shoulders.
23The kings of those nations will take care of your children.
The kings' daughters will feed them.
The rulers will bend down low in front of you,
so that their faces touch the ground.
They will taste the dirt by your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord.
I will not disappoint people who wait for me to help them.
24Can anyone rob a brave soldier?
Can anyone rescue prisoners from a cruel ruler?’
25But the Lord says,
‘Yes! One day the brave soldier's prisoners will be free.
One day the cruel ruler will lose the valuable things that he has taken for himself.
I myself will fight against your enemies.
I will rescue your children.
26I will cause your cruel enemies to destroy themselves.
There will be so much blood that it will seem like wine.
They will seem like people who have become drunk.
Then people everywhere will recognize that I am the Lord.
They will know that I am your Saviour and your Redeemer,
and I am the Mighty One of Jacob.’
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Isaiah 49
49
The Lord’s Servant Commissioned
1Listen 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.
2He 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.
3He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel,
and you will bring me glory.”
4I 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.”
5And 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.
6He 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.”
7The 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
8This is what the Lord says:
“At just the right time, I will respond to you.#49:8 Greek version reads I heard you. Compare 2 Cor 6:2.
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.
9I 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.
10They 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.
11And I will make my mountains into level paths for them.
The highways will be raised above the valleys.
12See, my people will return from far away,
from lands to the north and west,
and from as far south as Egypt.#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.”
13Sing 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.
14Yet Jerusalem#49:14 Hebrew Zion. 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!
16See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.
Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins.
17Soon your descendants will come back,
and all who are trying to destroy you will go away.
18Look 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.
20The generations born in exile will return and say,
‘We need more room! It’s crowded here!’
21Then 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?’”
22This 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.
23Kings 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.”
24Who can snatch the plunder of war from the hands of a warrior?
Who can demand that a tyrant#49:24 As in Dead Sea Scrolls, Syriac version, and Latin Vulgate (also see 49:25); Masoretic Text reads a righteous person. let his captives go?
25But 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.
26I 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.#49:26 Hebrew of Jacob. See note on 14:1.”
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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