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Isaiah 49
New International Version

### The Servant of the Lord

49 Listen(A) to me, you islands;(B)
hear this, you distant nations:
Before I was born(C) the Lord called(D) me;
from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.(E)
2 He made my mouth(F) like a sharpened sword,(G)
in the shadow of his hand(H) he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow(I)
and concealed me in his quiver.
3 He said to me, “You are my servant,(J)
Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.(K)”
4 But I said, “I have labored in vain;(L)
I have spent my strength for nothing at all.
Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand,(M)
and my reward(N) is with my God.”(O)

5 And now the Lord says—
he who formed me in the womb(P) to be his servant
to bring Jacob back to him
and gather Israel(Q) to himself,
for I am[a] honored(R) in the eyes of the Lord
and my God has been my strength(S)—
6 he says:
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant(T)
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.(U)
I will also make you a light(V) for the Gentiles,(W)
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”(X)

7 This is what the Lord says—
the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel(Y)—
to him who was despised(Z) and abhorred by the nation,
to the servant of rulers:
“Kings(AA) will see you and stand up,
princes will see and bow down,(AB)
because of the Lord, who is faithful,(AC)
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen(AD) you.”

### Restoration of Israel

8 This is what the Lord says:

“In the time of my favor(AE) I will answer you,
and in the day of salvation I will help you;(AF)
I will keep(AG) you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people,(AH)
to restore the land(AI)
and to reassign its desolate inheritances,(AJ)
9 to say to the captives,(AK) ‘Come out,’
and to those in darkness,(AL) ‘Be free!’

“They will feed beside the roads
and find pasture on every barren hill.(AM)
10 They will neither hunger nor thirst,(AN)
nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them.(AO)
He who has compassion(AP) on them will guide(AQ) them
and lead them beside springs(AR) of water.
11 I will turn all my mountains into roads,
and my highways(AS) will be raised up.(AT)
12 See, they will come from afar(AU)—
some from the north, some from the west,(AV)
some from the region of Aswan.[b]”

13 Shout for joy,(AW) you heavens;
rejoice, you earth;(AX)
burst into song, you mountains!(AY)
For the Lord comforts(AZ) his people
and will have compassion(BA) on his afflicted ones.(BB)

14 But Zion(BC) said, “The Lord has forsaken(BD) me,
the Lord has forgotten me.”

15 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child(BE) she has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you!(BF)
16 See, I have engraved(BG) you on the palms of my hands;
your walls(BH) are ever before me.
17 Your children hasten back,
and those who laid you waste(BI) depart from you.
18 Lift up your eyes and look around;
all your children gather(BJ) and come to you.
As surely as I live,(BK)” declares the Lord,
“you will wear(BL) them all as ornaments;
you will put them on, like a bride.

19 “Though you were ruined and made desolate(BM)
and your land laid waste,(BN)
now you will be too small for your people,(BO)
and those who devoured(BP) you will be far away.
20 The children born during your bereavement
will yet say in your hearing,
‘This place is too small for us;
give us more space to live in.’(BQ)
21 Then you will say in your heart,
‘Who bore me these?(BR)
I was bereaved(BS) and barren;
I was exiled and rejected.(BT)
Who brought these(BU) up?
I was left(BV) all alone,(BW)
but these—where have they come from?’”

22 This is what the Sovereign Lord(BX) says:

“See, I will beckon to the nations,
I will lift up my banner(BY) to the peoples;
they will bring(BZ) your sons in their arms
and carry your daughters on their hips.(CA)
23 Kings(CB) will be your foster fathers,
and their queens your nursing mothers.(CC)
They will bow down(CD) before you with their faces to the ground;
they will lick the dust(CE) at your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord;(CF)
those who hope(CG) in me will not be disappointed.(CH)”

24 Can plunder be taken from warriors,(CI)
or captives be rescued from the fierce[c]?

25 But this is what the Lord says:

“Yes, captives(CJ) will be taken from warriors,(CK)
and plunder retrieved from the fierce;(CL)
I will contend with those who contend with you,(CM)
and your children I will save.(CN)
26 I will make your oppressors(CO) eat(CP) their own flesh;
they will be drunk on their own blood,(CQ) as with wine.
Then all mankind will know(CR)
that I, the Lord, am your Savior,(CS)
your Redeemer,(CT) the Mighty One of Jacob.(CU)”

#### Footnotes

1. Isaiah 49:5 Or him, / but Israel would not be gathered; / yet I will be
2. Isaiah 49:12 Dead Sea Scrolls; Masoretic Text Sinim
3. Isaiah 49:24 Dead Sea Scrolls, Vulgate and Syriac (see also Septuagint and verse 25); Masoretic Text righteous

#### Cross references

1. Isaiah 49:1 : S Isa 33:13
2. Isaiah 49:1 : S Isa 11:11
3. Isaiah 49:1 : Isa 44:24; 46:3; Mt 1:20
4. Isaiah 49:1 : Isa 7:14; 9:6; 44:2; Jer 1:5; Gal 1:15
5. Isaiah 49:1 : S Ex 33:12; S Isa 43:1
6. Isaiah 49:2 : S Job 40:18
7. Isaiah 49:2 : S Ps 64:3; Eph 6:17; S Rev 1:16
8. Isaiah 49:2 : S Ex 33:22; S Ps 91:1
9. Isaiah 49:2 : S Dt 32:23; Zec 9:13
10. Isaiah 49:3 : S Isa 20:3; Zec 3:8
11. Isaiah 49:3 : S Lev 10:3; S Isa 44:23
12. Isaiah 49:4 : S Lev 26:20; Isa 55:2; 65:23
13. Isaiah 49:4 : Isa 45:25; 50:8; 53:10; 54:17
14. Isaiah 49:4 : S Isa 35:4
15. Isaiah 49:4 : S Job 27:2
16. Isaiah 49:5 : S Ps 139:13; Gal 1:15
17. Isaiah 49:5 : S Dt 30:4; S Isa 11:12
18. Isaiah 49:5 : S Isa 43:4
19. Isaiah 49:5 : S Ps 18:1
20. Isaiah 49:6 : S ver 3
21. Isaiah 49:6 : Isa 1:9
22. Isaiah 49:6 : S Isa 9:2; Jn 1:9
23. Isaiah 49:6 : S Isa 26:18; 55:5; Zec 8:22; S Lk 2:32
24. Isaiah 49:6 : S Dt 30:4; S Ps 48:10; S Mt 28:19; Jn 11:52; Ac 13:47*
25. Isaiah 49:7 : S Isa 48:17
26. Isaiah 49:7 : S Ps 22:6; 69:7-9
27. Isaiah 49:7 : S Ezr 1:2; Isa 52:15
28. Isaiah 49:7 : S Ge 27:29; S Ps 22:29; S 86:9
29. Isaiah 49:7 : S Dt 7:9; S 1Co 1:9
30. Isaiah 49:7 : S Isa 14:1
31. Isaiah 49:8 : Ps 69:13; Isa 60:10; 61:2
32. Isaiah 49:8 : S Isa 41:10; 2Co 6:2*
33. Isaiah 49:8 : S Isa 5:2; 26:3
34. Isaiah 49:8 : S Isa 42:6
35. Isaiah 49:8 : Lev 25:10; S Ps 37:9; Isa 44:26; 58:12; 61:4; Eze 36:10, 33; Am 9:11, 14
36. Isaiah 49:8 : S Nu 34:13; S Isa 60:21
37. Isaiah 49:9 : Isa 42:7; 61:1; S Lk 4:19
38. Isaiah 49:9 : S Ps 107:10
39. Isaiah 49:9 : Isa 41:18
40. Isaiah 49:10 : S Isa 33:16
41. Isaiah 49:10 : Ps 121:6; Rev 7:16
42. Isaiah 49:10 : S Isa 14:1
43. Isaiah 49:10 : S Ps 48:14; S Isa 42:16; S 48:17
44. Isaiah 49:10 : S Isa 33:21; S 35:7
45. Isaiah 49:11 : S Isa 11:16
46. Isaiah 49:11 : Isa 40:4; Jer 31:9
47. Isaiah 49:12 : S Isa 2:3; S 11:11; 43:5-6
48. Isaiah 49:12 : Isa 59:19; S Mt 8:11
49. Isaiah 49:13 : S Isa 48:20
50. Isaiah 49:13 : S Ps 96:11
51. Isaiah 49:13 : S Ps 65:12-13; 98:4; Isa 44:23
52. Isaiah 49:13 : S Ps 71:21; S Isa 40:1; S 2Co 1:4
53. Isaiah 49:13 : S Isa 14:1
54. Isaiah 49:13 : S Ps 9:12
55. Isaiah 49:14 : Isa 40:9
56. Isaiah 49:14 : S Ps 9:10; S 71:11; S Isa 27:8
57. Isaiah 49:15 : S 1Ki 3:26; Isa 66:13
58. Isaiah 49:15 : S Isa 44:21
59. Isaiah 49:16 : S Ge 38:18; S Ex 28:9
60. Isaiah 49:16 : Ps 48:12-13; Isa 62:6
61. Isaiah 49:17 : S Isa 5:6; 10:6; 37:18
62. Isaiah 49:18 : S Isa 11:12; 14:1; 43:5; 51:3; 54:7
63. Isaiah 49:18 : S Nu 14:21; Isa 45:23; 54:9; 62:8; Ro 14:11*
64. Isaiah 49:18 : Isa 52:1; 61:10; Jer 2:32
65. Isaiah 49:19 : S Lev 26:33; Isa 54:1, 3; 60:18; 62:4
66. Isaiah 49:19 : S Isa 5:6
67. Isaiah 49:19 : Eze 36:10-11; Zec 10:10
68. Isaiah 49:19 : S Isa 1:20
69. Isaiah 49:20 : Isa 54:1-3; Zec 2:4; 10:10
70. Isaiah 49:21 : Isa 29:23; 66:7-8
71. Isaiah 49:21 : S Isa 47:8; 54:1
72. Isaiah 49:21 : Isa 5:13; 54:6
73. Isaiah 49:21 : Isa 60:8
74. Isaiah 49:21 : S Isa 1:8
75. Isaiah 49:21 : S Ps 142:4; Isa 51:18; Jer 10:20
76. Isaiah 49:22 : S Ge 15:2
77. Isaiah 49:22 : S Isa 11:10
78. Isaiah 49:22 : S Isa 11:12; S 14:2
79. Isaiah 49:22 : Lk 15:5
80. Isaiah 49:23 : Isa 60:3, 10-11
81. Isaiah 49:23 : S Nu 11:12; S Isa 60:16
82. Isaiah 49:23 : S Ge 27:29; Rev 3:9
83. Isaiah 49:23 : S Ge 3:14; Ps 72:9
84. Isaiah 49:23 : S Ex 6:2; S Ps 22:23; S Isa 42:8
85. Isaiah 49:23 : S Ps 37:9; S 130:5
86. Isaiah 49:23 : S Ps 22:5; S Isa 29:22; S 41:11
87. Isaiah 49:24 : Mt 12:29; Mk 3:27; Lk 11:21
88. Isaiah 49:25 : S Isa 14:2
89. Isaiah 49:25 : Jer 50:33-34; Mk 3:27
90. Isaiah 49:25 : S Isa 13:11; S 25:4
91. Isaiah 49:25 : S 1Sa 24:15; Isa 25:5; S 43:26; 51:22; Jer 50:34
92. Isaiah 49:25 : Isa 25:9; 33:22; 35:4
93. Isaiah 49:26 : S Isa 9:4; S 13:11
94. Isaiah 49:26 : S Isa 9:20
95. Isaiah 49:26 : Nu 23:24; Jer 25:27; Na 1:10; 3:11; Rev 16:6
96. Isaiah 49:26 : Ex 6:7; S Isa 11:9; Eze 39:7
97. Isaiah 49:26 : S Isa 25:9
98. Isaiah 49:26 : S Job 19:25; S Isa 48:17
99. Isaiah 49:26 : S Ge 49:24; S Ps 132:2

New International Version (NIV)

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