Isaiah 49

HCSB

Isaiah 49

The Servant Brings Salvation

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Coastlands,^(a) listen to me;
distant peoples, pay attention.
The Lord called^(A) me before I was born.
He named me while I was in my mother’s womb.^(B)

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He made my words like a sharp sword;^(C)
He hid me in the shadow of His hand.^(D)
He made me like a sharpened arrow;
He hid me in His quiver.

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He said to me, “You are My Servant, Israel;^(E)
I will be glorified in him.”

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But I myself said: I have labored in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing and futility;
yet my vindication is with the Lord,
and my reward is with my God.

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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—

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He says,
“It is not enough for you to be My Servant
raising up the tribes of Jacob
and restoring the protected ones of Israel.
I will also make you a light for the nations,^(F)
to be My salvation to the ends of the earth.”^(G)

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This is what the Lord,
the Redeemer^(H) of Israel, his Holy One, says
to one who is despised,
to one abhorred by people,^(b)^(I)
to a servant of rulers:
“Kings will see and stand up,
and princes^(c) will bow down,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel^(J)—and He has chosen you.”^(K)

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8} This is what the Lord says:

I will answer you in a time of favor,
and I will help you in the day of salvation.^(L)
I will keep you, and I will appoint you
to be a covenant for the people,^(M)
to restore the land,
to make them possess the desolate inheritances,

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saying to the prisoners: Come out,^(N)
and to those who are in darkness: Show yourselves.
They will feed along the pathways,
and their pastures will be on all the barren heights.^(O)

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They will not hunger or thirst,
the scorching heat or sun will not strike them;
for their compassionate One will guide them,
and lead them to springs of water.^(P)

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I will make all My mountains into a road,
and My highways will be raised up.^(Q)

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See, these will come from far away,
from the north and from the west,^(d)^(R)
and from the land of Sinim.^(e)^(f)

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Shout for joy, you heavens!^(S)
Earth, rejoice!
Mountains break into joyful shouts!
For the Lord has comforted His people,^(T)
and will have compassion on His afflicted ones.^(U)

Zion Remembered

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Zion says, “The Lord has abandoned me;
The Lord has forgotten me!”

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“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
or lack compassion for the child of her womb?
Even if these forget,
yet I will not forget you.

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Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;^(V)
your walls are continually before Me.

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Your builders^(g) hurry;
those who destroy and devastate you will leave you.

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Look up, and look around.
They all gather together; they come to you.^(W)
As I live”—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
“you will wear all your children^(h) as jewelry,
and put them on as a bride does.

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For your waste and desolate places
and your land marked by ruins—
will now be indeed too small for the inhabitants,^(X)
and those who swallowed you up will be far away.

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Yet as you listen, the children
that you have been deprived of will say,
‘This place is too small for me;
make room for me so that I may settle.’^(Y)

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Then you will say within yourself,
‘Who fathered these for me?
I was deprived of my children and unable to conceive,
exiled and wandering—
but who brought them up?
See, I was left by myself—
but these, where did they come from?’”⁽ⁱ⁾

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22} This is what the Lord God says:

Look, I will lift up My hand to the nations,
and raise My banner to the peoples.^(Z)
They will bring your sons in their arms,
and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.^(AA)

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Kings will be your foster fathers,
and their queens^(j) your nursing mothers.^(AB)
They will bow down to you
with their faces to the ground,
and lick the dust at your feet.^(AC)
Then you will know that I am Yahweh;^(AD)
those who put their hope in Me
will not be put to shame.^(AE)

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Can the prey be taken from the mighty,
or the captives of the righteous^(k) be delivered?

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For this is what the Lord says:
“Even the captives of a mighty man will be taken,
and the prey of a tyrant will be delivered;
I will contend with the one who contends with you,
and I will save your children.

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I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,^(AF)
and they will be drunk with their own blood
as with sweet wine.
Then all flesh will know
that I, Yahweh, am your Savior,^(AG)
and your Redeemer,^(AH) the Mighty One of Jacob.”^(AI)

Footnotes:

a. Isaiah 49:1: Or Islands

b. Isaiah 49:7: Or by the nation

c. Isaiah 49:7: Lit princes and they

d. Isaiah 49:12: Lit sea

e. Isaiah 49:12: DSS read of the Syenites

f. Isaiah 49:12: Perhaps modern Aswan in southern Egypt

g. Isaiah 49:17: DSS, Aq, Theod, Vg; MT, Syr, Sym read sons

h. Isaiah 49:18: Lit all of them

i. Isaiah 49:21: Lit where are they

j. Isaiah 49:23: Lit princesses

k. Isaiah 49:24: DSS, Syr, Vg read fearsome one, or tyrant

Cross references:

A. Isaiah 49:1: Isaiah 44:2; Isaiah 44:24; Isaiah 46:3; Jeremiah 1:5

B. Isaiah 49:1: Luke 1:15

C. Isaiah 49:2: Isaiah 11:4; Hebrews 4:12; Hebrews 2:12; Hebrews 2:16

D. Isaiah 49:2: Isaiah 51:16

E. Isaiah 49:3: Isaiah 41:8-9; Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 49:5-7; Isaiah 50:10; Isaiah 52:13; Isaiah 53:11; Ezekiel 34:23-24; Acts 3:13

F. Isaiah 49:6: Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 51:4; Luke 2:32; Acts 13:47; Acts 26:23

G. Isaiah 49:6: Acts 13:47

H. Isaiah 49:7: Isaiah 41:14; Isaiah 43:14

I. Isaiah 49:7: Psalm 22:6-8; Psalm 69:7-9; Isaiah 53:3

J. Isaiah 49:7: Isaiah 1:4

K. Isaiah 49:7: Isaiah 41:8-9; Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 43:10; Isaiah 43:20; Isaiah 44:1-2; Isaiah 45:4; Isaiah 65:9; Isaiah 65:15; Isaiah 65:22

L. Isaiah 49:8: Psalm 69:13; 2 Corinthians 6:2

M. Isaiah 49:8: Isaiah 42:6

N. Isaiah 49:9: Isaiah 42:7; Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18

O. Isaiah 49:9: Isaiah 41:18

P. Isaiah 49:10: Psalm 23:2; Isaiah 40:11; John 4:10

Q. Isaiah 49:11: Isaiah 40:4

R. Isaiah 49:12: Isaiah 43:5-6

S. Isaiah 49:13: Isaiah 44:23

T. Isaiah 49:13: Isaiah 40:1

U. Isaiah 49:13: Isaiah 54:7-10; Matthew 11:29

V. Isaiah 49:16: Haggai 2:23

W. Isaiah 49:18: Isaiah 60:4

X. Isaiah 49:19: Isaiah 54:1-2

Y. Isaiah 49:20: Isaiah 54:1-3

Z. Isaiah 49:22: Isaiah 11:10-12; Isaiah 18:3; Isaiah 62:10

AA. Isaiah 49:22: Isaiah 14:2; Isaiah 43:6; Isaiah 60:4

AB. Isaiah 49:23: Isaiah 60:3; Isaiah 60:10-11

AC. Isaiah 49:23: Isaiah 14:1-2

AD. Isaiah 49:23: Isaiah 41:20; Isaiah 43:10; Isaiah 60:16

AE. Isaiah 49:23: Psalm 25:3; Isaiah 45:17; Joel 2:27

AF. Isaiah 49:26: Isaiah 9:20

AG. Isaiah 49:26: Isaiah 43:3

AH. Isaiah 49:26: Isaiah 41:14

AI. Isaiah 49:26: Genesis 49:24; Psalm 132:2; Psalm 132:5; Isaiah 60:16