Isaiah 49

New American Standard Bible

Salvation Reaches to the Ends of the Earth

49 Listen to Me, you ^(A)islands,
And pay attention, you peoples from afar.
^(B)The Lord called Me from the womb;
From the ^[a]body of My mother He named Me.
²He has made My ^(C)mouth like a sharp sword,
In the ^(D)shadow of His hand He has concealed Me;
And He has also made Me a sharpened ^(E)arrow,
He has hidden Me in His quiver.
³He said to Me, “^(F)You are My Servant, Israel,
^(G)In whom I will show My glory.”
⁴But I said, “I have ^(H)labored in vain,
I have spent My strength for nothing and futility;
Nevertheless, the justice due to Me is with the Lord,
And My ^(I)reward is with My God.”

⁵And now says ^(J)the Lord, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,
To bring Jacob back to Him, so that ^(K)Israel might be gathered to Him
(For I am ^(L)honored in the sight of the Lord,
And My God is My ^(M)strength),
⁶He says, “It is too ^[b]small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the ^(N)protected ones of Israel;
I will also make You a ^(O)light ^[c]of the nations
So that My salvation may ^[d]reach to the ^(P)end of the earth.”
⁷This is what the Lord, the ^(Q)Redeemer of Israel and its Holy One,
Says to the ^[e]^(R)despised One,
To the One abhorred by the nation,
To the Servant of rulers:
“^(S)Kings will see and arise,
Princes will also ^(T)bow down,
Because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You.”

⁸This is what the Lord says:
“At a ^(U)favorable time I answered You,
And on a day of salvation I helped You;
And I will ^(V)watch over You and ^(W)make You a covenant of the people,
To ^[f]^(X)restore the land, to give as inheritances the deserted hereditary lands;
⁹Saying to those who are ^(Y)bound, ‘^[g]Go free,’
To those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’
They will feed along the roads,
And their pasture will be on all ^(Z)bare heights.
¹⁰They will ^(AA)not hunger or thirst,
Nor will the scorching ^(AB)heat or sun strike them down;
For ^(AC)He who has compassion on them will ^(AD)lead them,
And He will guide them to ^(AE)springs of water.
¹¹I will make all ^(AF)My mountains a road,
And My ^(AG)highways will be raised up.
¹²Behold, these will come ^(AH)from afar;
And behold, these will come from the ^(AI)north and from the west,
And these from the land of Aswan.”
¹³^(AJ)Shout for joy, you heavens! And rejoice, you earth!
Break forth into joyful shouting, mountains!
For the ^(AK)Lord has comforted His people
And will ^(AL)have compassion on His afflicted.

Promise to Zion

¹⁴But Zion said, “The Lord has abandoned me,
And the Lord has forgotten me.”
¹⁵“Can a woman forget her nursing child
And have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget, but ^(AM)I will not forget you.
¹⁶Behold, I have ^(AN)inscribed you on the palms of My hands;
Your ^(AO)walls are continually before Me.
¹⁷Your ^[h]builders hurry;
Your ^(AP)destroyers and devastators
Will leave you.
¹⁸^(AQ)Raise your eyes and look around;
^(AR)All of them gather together, ^(AS)they come to you.
^(AT)As I live,” declares the Lord,
“You will certainly ^(AU)put them all on as ^[i]jewelry and bind them on as a bride.
¹⁹For ^(AV)your ruins and deserted places and your destroyed land—
Now you will certainly be ^(AW)too cramped for the inhabitants,
And those who ^(AX)swallowed you will be far away.
²⁰The ^(AY)children ^[j]you lost will yet say in your ears,
‘The place is too cramped for me;
Make room for me that I may live here.’
²¹Then you will ^(AZ)say in your heart,
‘Who has fathered these for me,
Since I have been bereaved of my children
And ^(BA)cannot conceive, and I am an ^(BB)exile, and a wanderer?
And who has raised these?
Behold, I was ^(BC)left alone;
^[k]^(BD)Where are these from?’”

²²This is what the Lord ^[l]God says:

“Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations
And set up My ^(BE)flag to the peoples;
And they will ^(BF)bring your sons ^[m]in their arms,
And your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.
²³^(BG)Kings will be your guardians,
And their princesses your nurses.
They will ^(BH)bow down to you with their faces to the ground
And ^(BI)lick the dust from your feet;
And you will ^(BJ)know that I am the Lord;
Those who hopefully ^(BK)wait for Me will ^(BL)not be put to shame.

²⁴“^(BM)Can the prey be taken from a mighty man,
Or the captives of ^[n]a tyrant be rescued?”

²⁵Indeed, this is what the Lord says:

“Even the ^(BN)captives of the mighty man will be taken away,
And the prey of a tyrant will be rescued;
For I will contend with the one who contends with you,
And I will ^(BO)save your sons.
²⁶I will feed your ^(BP)oppressors with their ^(BQ)own flesh,
And they will become drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine;
And ^[o]^(BR)humanity will know that I, the Lord, am your ^(BS)Savior
And your ^(BT)Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”