< Isaiah 49 >
1 Listen, O islands, to Me, And attend, O peoples, from afar, YHWH has called Me from the womb, From the bowels of My mother He has made mention of My Name.
2 And He makes My mouth as a sharp sword, He has hid Me in the shadow of His hand, And He makes Me for a clear arrow, He has hid Me in His quiver.
3 And He says to me, “You are My servant, O Israel, In whom I beautify Myself.”
4 And I said, “I labored in vain, I consumed my power for emptiness and vanity, But my judgment [is] with YHWH, And my wage with my God.”
5 “And now,” said YHWH, who is forming Me from the belly—His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him (Though Israel is not gathered, Yet I am honored in the eyes of YHWH, And My God has been My strength).
6 And He says, “It has been a light thing That You are My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to bring back the preserved of Israel, And I have given You for a light to the nations, To be My salvation to the end of the earth.”
7 Thus said YHWH, Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One, To the despised in soul, To the detested of a nation, To the Servant of rulers: “Kings see, and have risen, princes, and worship, For the sake of YHWH, who is faithful, The Holy of Israel, and He chooses You.”
8 Thus said YHWH: “In a time of good pleasure I answered You, And in a day of salvation I helped You, And I keep You, and give You, For a covenant of the people, To establish the earth, To cause to inherit desolate inheritances.
9 To say to the bound, Go out, To those in darkness, Be uncovered. They feed on the ways, And their pasture is in all high places.
10 They do not hunger, nor thirst, Nor do mirage and sun strike them, For He who is pitying them leads them, And tends them by fountains of waters.
11 And I have made all My mountains for a way, And My highways are lifted up.
12 Behold, these come in from afar, And behold, these from the north, and from the sea, And these from the land of Sinim.”
13 Sing, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth, And break forth, O mountains, with singing, For YHWH has comforted His people, And He pities His afflicted ones.
14 And Zion says, “YHWH has forsaken me, And my Lord has forgotten me.”
15 “Does a woman forget her suckling, The loved one—the son of her womb? Indeed, these forget—but I do not forget you.
16 Behold, I have carved you on the palms of the hand, Your walls [are] continually before Me.
17 Those building you have hurried, Those destroying you, and laying you waste, go out from you.
18 Lift up your eyes, [look] around and see, All of them have been gathered, They have come to you. [As] I live,” a declaration of YHWH! “Surely you put on all of them as an ornament, And you bind them on like a bride.
19 Because your ruins, and your desolate places, And the land of your ruins, Are now surely restricted because of inhabitants, And those consuming you have been far off.
20 Again the sons of your bereavement say in your ears: The place is too narrow for me, Come near to me—and I dwell.
21 And you have said in your heart: Who has begotten these for me? And I [am] bereaved and barren, A captive, and turned aside, And who has nourished these? Behold, I was left by myself, these—where [are] they from?”
22 Thus said Lord YHWH: “Behold, I lift up My hand to nations, And I raise up My ensign to peoples, And they have brought your sons in the bosom, And your daughters are carried on the shoulder.
23 And kings have been your nursing fathers, And their princesses—your nursing mothers; Face to the earth—they bow down to you, And they lick up the dust of your feet, And you have known that I [am] YHWH, That those expecting Me are not ashamed.”
24 Is prey taken from the mighty? And the captive of the righteous delivered?
25 For thus said YHWH: “Even the captive of the mighty is taken, And the prey of the terrible is delivered, And I strive with your striver, and I save your sons.
26 And I have caused your oppressors to eat their own flesh, And they drink their own blood as new wine, And all flesh has known that I, YHWH, Your Savior, and your Redeemer, [Am] the Mighty One of Jacob!”
