Isaiah 49

1Listen, islands, to me. Listen, you peoples, from afar: from the inside of my mother he has mentioned my name. Yahweh has called me from the womb; 2He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand. He has kept me close in his quiver. He has made my mouth like a sharp sword. He has made me a polished shaft. 3Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” He said to me, “You are my servant; 4I have spent my strength in vain for nothing; and my reward with my God.” But I said, “I have labored in vain. yet surely the justice due to me is with Yahweh, 5to bring Jacob again to him, and to gather Israel to him, for I am honorable in Yahweh’s eyes, and my God has become my strength. Now Yahweh says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, 6and to restore the preserved of Israel? that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.” Indeed, he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, I will also give you as a light to the nations, 7says to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers: princes, and they shall worship; because of Yahweh who is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.” Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, “Kings shall see and rise up; 8and in a day of salvation I have helped you. to raise up the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritage: Yahweh says, “In an acceptable time I have answered you, I will preserve you, and give you for a covenant of the people, 9to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves!’ and their pasture shall be on all treeless heights. saying to those who are bound, ‘Come out!’; “They shall feed along the paths, 10neither shall the heat nor sun strike them: for he who has mercy on them will lead them. He will guide them by springs of water. They shall not hunger nor thirst; 11and my highways shall be exalted. I will make all my mountains a road, 12and behold, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.” Behold, these shall come from afar; 13and break out into singing, mountains: and will have compassion on his afflicted. Sing, heavens; and be joyful, earth; for Yahweh has comforted his people, 14and the Lord has forgotten me.” But Zion said, “Yahweh has forsaken me, 15that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yet I will not forget you! “Can a woman forget her nursing child, Yes, these may forget, 16your walls are continually before me. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. 17Your destroyers and those who devastated you will leave you. Your children hurry. 18all these gather themselves together, and come to you. and dress yourself with them, like a bride. Lift up your eyes all around, and see: As I live,” says Yahweh, “you shall surely clothe yourself with them all as with an ornament, 19and your land that has been destroyed, and those who swallowed you up will be far away. “For, as for your waste and your desolate places, surely now that land will be too small for the inhabitants, 20‘This place is too small for me. Give me a place to live in.’ The children of your bereavement will say in your ears, 21and am solitary, an exile, and wandering back and forth? Behold, I was left alone. Where were these?’” Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has conceived these for me, since I have been bereaved of my children, Who has brought these up? 22and lift up my banner to the peoples; and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders. Thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, 23and their queens your nursing mothers. and lick the dust of your feet; and those who wait for me shall not be disappointed.” Kings shall be your foster fathers, They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth, Then you will know that I am Yahweh; 24or the lawful captives be delivered? Shall the plunder be taken from the mighty, 25and the plunder retrieved from the fierce; and I will save your children. But Yahweh says, “Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, for I will contend with him who contends with you, 26and they will be drunk on their own blood, as with sweet wine. and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.” I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh; Then all flesh shall know that I, Yahweh, am your Savior,