Isaiah 49
49
XLIX
1Listen, O isles, unto me;
And hearken, ye people, from far;
Jehovah hath called me from the womb,
From the bowels of my mother hath He made mention of my name.
2And He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword,
In the shadow of his hand hath He concealed me;
Yea, He hath made me a polished arrow,
In his quiver hath He hid me:
3And He said unto me: Thou art my servant,
O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
4But I said: I have laboured in vain;
For nought, and for vanity, have I spent my strength:
Nevertheless my right is with Jehovah,
And the reward of my work with my God.
5And now, saith Jehovah
Who hath formed me from the womb to be his servant,
To bring Jacob again unto him,
And that Israel unto him may be gathered:
For I am glorious in the eyes of Jehovah,
And my God is my strength.
6Yea, He said: It is too light a thing that thou shouldest be my servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob,
And to restore the saved of Israel:
I will also give thee for a light to the nations,
To be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
7Thus saith Jehovah,
The Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One,
To him who is despised of men; to him whom the nation abhorreth;
To the servant of rulers:
Kings shall see, and shall rise up;
Princes, and they shall bow themselves:
Because of Jehovah who is faithful,
The Holy One of Israel, who hath chosen thee.
8Thus saith Jehovah:
In time of grace will I hear thee,
And in the day of salvation will I help thee;
And I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people,
To restore the land, to give possession of the desolate heritages:
9To say to the bounden, Go forth;
To those that are in darkness, Come into light
They shall feed beside the ways,
And on all the eminences shall be their pasture.
10They shall not hunger, nor thirst;
Neither shall the glowing heat, nor the sun, smite them:
For He that hath mercy on them shall lead them,
And shall guide them to the fountains of water.
11And I will make all my mountains an even way,
And my causeways shall be raised on high.
12Behold! these shall come from far;
And, lo! these from the north and from the west;
And these from the land of Sinim.
13Sing, O ye heavens! and be joyful, O earth!
And burst forth into song, O mountains!
For Jehovah hath comforted his people,
And hath had mercy on his afflicted.
14But Zion saith: Jehovah hath forsaken me,
And the Lord hath forgotten me.
15Can a woman forget her suckling,
That she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Yea, they may forget;
Yet I will not forget thee.
16Behold! I have graven thee on the palms of my hands;
Thy walls are ever before me.
17Thy sons shall make haste:
Thy destroyers, and they that made thee waste, shall depart from thee.
18Lift up thine eyes around, and see;
All these are gathered together, they come to thee.
As I live, saith Jehovah,
Thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament;
And bind them on thee as a bride doeth.
19For in thy waste, and in thy desolate places,
And in thy land that is destroyed,
Even now shalt thou be straitened by reason of the inhabitants;
And they that devoured thee shall be removed far away.
20Moreover, thy sons, of whom thou wast bereaved, shall say in thine ears:
This place is too strait for me; make way for me that I may dwell.
21Then shalt thou say in thine heart: Who hath begotten me these?
I was childless and barren;
An exile, and an outcast; who then hath nursed these up?
Behold, I was left alone; these then, where were they?
22Thus saith the Lord Jehovah:
Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the nations,
And set up my standard to the people;
And they shall bring thy sons in their bosom,
And thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.
23And kings shall be thy nourishers,
And their queens thy nurses;
They shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth,
And shall lick up the dust of thy feet;
And thou shalt know that I am Jehovah:
For they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.
24Shall the spoil be taken away from the mighty?
Or shall the captive seized by right of strength be rescued?
25Yea, thus saith Jehovah:
Even the captive seized by the mighty shall be retaken,
And the spoil seized by the terrible shall be rescued:
For I will contend with him that contends with thee,
And I will save thy children.
26And I will gorge thine oppressors with their own flesh;
And with their own blood, as with new wine, shall they be drunken:
And all flesh shall know
That I Jehovah am thy Saviour,
And that thy Redeemer is the Mighty One of Jacob.
Currently Selected:
Isaiah 49: TEG
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Translated by Rev John Jones (Ioan Tegid).Published at Oxford in 1830, second edition 1842.
Isaiah 49
49
The Servant Brings Salvation
1Coasts and islands,#49:1 Or Islands listen to me;
distant peoples, pay attention.
The Lord called#Is 44:2,24; 46:3; Jr 1:5 me before I was born.
He named me while I was in my mother’s womb.#Lk 1:15
2He made my words like a sharp sword;#Is 11:4; Heb 4:12; Rv 1:16; 2:12,16
he hid me in the shadow of his hand.#Is 51:16
He made me like a sharpened arrow;
he hid me in his quiver.
