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The Blue Letter Bible

Isaiah 49 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

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The LORD’s Servant Commissioned
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:1 - Listen 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:2 - He 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:3 - He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel,
and you will bring me glory.”
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:4 - I 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.”
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:5 - And 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:6 - He 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.”
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:7 - The 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.”
Promises of Israel’s Restoration
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:8 - This is what the LORD says:
“At just the right time, I will respond to you.[fn]
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.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:9 - I 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:10 - They 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:11 - And I will make my mountains into level paths for them.
The highways will be raised above the valleys.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:12 - See, my people will return from far away,
from lands to the north and west,
and from as far south as Egypt.[fn]
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:13 - Sing 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:14 - Yet Jerusalem[fn] says, “The LORD has deserted us;
the Lord has forgotten us.”
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:15 - “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!
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:16 - See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.
Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:17 - Soon your descendants will come back,
and all who are trying to destroy you will go away.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:18 - Look 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:19 - “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.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:20 - The generations born in exile will return and say,
‘We need more room! It’s crowded here!’
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:21 - Then 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?’”
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:22 - This 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:23 - Kings 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.”
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:24 - Who can snatch the plunder of war from the hands of a warrior?
Who can demand that a tyrant[fn] let his captives go?
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:25 - But 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:26 - I 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.[fn]
NLT Footnotes
Greek version reads I heard you. Compare 2 Cor 6:2.
As in Dead Sea Scrolls, which read from the region of Aswan, which is in southern Egypt. Masoretic Text reads from the region of Sinim.
Hebrew Zion.
As in Dead Sea Scrolls, Syriac version, and Latin Vulgate (also see 49:25); Masoretic Text reads a righteous person.
Hebrew of Jacob. See note on 14:1.
NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Full copyright information is provided here. Visit the New Living Translation website.

For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.

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Isaiah Chapter 49 — Additional Translations: