Isaiah 49 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

The Servant, the Light to the Gentiles

The Messiah Is the Light to the Gentiles

Isa 49:1“Listen, O coastlands, to Me,
And take heed, you peoples from afar!
The LORD has called Me from the womb;
From the matrix of My mother He has made mention of My name.

Isa 49:2

Isa 49:2And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword;
In the shadow of His hand He has hidden Me,
And made Me a polished shaft;
In His quiver He has hidden Me.”

Isa 49:3

Isa 49:3“And He said to me,
‘You are My servant, O Israel,
In whom I will be glorified.’

Isa 49:4

Isa 49:4Then I said, ‘I have labored in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain;
Yet surely my just reward is with the LORD,
And my work with my God.’ ”

Isa 49:5

Isa 49:5“And now the LORD says,
Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,
To bring Jacob back to Him,
So that Israel is gathered to Him[fn]
(For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the LORD,
And My God shall be My strength),

Isa 49:6

Isa 49:6Indeed He says,
‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob,
And to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles,
That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”

Isa 49:7

Isa 49:7Thus says the LORD,
The Redeemer of Israel, their Holy One,
To Him whom man despises,
To Him whom the nation abhors,
To the Servant of rulers:
“Kings shall see and arise,
Princes also shall worship,
Because of the LORD who is faithful,
The Holy One of Israel;
And He has chosen You.”

Isa 49:8

Isa 49:8Thus says the LORD:

“In an acceptable time I have heard You,
And in the day of salvation I have helped You;
I will preserve You and give You
As a covenant to the people,
To restore the earth,
To cause them to inherit the desolate heritages;

Isa 49:9

Isa 49:9That You may say to the prisoners, ‘Go forth,’
To those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’

“They shall feed along the roads,
And their pastures shall be on all desolate heights.

Isa 49:10

Isa 49:10They shall neither hunger nor thirst,
Neither heat nor sun shall strike them;
For He who has mercy on them will lead them,
Even by the springs of water He will guide them.

Isa 49:11

Isa 49:11I will make each of My mountains a road,
And My highways shall be elevated.

Isa 49:12

Isa 49:12Surely these shall come from afar;
Look! Those from the north and the west,
And these from the land of Sinim.”

Isa 49:13

Isa 49:13Sing, O heavens!
Be joyful, O earth!
And break out in singing, O mountains!
For the LORD has comforted His people,
And will have mercy on His afflicted.

God Will Remember Zion

Isa 49:14

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

Isa 49:15

Isa 49:15“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
And not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Surely they may forget,
Yet I will not forget you.

Isa 49:16

Isa 49:16See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;
Your walls are continually before Me.

Isa 49:17

Isa 49:17Your sons[fn] shall make haste;
Your destroyers and those who laid you waste
Shall go away from you.

Isa 49:18

Isa 49:18Lift up your eyes, look around and see;
All these gather together and come to you.
As I live,” says the LORD,
“You shall surely clothe yourselves with them all as an ornament,
And bind them on you as a bride does.

Isa 49:19

Isa 49:19“For your waste and desolate places,
And the land of your destruction,
Will even now be too small for the inhabitants;
And those who swallowed you up will be far away.

Isa 49:20

Isa 49:20The children you will have,
After you have lost the others,
Will say again in your ears,
‘The place is too small for me;
Give me a place where I may dwell.’

Isa 49:21

Isa 49:21Then you will say in your heart,
‘Who has begotten these for me,
Since I have lost my children and am desolate,
A captive, and wandering to and fro?
And who has brought these up?
There I was, left alone;
But these, where were they?’ ”

Isa 49:22

Isa 49:22Thus says the Lord GOD:

“Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations,
And set up My standard for the peoples;
They shall bring your sons in their arms,
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;
They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth,
And lick up the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am the LORD,
For they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me.”

Isa 49:24

Isa 49:24Shall the prey be taken from the mighty,
Or the captives of the righteous[fn] be delivered?

Isa 49:25

Isa 49:25But thus says the LORD:

“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away,
And the prey of the terrible be delivered;
For I will contend with him who contends with you,
And I will save your children.

Isa 49:26

Isa 49:26I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh,
And they shall be drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine.
All flesh shall know
That I, the LORD, am your Savior,
And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

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

NKJV Footnotes

(49:5)

Qere, Dead Sea Scrolls, and Septuagint read is gathered to Him; Kethib reads is not gathered.

(49:17)

Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagint, Targum, and Vulgate read builders.

(49:24)

Following Masoretic Text and Targum; Dead Sea Scrolls, Syriac, and Vulgate read the mighty; Septuagint reads unjustly.

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

Isaiah Chapter 49 — Additional Translations:

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Isaiah 49 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

NKJV Footnotes

Isaiah Chapter 49 — Additional Translations:

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