Isaiah 49

1

Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations:

Before I was born the LORD called me;

from my birth he has made mention of my name.

2

He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,

in the shadow of his hand he hid me;

he made me into a polished arrow and

conceald me in his quiver.

3

He said to me, "You are my servant, Israel,

in whom I will display my splendor."

4

But I said, "I have laboared to no purpose;

I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing.

Yet what is due me is in the LORD's hand,

and my reward is with my God."

5

And now the LORD says - he who formed me in the womb

to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel

to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD and

my God has been my strength -

6

he says: "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant

to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel

I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,

that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."

7

This is what the LORD says - the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel -

to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation,

to the servant of rulers: "Kings will see you and rise up,

princes will see and bow down, because of the LORD,

who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

8

This is what the LORD says: "In the time of my favor

I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you;

I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people,

to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances,

9

to say to the captives, 'Come out,' and to those in darkness,

'Be free!' "They will feed beside the roads and

find pasture on every barren hill

10

They will neither hungry nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or

the sun beat upon them. He who has compassion on them

will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.

11

I will turn all my mountains into roads,

and my highways will be raise up.

12

See,they will come from afar - some from the north,

some from the west, some from the region of Aswan."

13

Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth;

burst into song, O mountains! For the LORD comforts

his people and will have compasion on his afflicted ones.

14

but Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me,

the Lord has forgotten me."

15

"Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and

have no compassion on the child she has borne?

Though she may forget, I will not forget you!

16

See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;

your walls are ever before me.

17

Your sons hasten back, and those who laid you waste

depart from you.

18

Lift up your eyes and look around;

all your sons gather and come to you.

As surely as I live," declares the LORD,

"you will wear them all as ornaments;

you will put them on, like a bride.

19

"Though you were ruined and made desolate and

your land laid waste, now you will be too small for your people,

and those who devoured 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.'

21

Then you will say in your heart, 'Who bore me these?

I was bereaved and barren; I was exiled and rejected.

Who brought these up? I was left all alone,

but these - where have they come from?' "

22

This is what the Sovereign LORD says:

"See, I will beckon to the Gentiles,

I will lift up my banner to the peoples;

they will bring your sons in their arms and

carry your daughrers on their shoulders.

23

Kings will be your foster fathers,

and their queens your nursing mothers.

They will bow down before you with their faces

to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet.

Then you will know that I am the LORD;

those who hope in me will not be disappointed."

24

Can plunder be taken from warriors or

captives rescued from the fierce?

25

But this is what the LORD says:

"Yes, captives will be taken from warriors,

and plunder retrieved from the fierce;

I will contend with those who contend

with you, and your children I will save.

26

I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh;

they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine.

Then alll mankind will know that I, the LOTRD,

and your Savior, your Redeemer, the Migty One of Jacob."