Isaiah 49
International Standard Version
The Servant of the Lord
49 “Listen to me, you coastlands!
Pay[a] attention, you people[b] from far away!
The Lord called me from the womb;
while I was still in my mother’s body,
he pronounced my name.
2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
he hid me in the shadow of his hands.[c]
He made me like a polished arrow
and hid me away in his quivers.[d]
3 He said to me: ‘You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will glorify myself.’
4 “I[e] said: ‘I’ve labored for nothing.
I’ve exhausted my strength on futility and on[f] emptiness.’
Yet surely my recompense is with the Lord,
and my reward is with my God.
5 “And now, says the Lord,
who formed you[g] from the womb as his servant
to bring Jacob back to him
so that Israel might be gathered[h] to him—
and I am honored in the Lord’s sight
and my God has been my help[i]—
6 he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant,
to raise up the tribes of Israel[j]
and bring back those of Jacob[k] I have preserved.
I’ll also make you as a light to the nations,
to be my salvation to the ends[l] of the earth.
7 “This is what my Lord[m] says—
the Lord your Redeemer, O Israel,[n]
and his Holy One—
to one despised by people,[o]
to those abhorred[p] as a nation,
to the servant of rulers:
“Kings see[q] and arise,
and princes[r] will bow down,
because of the Lord who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel,
the one who has[s] chosen you.”
The Restoration of Israel
8 “This what the Lord says:
“I’ll answer[t] you in a time of favor,
and on a day of salvation I’ll help[u] you.
I have watched over you,
and given you as a covenant for the people,
to restore the land,
to reassign the inheritances that have been devastated;
9 saying to captives, ‘Come out!’
and[v] to those who are in darkness, ‘Be free!’[w]
“They will feed on all the mountains,[x]
and their pasture will be on all the barren hills.
10 They won’t hunger or thirst,
nor will the desert heat or sun beat upon them;
for the one who has compassion on them will drive them
and guide them alongside springs of water.
11 I’ll turn all my mountains into a road,
and my highways will be raised up.
12 “Watch! They’ll come from far away—
some from the north and from the west,
and others from the region of China.”[y]
13 Shout with joy, you heavens,
and rock with glee, you earth!
Break out in song, you mountains![z]
The Lord is comforting[aa] his people
and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.
Zion Not Forgotten
14 “But Zion said, ‘The Lord has abandoned me,
and my God[ab] has forgotten me.’
15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child,
or have no compassion for the child of her womb?
Even these mothers may forget;
But as for me, I’ll never forget you!
16 Look! I’ve inscribed you on the palms of my hands,
and[ac] your walls are forever before me.
17 Your builders[ad] are working faster than your destroyers,
and those who devastated you go away from you.
18 Lift up your eyes and look around—
they have all gathered together
and are coming to you.
“As surely as I live,” says the Lord,
“you will clothe yourself with all of them like ornaments,
and tie them on like a bride.
19 Indeed, your ruins, your desolate places,
and your devastated land
will now be too crowded for your inhabitants,
while those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20 “The children who are grieving at present[ae]
will yet say in your hearing,
‘This place is too crowded for me;
make room for me,
so I may have a place to live.’
21 Then you’ll ask[af] in your heart,
‘Who bore these children for me,
although I was childless and barren,
and[ag] an exile[ah] and cast aside?
Who[ai] brought these up?
Look![aj] For my part I was left all alone;
but as for these, where have they come from?’
22 “For[ak] this what the Lord[al] says,
‘Watch! I’ll lift up my hand to the nations
and raise my banner to the[am] peoples.[an]
They will bring your sons in their arms,
and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.’
23 “Oh, yes![ao] Kings will be your foster fathers,
and their queens will be your nursing mothers.
They will bow to you with their faces to the ground,
and lick the dust from your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord;
those who hope in me will not be disappointed.
24 “Can they seize plunder[ap] from warriors,
or[aq] can the captives of tyrants[ar] be rescued?
25 But this is what the Lord says:
“He will seize[as] even the warriors’ plunder,[at]
and the captives[au] of tyrants will be rescued.
I myself will quarrel with those who have a quarrel with you,[av]
and I myself will save your children.
26 “I’ll make those who mistreat you[aw] eat their own flesh,
and they will get drunk on their own blood, as with new wine.
“Then all mankind will know that I am the Lord
your Savior and your Redeemer,
the Mighty One of Jacob.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 49:1 So 1QIsaa LXX; 1QIsab MT read and pay
- Isaiah 49:1 Lit. peoples; i.e. non-Israelis then in the land
- Isaiah 49:2 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT LXX read hand
- Isaiah 49:2 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab 4QIsad MT LXX read quiver
- Isaiah 49:4 So 1QIsaa; 4QIsad MT LXX read But I
- Isaiah 49:4 So 1QIsaa LXX; 1QIsab MT lack on
- Isaiah 49:5 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT LXX me
- Isaiah 49:5 So 1QIsaa MTqere LXX; 4QIsad MT might not be gathered (misspelling)
- Isaiah 49:5 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT LXX strength
- Isaiah 49:6 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT LXX Jacob
- Isaiah 49:6 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT LXX Israel
- Isaiah 49:6 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT LXX end
- Isaiah 49:7 So 1QIsaa 1QIsab; MT LXX lacks my Lord
- Isaiah 49:7 So 1QIsaa LXX; 1QIsab MT read the Redeemer of Israel
- Isaiah 49:7 So 1QIsaa 4QIsad; MT CaiGen LXX reads to one people despise
- Isaiah 49:7 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX reads one abhorred
- Isaiah 49:7 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT read Kings will see; LXX reads Kings will see him
- Isaiah 49:7 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab reads They will rise; MT LXX read princes will rise, and they
- Isaiah 49:7 So 1QIsaa; MT reads and the one who has; LXX reads and I have
- Isaiah 49:8 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX reads I have answered
- Isaiah 49:8 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT LXX read I have helped
- Isaiah 49:9 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT lack and
- Isaiah 49:9 Or darkness, ‘Show yourselves!’
- Isaiah 49:9 So 1QIsaa; MT reads by the roads; LXX reads in all their roads
- Isaiah 49:12 Lit. Syenes; so 1QIsaa; MT reads Syene; LXX reads Persians
- Isaiah 49:13 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read Let the mountains break out; MTqere, mss read And break out, you mountains
- Isaiah 49:13 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read has comforted
- Isaiah 49:14 So 1QIsaa corrector; Lit. my God written above my Lord; MT LXX read my Lord
- Isaiah 49:16 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read and
- Isaiah 49:17 So 1QIsaa Aquila Vulg LXX; MT reads sons
- Isaiah 49:20 Lit. children of your bereavement
- Isaiah 49:21 Lit. say
- Isaiah 49:21 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack and
- Isaiah 49:21 LXX lacks and an exile
- Isaiah 49:21 So 1QIsaa. MT LXX read And who
- Isaiah 49:21 So 1QIsaa MT; LXX lacks Look!
- Isaiah 49:22 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack For
- Isaiah 49:22 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads my Lord the Lord
- Isaiah 49:22 So 1QIsaa; MT lacks the
- Isaiah 49:22 So 1QIsaa MT; LXX reads islands
- Isaiah 49:23 Or And aha!; so 1QIsaa cf. Isa 55:1; MT LXX read And it will happen that
- Isaiah 49:24 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads plunder be seized
- Isaiah 49:24 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT lacks or
- Isaiah 49:24 So 1QIsaa LXX Targ Vulg; MT reads righteous ones
- Isaiah 49:25 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads will be seized;
- Isaiah 49:25 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX reads captives
- Isaiah 49:25 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX reads plunder
- Isaiah 49:25 So 1QIsaa; MT Vulg read with your contender; LXX reads your cause
- Isaiah 49:26 So 1QIsaa probably misspells this word as I will eat.
Isaiah 49
New International Version
The Servant of the Lord
49 Listen(A) to me, you islands;(B)
hear this, you distant nations:
Before I was born(C) the Lord called(D) me;
from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.(E)
2 He made my mouth(F) like a sharpened sword,(G)
in the shadow of his hand(H) he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow(I)
and concealed me in his quiver.
