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.
³And 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—
⁶he 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.”

⁷Thus 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

⁸Thus 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.

¹⁴But 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.
¹⁶Behold, ^(AF)I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
    your walls are continually before me.
¹⁷Your 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.’
²¹Then 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?’”

²²Thus 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.”

²⁴Can the prey be taken from the mighty,
    or the captives of a tyrant^[f] be rescued?
²⁵For 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