49:1 Listen to Me, you islands,
And pay attention, you peoples from afar.
The LORD called Me from the womb;
From the ①body of My mother He named Me.
▷ ①Lit inward parts
49:2 He has made My mouth like a sharp sword,
In the shadow of His hand He has concealed Me;
And He has also made Me a sharpened arrow,
He has hidden Me in His quiver.
49:3 He said to Me, “You are My Servant, Israel,
In whom I will show My glory.”
49:4 But I said, “I have labored in vain,
I have spent My strength for nothing and futility;
Nevertheless, the justice due to Me is with the LORD,
And My reward is with My God.”
49:5 And 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),
49:6 He says, “It is too ①small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the protected ones of Israel;
I will also make You a light ②of the nations
So that My salvation may ③reach to the end of the earth.”
▷ ①Lit light ②Or to ③Lit be
49:7 This is what the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and its Holy One,
Says to the ①despised One,
To the One abhorred by the nation,
To the Servant of rulers:
“Kings will see and arise,
Princes will also bow down,
Because of the LORD who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You.”
▷ ①Lit despised of soul
49:8 This is what the LORD says:
“At a favorable time I answered You,
And on a day of salvation I helped You;
And I will watch over You and make You a covenant of the people,
To ①restore the land, to give as inheritances the deserted hereditary lands;
▷ ①Lit establish
49:9 Saying to those who are bound, ‘ ①Go free,’
To those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’
They will feed along the roads,
And their pasture will be on all bare heights.
▷ ①Lit Go out
49:10 They will not hunger or thirst,
Nor will the scorching heat or sun strike them down;
For He who has compassion on them will lead them,
And He will guide them to springs of water.
49:11 I will make all My mountains a road,
And My highways will be raised up.
49:12 Behold, these will come from afar;
And behold, these will come from the north and from the west,
And these from the land of Aswan.”
49:13 Shout for joy, you heavens! And rejoice, you earth!
Break forth into joyful shouting, mountains!
For the LORD has comforted His people
And will have compassion on His afflicted.
49:14 But Zion said, “The LORD has abandoned me,
And the Lord has forgotten me.”
49:15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child
And have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.
49:16 Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;
Your walls are continually before Me.
49:17 Your ①builders hurry;
Your destroyers and devastators
Will leave you.
▷ ①Ancient versions and DSS; MT sons
49:18 Raise your eyes and look around;
All of them gather together, they come to you.
As I live,” declares the LORD,
“You will certainly put them all on as ①jewelry and bind them on as a bride.
▷ ①Lit an ornament
49:19 For your ruins and deserted places and your destroyed land—
Now you will certainly be too cramped for the inhabitants,
And those who swallowed you will be far away.
49:20 The children ①you lost will yet say in your ears,
‘The place is too cramped for me;
Make room for me that I may live here.’
▷ ①Lit of your bereavement
49:21 Then you will say in your heart,
‘Who has fathered these for me,
Since I have been bereaved of my children
And cannot conceive, and I am an exile, and a wanderer?
And who has raised these?
Behold, I was left alone;
①Where are these from?’ ”
▷ ①Lit These, where are they?
49:22 This is what the Lord ①GOD says:
“Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations
And set up My flag to the peoples;
And they will bring your sons ②in their arms,
And your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.
▷ ①Heb YHWH, usually rendered LORD ②Lit on the chest
49:23 Kings will be your guardians,
And their princesses your nurses.
They will bow down to you with their faces to the ground
And lick the dust from your feet;
And you will know that I am the LORD;
Those who hopefully wait for Me will not be put to shame.
49:24 “Can the prey be taken from a mighty man,
Or the captives of ①a tyrant be rescued?”
▷ ①Ancient versions and DSS; MT the righteous, cf. v 25
49:25 Indeed, this is what the LORD says:
“Even the 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 save your sons.
49:26 I will feed your oppressors with their own flesh,
And they will become drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine;
And ①humanity will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior
And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
▷ ①Lit all flesh