3 He said to me, “You are my servant,(J)
Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.(K)”
4 But I said, “I have labored in vain;(L)
I have spent my strength for nothing at all.
Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand,(M)
and my reward(N) is with my God.”(O)
5 And now the Lord says—
he who formed me in the womb(P) to be his servant
to bring Jacob back to him
and gather Israel(Q) to himself,
for I am[a] honored(R) in the eyes of the Lord
and my God has been my strength(S)—
6 he says:
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant(T)
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.(U)
I will also make you a light(V) for the Gentiles,(W)
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”(X)
7 This is what the Lord says—
the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel(Y)—
to him who was despised(Z) and abhorred by the nation,
to the servant of rulers:
“Kings(AA) will see you and stand up,
princes will see and bow down,(AB)
because of the Lord, who is faithful,(AC)
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen(AD) you.”
Restoration of Israel
8 This is what the Lord says:
“In the time of my favor(AE) I will answer you,
and in the day of salvation I will help you;(AF)
I will keep(AG) you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people,(AH)
to restore the land(AI)
and to reassign its desolate inheritances,(AJ)
9 to say to the captives,(AK) ‘Come out,’
and to those in darkness,(AL) ‘Be free!’
“They will feed beside the roads
and find pasture on every barren hill.(AM)
10 They will neither hunger nor thirst,(AN)
nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them.(AO)
He who has compassion(AP) on them will guide(AQ) them
and lead them beside springs(AR) of water.
11 I will turn all my mountains into roads,
and my highways(AS) will be raised up.(AT)
12 See, they will come from afar(AU)—
some from the north, some from the west,(AV)
some from the region of Aswan.[b]”
13 Shout for joy,(AW) you heavens;
rejoice, you earth;(AX)
burst into song, you mountains!(AY)
For the Lord comforts(AZ) his people
and will have compassion(BA) on his afflicted ones.(BB)
15 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child(BE) she has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you!(BF)
16 See, I have engraved(BG) you on the palms of my hands;
your walls(BH) are ever before me.
17 Your children hasten back,
and those who laid you waste(BI) depart from you.
18 Lift up your eyes and look around;
all your children gather(BJ) and come to you.
As surely as I live,(BK)” declares the Lord,
“you will wear(BL) them all as ornaments;
you will put them on, like a bride.
19 “Though you were ruined and made desolate(BM)
and your land laid waste,(BN)
now you will be too small for your people,(BO)
and those who devoured(BP) you will be far away.
20 The children born during your bereavement
will yet say in your hearing,
‘This place is too small for us;
give us more space to live in.’(BQ)
21 Then you will say in your heart,
‘Who bore me these?(BR)
I was bereaved(BS) and barren;
I was exiled and rejected.(BT)
Who brought these(BU) up?
I was left(BV) all alone,(BW)
but these—where have they come from?’”
22 This is what the Sovereign Lord(BX) says:
“See, I will beckon to the nations,
I will lift up my banner(BY) to the peoples;
they will bring(BZ) your sons in their arms
and carry your daughters on their hips.(CA)
23 Kings(CB) will be your foster fathers,
and their queens your nursing mothers.(CC)
They will bow down(CD) before you with their faces to the ground;
they will lick the dust(CE) at your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord;(CF)
those who hope(CG) in me will not be disappointed.(CH)”
25 But this is what the Lord says:
“Yes, captives(CJ) will be taken from warriors,(CK)
and plunder retrieved from the fierce;(CL)
I will contend with those who contend with you,(CM)
and your children I will save.(CN)
26 I will make your oppressors(CO) eat(CP) their own flesh;
they will be drunk on their own blood,(CQ) as with wine.
Then all mankind will know(CR)
that I, the Lord, am your Savior,(CS)
your Redeemer,(CT) the Mighty One of Jacob.(CU)”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 49:5 Or him, / but Israel would not be gathered; / yet I will be
- Isaiah 49:12 Dead Sea Scrolls; Masoretic Text Sinim
- Isaiah 49:24 Dead Sea Scrolls, Vulgate and Syriac (see also Septuagint and verse 25); Masoretic Text righteous
Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.