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Isaiah 49 :: Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

The Servant Brings Salvation
Isa 49:1

Coasts and islands,[fn] listen to me;

distant peoples, pay attention.

The LORD called me before I was born.

He named me while I was in my mother’s womb.

Isa 49:2

He made my words like a sharp sword;

he hid me in the shadow of his hand.

He made me like a sharpened arrow;

he hid me in his quiver.

Isa 49:3

He said to me, “You are my servant,

Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”

Isa 49:4

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.

Isa 49:5

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 —

Isa 49:6

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,

to be my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

Isa 49:7

This is what the LORD,

the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, says

to one who is despised,

to one abhorred by people,[fn]

to a servant of rulers:

“Kings will see, princes will stand up,

and they[fn] will all bow down

because of the LORD, who is faithful,

the Holy One of Israel ​— ​and he has chosen you.”

Isa 49:8

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.

I will keep you, and I will appoint you

to be a covenant for the people,

to restore the land,

to make them possess the desolate inheritances,

Isa 49:9

saying to the prisoners, “Come out,”

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.

Isa 49:10

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.

Isa 49:11

I will make all my mountains into a road,

and my highways will be raised up.

Isa 49:12

See, these will come from far away,

from the north and from the west,[fn]

and from the land of Sinim.[fn][fn]

Isa 49:13

Shout for joy, you heavens!

Earth, rejoice!

Mountains break into joyful shouts!

For the LORD has comforted his people,

and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.

Zion Remembered
Isa 49:14

Zion says, “The LORD has abandoned me;

the Lord has forgotten me! ”

Isa 49:15

“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.

Isa 49:16

“Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;

your walls are continually before me.

Isa 49:17

“Your builders[fn] hurry;

those who destroy and devastate you will leave you.

Isa 49:18

“Look up, and look around.

They all gather together; they come to you.

As I live” —

this is the LORD’s declaration —

“you will wear all your children[fn] as jewelry,

and put them on as a bride does.

Isa 49:19

“For your waste and desolate places

and your land marked by ruins

will now be indeed too small for the inhabitants,

and those who swallowed you up will be far away.

Isa 49:20

“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.’

Isa 49:21

“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? ’ ”[fn]

Isa 49:22

This is what the Lord GOD says:

Look, I will lift up my hand to the nations,

and raise my banner to the peoples.

They will bring your sons in their arms,

and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.

Isa 49:23

Kings will be your guardians

and their queens[fn] your nursing mothers.

They will bow down to you

with their faces to the ground

and lick the dust at your feet.

Then you will know that I am the LORD;

those who put their hope in me

will not be put to shame.

Isa 49:24

Can the prey be taken from a mighty man,

or the captives of a tyrant[fn] be delivered?

Isa 49:25

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.

Isa 49:26

“I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,

and they will be drunk with their own blood

as with sweet wine.

Then all humanity will know

that I, the LORD, am your Savior,

and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

CSB Footnotes
Or Islands
Or by the nation
Lit princes and they
Lit sea
DSS read of the Syenites
Perhaps modern Aswan in southern Egypt
DSS, Aq, Theod, Vg; MT, Syr, Sym read sons
Lit all of them
Lit where are they
Lit princesses
DSS, Syr, Vg; MT reads a righteous man
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Isaiah Chapter 49 — Additional Translations: