Isaiah 49

1Listen, islands, to me. Listen, you peoples, from afar: Yahweh has called me from the womb; from the inside of my mother, he has mentioned my name.Cross-references: Ps 71:5 · Isa 7:14 · Isa 9:6 · Isa 41:1 · Isa 42:1 · Isa 42:12 · +21 more

2He has made my mouth like a sharp sword. He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand. He has made me a polished shaft. He has kept me close in his quiver.Cross-references: Ps 45:2 · Ps 91:1 · Isa 11:4 · Isa 42:1 · Isa 50:4 · Isa 51:16 · +9 more

3He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”Cross-references: Isa 42:1 · Isa 43:21 · Isa 44:23 · Isa 52:13 · Isa 53:10 · Zech 3:8 · +10 more

4But I said, “I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength in vain for nothing; yet surely the justice due to me is with Yahweh, and my reward with my God.”Cross-references: Lev 26:20 · Ps 22:22 · Isa 35:4 · Isa 40:10 · Isa 53:10 · Isa 62:11 · +14 more

5Now Yahweh, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, says to 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.Cross-references: Ps 110:1 · Isa 11:12 · Isa 12:2 · Isa 43:4 · Isa 49:1 · Isa 50:4 · +17 more

6Indeed, he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give you as a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.”Cross-references: 2Ki 3:18 · 2Ki 20:10 · Ps 98:2 · Isa 11:10 · Isa 24:14 · Isa 42:6 · +8 moreExamined: The Prophecy Loom →

7Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, says to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and rise up, princes, and they shall worship, because of Yahweh who is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”Cross-references: Ps 2:10 · Ps 22:6 · Ps 68:31 · Ps 69:7 · Ps 69:19 · Ps 72:10 · +25 more

8Yahweh says, “I have answered you in an acceptable time. I have helped you in a day of salvation. I will preserve you and give you for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritage,Cross-references: Ps 2:8 · Ps 69:13 · Ps 75:3 · Isa 26:3 · Isa 42:1 · Isa 42:6 · +17 more

9saying to those who are bound, ‘Come out!’; to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves!’ “They shall feed along the paths, and their pasture shall be on all treeless heights.Cross-references: Deut 32:13 · Ps 22:26 · Ps 23:1 · Ps 69:33 · Ps 102:20 · Ps 107:10 · +27 more

10They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither 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.Cross-references: Ps 23:2 · Ps 121:5 · Isa 4:6 · Isa 14:1 · Isa 25:4 · Isa 32:2 · +10 more

11I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways shall be exalted.Cross-references: Ps 107:4 · Ps 107:7 · Isa 11:16 · Isa 35:8 · Isa 40:3 · Isa 43:19 · +4 more

12Behold, these shall come from afar, and behold, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Sinim.”Cross-references: Ps 22:27 · Ps 72:10 · Ps 72:17 · Isa 2:2 · Isa 11:10 · Isa 43:5 · +9 more

13Sing, heavens, and be joyful, earth! Break out into singing, mountains! For Yahweh has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted.Cross-references: Ps 96:11 · Ps 98:4 · Isa 12:1 · Isa 40:1 · Isa 42:10 · Isa 44:23 · +12 more

14But Zion said, “Yahweh has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me.”Cross-references: Ps 13:1 · Ps 22:1 · Ps 31:22 · Ps 77:6 · Ps 89:38 · Isa 40:27 · +3 more

15“Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you!Cross-references: Lev 26:29 · Deut 28:56 · 1Ki 3:26 · 2Ki 6:28 · 2Ki 11:1 · Ps 103:13 · +9 more

16Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are continually before me.Cross-references: Ex 13:9 · Ps 48:12 · Song 8:6 · Isa 26:1 · Isa 54:12 · Isa 60:18 · +4 more

17Your children hurry. Your destroyers and those who devastated you will leave you.Cross-references: Ezra 1:5 · Neh 2:4 · Neh 2:17 · Isa 10:6 · Isa 49:19 · Isa 51:13 · +4 more

18Lift up your eyes all around, and see: all these gather themselves together, and come to you. As I live,” says Yahweh, “you shall surely clothe yourself with them all as with an ornament, and dress yourself with them, like a bride.Cross-references: Gen 13:14 · Gen 22:16 · Prov 17:6 · Isa 43:5 · Isa 45:23 · Isa 49:12 · +16 more

19“For, as for your waste and your desolate places, and your land that has been destroyed, surely now that land will be too small for the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away.Cross-references: Ps 56:1 · Ps 124:3 · Prov 1:12 · Isa 5:6 · Isa 49:8 · Isa 49:17 · +14 more

20The children of your bereavement will say in your ears, ‘This place is too small for me. Give me a place to live in.’Cross-references: Josh 17:14 · 2Ki 6:1 · Isa 51:3 · Isa 54:1 · Isa 60:4 · Hos 1:10 · +2 more

21Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has conceived these for me, since I have been bereaved of my children and am alone, an exile, and wandering back and forth? Who has brought these up? Behold, I was left alone. Where were these?’”Cross-references: Isa 1:8 · Isa 3:26 · Isa 5:13 · Isa 51:17 · Isa 52:2 · Isa 54:3 · +12 more

22The Lord Yahweh says, “Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and lift up my banner to the peoples. They shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.Cross-references: Ps 22:27 · Ps 67:4 · Ps 72:8 · Ps 72:17 · Ps 86:9 · Isa 2:2 · +8 more

23Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am Yahweh; and those who wait for me won’t be disappointed.”Cross-references: Gen 43:26 · Num 11:12 · Ezra 1:2 · Ezra 6:7 · Ezra 7:11 · Neh 2:6 · +26 more

24Shall the plunder be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captives be delivered?Cross-references: Ezra 9:9 · Ezra 9:13 · Neh 9:33 · Neh 9:37 · Ps 124:6 · Ps 126:1 · +8 more

25But Yahweh says, “Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the plunder retrieved from the fierce, for I will contend with him who contends with you and I will save your children.Cross-references: Gen 12:3 · Num 23:8 · Isa 10:27 · Isa 14:2 · Isa 25:9 · Isa 35:4 · +18 more

26I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh; and they will be drunk on their own blood, as with sweet wine. Then all flesh shall know that I, Yahweh, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”Cross-references: Judg 7:22 · Ps 9:16 · Ps 58:10 · Ps 83:18 · Isa 9:4 · Isa 9:20 · +9 more