Isa 49 | ESV | STEP | Listen 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 .

1 Listen to me, ^aO coastlands,
and give attention, you peoples ^bfrom afar.
^cThe Lord called me from the womb,
from the body of my mother he named my name.
2 ^dHe made my mouth like a sharp sword;
^ein the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow;
in his quiver he hid me away.
3 And he said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, ^fin whom I will be glorified.” ^{▼▼Or I will display my beauty}
4 ^hBut 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.”
5 ⁱAnd now the Lord says,
he ^jwho formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him;
and that Israel might be gathered to him—
for ^kI am honored in the eyes of the Lord,
and my God has become my strength—
6 he 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;
^lI will make you ^mas a light for the nations,
that ⁿmy salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
7 Thus says the Lord,
^othe Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
^pto one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,
the servant of rulers:
^q“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

8 Thus says the Lord:
^r“In a ^stime of favor I have answered you;
in a day of salvation I have helped you;
I will keep you ^tand give you
as a covenant to the people,
to establish the land,
^uto apportion the desolate heritages,
9 ^vsaying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’
to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’
^wThey shall feed along the ways;
on all bare heights shall be their pasture;
10 ^xthey shall not hunger or thirst,
neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them,
for he who has pity on them ^ywill lead them,
and by springs of water will guide them.
11 ^zAnd I will make all my mountains a road,
and my highways shall be raised up.
12 ^aaBehold, these shall come from afar,
and behold, ^abthese from the north and from the west, ^{▼▼Hebrew from the sea}
and these from the land of Syene.” ^{▼▼Dead Sea Scroll; Masoretic Text Sinim}
13 ^aeSing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;
break forth, O mountains, into singing!
For the Lord ^afhas comforted his people
and will have compassion on his afflicted.
14 But Zion said, ^ag“The Lord has forsaken me;
my Lord has forgotten me.”
15 ^ah“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.
16 Behold, ^aiI have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.
17 Your builders make haste; ^{▼▼Dead Sea Scroll; Masoretic Text Your children make haste}
^akyour destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you.
18 ^alLift up your eyes around and see;
they all gather, they come to you.
^amAs I live, declares the Lord,
^anyou shall put them all on as an ornament;
you shall bind them on as a bride does.
19 “Surely your waste and your desolate places
and your devastated land—
^aosurely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants,
and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20 ^apThe children of your bereavement
will yet say in your ears:
^aq‘The place is too narrow for me;
make room for me to dwell in.’
21 Then you will say in your heart:
‘Who has borne me these?
^arI was bereaved and barren,
exiled and put away,
but who has brought up these?
Behold, I was left alone;
from where have these come?’”
22 Thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations,
^asand raise my signal to the peoples;
^atand they shall bring your sons in their arms, ^{▼▼Hebrew in their bosom}
and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
23 ^avKings shall be your foster fathers,
and their queens your nursing mothers.
^awWith their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,
and ^axlick the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord;
^aythose who wait for me ^azshall not be put to shame.”
24 Can the prey be taken from the mighty,
or the captives of a tyrant ^{▼▼Dead Sea Scroll, Syriac, Vulgate (see also verse 25); Masoretic Text of a righteous man} be rescued?
25 For thus says the Lord:
^bb“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.
26 ^bcI will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,
and they shall be drunk ^bdwith their own blood as with wine.
Then all flesh shall know
that ^beI am the Lord your Savior,
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”