Isaiah 49

1 Listen to me, islands. Pay attention, nations. After a long time it will happen, says the Lord. He called my name from my mother’s womb.

2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword and hid me under the shelter of his hand. He made me like a chosen arrow and concealed me in his quiver.

3 He told me, “You are my servant, Israel, and through you I will be given glory.”

4 But I said, “I labored for nothing and spent my strength on what was empty. Yet my judgment is with the Lord, and my labor is before my God.”

5 Now the Lord who formed me from the womb to be his servant has spoken, to gather Jacob and Israel to him—I will be gathered and given glory before the Lord, and my God will be my strength.

6 He told me, “It is a great thing for you to be called my servant, to establish Jacob’s tribes and turn back Israel’s scattered people. Look, I have appointed you as a covenant for a people and a light for the nations, so you may be a rescue to the ends of the earth.”

7 This is what the Lord, who rescued you, the God of Israel, says: Make holy the one who despises his life, the one detested by the nations, by the slaves of rulers. Kings will see him, rulers will rise, and they will bow down because of the Lord, because the Holy One of Israel is faithful. I have chosen you.

8 This is what the Lord says: At an acceptable time I heard you, and on a day of rescue I helped you. I gave you as a covenant for nations, to establish the earth and inherit a desolate inheritance,

9 saying to prisoners, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ They will feed along every road, and they will find pasture on every path.

10 They will neither hunger nor thirst, and neither heat nor sun will strike them. The one who has mercy on them will comfort them and lead them beside springs of water.

11 I will turn every mountain into a road and every path into pasture for them.

12 Look, these will come from far away, these from the north, these from the sea, and others from the land of the Persians.

13 Rejoice, heavens, and let the earth be glad. Let the mountains burst into joy and the hills into righteousness, because God had mercy on his people and comforted his people who were brought low.

14 But Zion said, ‘The Lord has abandoned me; the Lord has forgotten me.’

15 Will a woman forget her child and have no compassion for the child of her womb? Even if a woman were to forget them, I will not forget you, says the Lord.

16 Look, I have painted your walls on my hands, and you are always before me.

17 You will quickly be rebuilt by the very ones who tore you down, and those who devastated you will leave you.

18 Lift your eyes and look all around. Look, they have all gathered and come to you. As I live, says the Lord, you will wear them all like an ornament and put them on like a bride’s clothing.

19 Your deserted, ruined, and devastated places will now be too cramped for the inhabitants, and those who devoured you will move far away.

20 The children you lost will say in your hearing, ‘This place is too cramped for me. Make room for me to live here.’

21 You will say in your heart, ‘Who bore these for me? I was childless and a widow. Who raised these for me? I was left alone. Where did these come from?’

22 This is what the Lord says: Look, I lift my hand to the nations and raise my signal to the islands. They will carry your sons against their chest and your daughters on their shoulders.

23 Kings will be your foster fathers, and their royal women your nurses. They will bow face down before you and lick the dust from your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord, and you will not be ashamed.

24 Can anyone take plunder from a giant? If someone were taken captive unjustly, could that person be saved?

25 This is what the Lord says: If anyone takes a giant captive, he will take plunder, and the one taken from a mighty man will be saved. I will judge your case and rescue your children.

26 Those who afflicted you will eat their own flesh and drink their own blood like new wine until they are drunk. Then everyone will know that I am the Lord who rescued you and upholds Jacob’s strength.