Isaiah 49

The Lord’s Servant Commissioned

49Listen to me, all you in distant lands! Pay attention, you who are far away! The Lord called me before my birth; from within the womb he called me by name.H8085H339H7181H3816H7350H3068H7121H990H4578H517H2142H80342He made my words of judgment as sharp as a sword. He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand. I am like a sharp arrow in his quiver.H7760H6310H2299H2719H6738H3027H2244H7760H1305H2671H827H56413He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, and you will bring me glory.”H559H5650H3478H62864I replied, “But my work seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose. Yet I leave it all in the Lord’s hand; I will trust God for my reward.”H559H3021H7385H3615H3581H8414H1892H403H4941H3068H6468H4305And now the Lord speaks—the one who formed me in my mother’s womb to be his servant, who commissioned me to bring Israel back to him. The Lord has honored me, and my God has given me strength.H559H3068H3335H990H5650H7725H3290H7725H3478H622H3513H5869H3068H430H57976He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”H559H7043H5650H6965H7626H3290H7725H5341H5336H3478H5414H216H1471H3444H7097H7767The Lord, the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel, says to the one who is despised and rejected by the nations, to the one who is the servant of rulers. “Kings will stand at attention when you pass by. Princes will also bow low because of the Lord, the faithful one, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”H559H3068H1350H3478H6918H5315H960H1471H8581H5650H4910H4428H7200H6965H8269H7812H3068H539H6918H3478H977

Promises of Israel’s Restoration

8This is what the Lord says. “At just the right time, I will respond to you

. On the day of salvation I will help you. I will protect you and give you to the people as my covenant with them. Through you I will reestablish the land of Israel and assign it to its own people again.H559H3068H7522H6256H6030H3117H3444H5826H5341H5414H1285H5971H6965H776H5157H8074H51599I will say to the prisoners, ‘Come out in freedom,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Come into the light.’ They will be my sheep, grazing in green pastures and on hills that were previously bare.H559H631H3318H2822H1540H7462H1870H4830H820510They will neither hunger nor thirst. The searing sun will not reach them anymore. For the Lord in his mercy will lead them; he will lead them beside cool waters.H7456H6770H8273H8121H5221H7355H5090H4002H4325H509511And I will make my mountains into level paths for them. The highways will be raised above the valleys.H7760H2022H1870H4546H731112See, my people will return from far away, from lands to the north and west, and from as far south as Egypt

.”H935H7350H6828H3220H776H551513Sing for joy, O heavens! Rejoice, O earth! Burst into song, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on them in their suffering.H7442H8064H1523H776H6476H7440H2022H3068H5162H5971H7355H604114Yet Jerusalem

says, “The Lord has deserted us; the Lord has forgotten us.”H6726H559H3068H5800H136H791115“Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you!H802H7911H5764H7355H1121H990H7911H791116See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands. Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins.H2710H3709H2346H854817Soon your descendants will come back, and all who are trying to destroy you will go away.H1121H4116H2040H2717H331818Look around you and see, for all your children will come back to you. As surely as I live,” says the Lord, “they will be like jewels or bridal ornaments for you to display.H5375H5869H5439H7200H6908H935H2416H5002H3068H3847H5716H7194H361819“Even the most desolate parts of your abandoned land will soon be crowded with your people. Your enemies who enslaved you will be far away.H2723H8074H776H2035H3334H3427H1104H736820The generations born in exile will return and say, ‘We need more room! It’s crowded here!’H1121H7923H559H241H4725H6862H5066H4725H342721Then you will think to yourself, ‘Who has given me all these descendants? For most of my children were killed, and the rest were carried away into exile. I was left here all alone. Where did all these people come from? Who bore these children? Who raised them for me?’”H559H3824H3205H7921H1565H1540H5493H1431H7604H37522This is what the Sovereign Lord says. “See, I will give a signal to the godless nations. They will carry your little sons back to you in their arms; they will bring your daughters on their shoulders.H559H136H3069H5375H3027H1471H7311H5251H5971H935H1121H2684H1323H5375H380223Kings and queens will serve you and care for all your needs. They will bow to the earth before you and lick the dust from your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord. Those who trust in me will never be put to shame.”H4428H539H8282H3243H7812H639H776H3897H6083H7272H3045H3068H954H696024Who can snatch the plunder of war from the hands of a warrior? Who can demand that a tyrant

let his captives go?H4455H3947H1368H6662H7628H442225But the Lord says, “The captives of warriors will be released, and the plunder of tyrants will be retrieved. For I will fight those who fight you, and I will save your children.H559H3068H7628H1368H3947H4455H6184H4422H7378H3401H3467H112126I will feed your enemies with their own flesh. They will be drunk with rivers of their own blood. All the world will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel

.”H398H3238H1320H7937H1818H6071H1320H3045H3068H3467H1350H46H3290