Isaiah 49 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

The Servant of the Lord

Isa 49:1Listen to me, O coastlands,
and give attention, you peoples from afar.
The LORD called me from the womb,
from the body of my mother he named my name.

Isa 49:2

Isa 49:2He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow;
in his quiver he hid me away.

Isa 49:3

Isa 49:3And he said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”[fn]

Isa 49:4

Isa 49:4But I said, “I have labored in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my right is with the LORD,
and my recompense with my God.”

Isa 49:5

Isa 49:5And now the LORD says,
he who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him;
and that Israel might be gathered to him—
for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD,
and my God has become my strength—

Isa 49:6

Isa 49:6he says:
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
I will make you as a light for the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Isa 49:7

Isa 49:7Thus says the LORD,
the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,
the servant of rulers:
“Kings shall see and arise;
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;
because of the LORD, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

The Restoration of Israel

Isa 49:8

Isa 49:8Thus says the LORD:
“In a time of favor I have answered you;
in a day of salvation I have helped you;
I will keep you and give you
as a covenant to the people,
to establish the land,
to apportion the desolate heritages,

Isa 49:9

Isa 49:9saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’
to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’
They shall feed along the ways;
on all bare heights shall be their pasture;

Isa 49:10

Isa 49:10they shall not hunger or thirst,
neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them,
for he who has pity on them will lead them,
and by springs of water will guide them.

Isa 49:11

Isa 49:11And I will make all my mountains a road,
and my highways shall be raised up.

Isa 49:12

Isa 49:12Behold, these shall come from afar,
and behold, these from the north and from the west,[fn]
and these from the land of Syene.”[fn]

Isa 49:13

Isa 49:13Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;
break forth, O mountains, into singing!
For the LORD has comforted his people
and will have compassion on his afflicted.

Isa 49:14

Isa 49:14But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me;
my Lord has forgotten me.”

Isa 49:15

Isa 49:15“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.

Isa 49:16

Isa 49:16Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.

Isa 49:17

Isa 49:17Your builders make haste;[fn]
your destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you.

Isa 49:18

Isa 49:18Lift up your eyes around and see;
they all gather, they come to you.
As I live, declares the LORD,
you shall put them all on as an ornament;
you shall bind them on as a bride does.

Isa 49:19

Isa 49:19“Surely your waste and your desolate places
and your devastated land—
surely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants,
and those who swallowed you up will be far away.

Isa 49:20

Isa 49:20The children of your bereavement
will yet say in your ears:
‘The place is too narrow for me;
make room for me to dwell in.’

Isa 49:21

Isa 49:21Then you will say in your heart:
‘Who has borne me these?
I was bereaved and barren,
exiled and put away,
but who has brought up these?
Behold, I was left alone;
from where have these come?’”

Isa 49:22

Isa 49:22Thus says the Lord GOD:
“Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations,
and raise my signal to the peoples;
and they shall bring your sons in their arms,[fn]
and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.

Isa 49:23

Isa 49:23Kings shall be your foster fathers,
and their queens your nursing mothers.
With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,
and lick the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am the LORD;
those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.”

Isa 49:24

Isa 49:24Can the prey be taken from the mighty,
or the captives of a tyrant[fn] be rescued?

Isa 49:25

Isa 49:25For thus says the LORD:
“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken,
and the prey of the tyrant be rescued,
for I will contend with those who contend with you,
and I will save your children.

Isa 49:26

Isa 49:26I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,
and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine.
Then all flesh shall know
that I am the LORD your Savior,
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

ESV Footnotes

(49:3)

Or I will display my beauty

(49:12)

Hebrew from the sea

(49:12)

Dead Sea Scroll; Masoretic Text Sinim

(49:17)

Dead Sea Scroll; Masoretic Text Your children make haste

(49:22)

Hebrew in their bosom

(49:24)

Dead Sea Scroll, Syriac, Vulgate (see also verse 25); Masoretic Text of a righteous man

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

Isaiah Chapter 49 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation New International Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras

Isaiah 49 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

The Servant of the Lord

The Restoration of Israel

ESV Footnotes

Isaiah Chapter 49 — Additional Translations:

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