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This is what the Lord says:

“At the time I decide to show my favor, I will respond to you;
in the day of deliverance I will help you;
I will protect you[a] and make you a covenant mediator for people,[b]
to rebuild[c] the land[d]
and to reassign the desolate property.
You will say[e] to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’
and to those who are in dark dungeons,[f] ‘Emerge.’[g]
They will graze beside the roads;
on all the slopes they will find pasture.
10 They will not be hungry or thirsty;
the sun’s oppressive heat will not beat down on them,[h]
for one who has compassion on them will guide them;
he will lead them to springs of water.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 49:8 tn The translation assumes the verb is derived from the root נָצָר (natsar, “protect”). Some prefer to derive it from the root יָצָר (yatsar, “form”).
  2. Isaiah 49:8 tn Heb “a covenant of people.” A person cannot literally be a covenant; בְּרִית (berit) is probably metonymic here, indicating a covenant mediator. Here עָם (ʿam, “people”) appears to refer to Israel. See the note at 42:6.
  3. Isaiah 49:8 tn The Hiphil of קוּם (qum, “arise”) is probably used here in the sense of “rebuild.”
  4. Isaiah 49:8 tn The “land” probably stands by metonymy for the ruins within it.
  5. Isaiah 49:9 tn Heb “to say.” In the Hebrew text the infinitive construct is subordinated to what precedes.
  6. Isaiah 49:9 tn Heb “in darkness” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “the prisoners of darkness.”
  7. Isaiah 49:9 tn Heb “show yourselves” (so ASV, NAB, NASB).
  8. Isaiah 49:10 tn Heb “and the heat and the sun will not strike them.” In Isa 35:7, its only other occurrence in the OT, שָׁרָב (sharav) stands parallel to “parched ground” and in contrast to “pool.” In later Hebrew and Aramaic it refers to “dry heat, heat of the sun” (Jastrow 1627 s.v.). Here it likely has this nuance and forms a hendiadys with “sun.”

Restoration of Israel

This is what the Lord says:

“In the time of my favor(A) I will answer you,
    and in the day of salvation I will help you;(B)
I will keep(C) you and will make you
    to be a covenant for the people,(D)
to restore the land(E)
    and to reassign its desolate inheritances,(F)
to say to the captives,(G) ‘Come out,’
    and to those in darkness,(H) ‘Be free!’

“They will feed beside the roads
    and find pasture on every barren hill.(I)
10 They will neither hunger nor thirst,(J)
    nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them.(K)
He who has compassion(L) on them will guide(M) them
    and lead them beside springs(N) of water.

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