3He said to me, “You are my servant,#Is 41:8–9; 42:1; 49:5–7; 50:10; 52:13; 53:11; Ezk 34:23–24; Zch 3:8; Ac 3:13
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
4But I myself said: I have labored in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing and futility;
yet my vindication is with the Lord,
and my reward is with my God.
5And now, says the Lord,
who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him
so that Israel might be gathered to him;
for I am honored in the sight of the Lord,
and my God is my strength —
6he says,
“It is not enough for you to be my servant
raising up the tribes of Jacob
and restoring the protected ones of Israel.
I will also make you a light for the nations,#Is 42:6; 51:4; Lk 2:32; Ac 13:47; 26:23
to be my salvation to the ends of the earth.”#Ac 13:47
7This is what the Lord,
the Redeemer#Is 41:14; 43:14 of Israel, his Holy One, says
to one who is despised,
to one abhorred by people,#49:7 Or by the nation#Ps 22:6–8; 69:7–9; Is 53:3
to a servant of rulers:
“Kings will see, princes will stand up,
and they#49:7 Lit princes and they will all bow down
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel#Is 1:4 — and he has chosen you.”#Is 41:8–9; 42:1; 43:10,20; 44:1–2; 45:4; 65:9,15,22
8This is what the Lord says:
I will answer you in a time of favor,
and I will help you in the day of salvation.#Ps 69:13; 2Co 6:2
I will keep you, and I will appoint you
to be a covenant for the people,#Is 42:6
to restore the land,
to make them possess the desolate inheritances,
9saying to the prisoners, “Come out,”#Is 42:7; 61:1; Lk 4:18
and to those who are in darkness, “Show yourselves.”
They will feed along the pathways,
and their pastures will be on all the barren heights.#Is 41:18
10They will not hunger or thirst,
the scorching heat or sun will not strike them;
for their compassionate one will guide them,
and lead them to springs.#Ps 23:2; Is 40:11; Jn 4:10; Rv 7:16–17
11I will make all my mountains into a road,
and my highways will be raised up.#Is 40:4
12See, these will come from far away,
from the north and from the west,#49:12 Lit sea#Is 43:5–6
and from the land of Sinim.#49:12 DSS read of the Syenites#49:12 Perhaps modern Aswan in southern Egypt
13Shout for joy, you heavens!#Is 44:23
Earth, rejoice!
Mountains break into joyful shouts!
For the Lord has comforted his people,#Is 40:1
and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.#Is 54:7–10; Mt 11:29
Zion Remembered
14Zion says, “The Lord has abandoned me;
the Lord has forgotten me!”
15“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
or lack compassion for the child of her womb?
Even if these forget,
yet I will not forget you.
16Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;#Sg 8:6; Hg 2:23
your walls are continually before me.
17Your builders#49:17 DSS, Aq, Theod, Vg; MT, Syr, Sym read sons hurry;
those who destroy and devastate you will leave you.
18Look up, and look around.
They all gather together; they come to you.#Is 60:4
As I live” —
this is the Lord’s declaration —
“you will wear all your children#49:18 Lit all of them as jewelry,
and put them on as a bride does.
19For your waste and desolate places
and your land marked by ruins
will now be indeed too small for the inhabitants,#Is 54:1–2; Zch 10:10
and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20Yet as you listen, the children
that you have been deprived of will say,
‘This place is too small for me;
make room for me so that I may settle.’#Is 54:1–3
21Then you will say within yourself,
‘Who fathered these for me?
I was deprived of my children and unable to conceive,
exiled and wandering —
but who brought them up?
See, I was left by myself —
but these, where did they come from?’” #49:21 Lit where are they
22This is what the Lord God says:
Look, I will lift up my hand to the nations,
and raise my banner to the peoples.#Is 11:10–12; 18:3; 62:10
They will bring your sons in their arms,
and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.#Is 14:2; 43:6; 60:4
23Kings will be your guardians
and their queens#49:23 Lit princesses your nursing mothers.#Is 60:3,10–11
They will bow down to you
with their faces to the ground
and lick the dust at your feet.#Is 14:1–2
Then you will know that I am the Lord;#Is 41:20; 43:10; 60:16
those who put their hope in me
will not be put to shame.#Ps 25:3; Is 45:17; Jl 2:27
24Can the prey be taken from a mighty man,
or the captives of a tyrant#49:24 DSS, Syr, Vg; MT reads a righteous man be delivered?
25For this is what the Lord says:
“Even the captives of a mighty man will be taken,
and the prey of a tyrant will be delivered;
I will contend with the one who contends with you,
and I will save your children.
26I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,#Is 9:20
and they will be drunk with their own blood
as with sweet wine.
Then all humanity will know
that I, the Lord, am your Savior,#Is 43:3
and your Redeemer,#Is 41:14 the Mighty One of Jacob.”#Gn 49:24; Ps 132:2,5; Is 60:16
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers