VerseAI

NIV

Isaiah 49

  1. 1<pb/><t>Listen to me, you islands;</t> <t>hear this, you distant nations:</t> <t>Before I was born the LORD called me;</t> <t>from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.</t>
  2. 2<t>He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,</t> <t>in the shadow of his hand he hid me;</t> <t>he made me into a polished arrow</t> <t>and concealed me in his quiver.</t>
  3. 3<t>He said to me, “You are my servant,</t> <t>Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.”</t>
  4. 4<t>But I said, “I have labored in vain;</t> <t>I have spent my strength for nothing at all.</t> <t>Yet what is due me is in the LORD’s hand,</t> <t>and my reward is with my God.” <pb/></t>
  5. 5<t>And now the LORD says—</t> <t>he who formed me in the womb to be his servant</t> <t>to bring Jacob back to him</t> <t>and gather Israel to himself,</t> <t>for I am<f>[93]</f> honored in the eyes of the LORD</t> <t>and my God has been my strength—</t>
  6. 6<t>he says:</t> <t>“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant</t> <t>to restore the tribes of Jacob</t> <t>and bring back those of Israel I have kept.</t> <t>I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,</t> <t>that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” <pb/></t>
  7. 7<t>This is what the LORD says—</t> <t>the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel—</t> <t>to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation,</t> <t>to the servant of rulers:</t> <t>“Kings will see you and stand up,</t> <t>princes will see and bow down,</t> <t>because of the LORD, who is faithful,</t> <t>the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”</t>
  8. 8<pb/>This is what the LORD says: <pb/><t>“In the time of my favor I will answer you,</t> <t>and in the day of salvation I will help you;</t> <t>I will keep you and will make you</t> <t>to be a covenant for the people,</t> <t>to restore the land</t> <t>and to reassign its desolate inheritances,</t>
  9. 9<t>to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’</t> <t>and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’ <pb/>“They will feed beside the roads</t> <t>and find pasture on every barren hill.</t>
  10. 10<t>They will neither hunger nor thirst,</t> <t>nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them.</t> <t>He who has compassion on them will guide them</t> <t>and lead them beside springs of water.</t>
  11. 11<t>I will turn all my mountains into roads,</t> <t>and my highways will be raised up.</t>
  12. 12<t>See, they will come from afar—</t> <t>some from the north, some from the west,</t> <t>some from the region of Aswan.<f>[94]</f>” <pb/></t>
  13. 13<t>Shout for joy, you heavens;</t> <t>rejoice, you earth;</t> <t>burst into song, you mountains!</t> <t>For the LORD comforts his people</t> <t>and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. <pb/></t>
  14. 14<t>But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me,</t> <t>the Lord has forgotten me.” <pb/></t>
  15. 15<t>“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast</t> <t>and have no compassion on the child she has borne?</t> <t>Though she may forget,</t> <t>I will not forget you!</t>
  16. 16<t>See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;</t> <t>your walls are ever before me.</t>
  17. 17<t>Your children hasten back,</t> <t>and those who laid you waste depart from you.</t>
  18. 18<t>Lift up your eyes and look around;</t> <t>all your children gather and come to you.</t> <t>As surely as I live,” declares the LORD,</t> <t>“you will wear them all as ornaments;</t> <t>you will put them on, like a bride. <pb/></t>
  19. 19<t>“Though you were ruined and made desolate</t> <t>and your land laid waste,</t> <t>now you will be too small for your people,</t> <t>and those who devoured you will be far away.</t>
  20. 20<t>The children born during your bereavement</t> <t>will yet say in your hearing,</t> <t>‘This place is too small for us;</t> <t>give us more space to live in.’</t>
  21. 21<t>Then you will say in your heart,</t> <t>‘Who bore me these?</t> <t>I was bereaved and barren;</t> <t>I was exiled and rejected.</t> <t>Who brought these up?</t> <t>I was left all alone,</t> <t>but these—where have they come from?’ ”</t>
  22. 22<pb/>This is what the Sovereign LORD says: <pb/><t>“See, I will beckon to the nations,</t> <t>I will lift up my banner to the peoples;</t> <t>they will bring your sons in their arms</t> <t>and carry your daughters on their hips.</t>
  23. 23<t>Kings will be your foster fathers,</t> <t>and their queens your nursing mothers.</t> <t>They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground;</t> <t>they will lick the dust at your feet.</t> <t>Then you will know that I am the LORD;</t> <t>those who hope in me will not be disappointed.” <pb/></t>
  24. 24<t>Can plunder be taken from warriors,</t> <t>or captives be rescued from the fierce<f>[95]</f>?</t>
  25. 25<pb/>But this is what the LORD says: <pb/><t>“Yes, captives will be taken from warriors,</t> <t>and plunder retrieved from the fierce;</t> <t>I will contend with those who contend with you,</t> <t>and your children I will save.</t>
  26. 26<t>I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh;</t> <t>they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine.</t> <t>Then all mankind will know</t> <t>that I, the LORD, am your Savior,</t> <t>your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”</t>