ESV

ESV

Click to Change

Return to Top

Return to Top

Printer Icon

Print

Copy
Copy Options
Format by: Verse Paragraph
Strong's
Red Letter
Audio Bibles
The Blue Letter Bible

Isaiah 49 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

toggle collapse
Choose a new font size and typeface
Audio Bibles

The Servant of the Lord

Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:1 - 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:2 - He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow;
in his quiver he hid me away.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:3 - And he said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”[fn]
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:4 - But 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.”
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:5 - And now the LORD says,
he who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him;
and that Israel might be gathered to him—
for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD,
and my God has become my strength—
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:6 - 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;
I will make you as a light for the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:7 - Thus says the LORD,
the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,
the servant of rulers:
“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

Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:8 - Thus says the LORD:
“In a time of favor I have answered you;
in a day of salvation I have helped you;
I will keep you and give you
as a covenant to the people,
to establish the land,
to apportion the desolate heritages,
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:9 - saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’
to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’
They shall feed along the ways;
on all bare heights shall be their pasture;
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:10 - they shall not hunger or thirst,
neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them,
for he who has pity on them will lead them,
and by springs of water will guide them.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:11 - And I will make all my mountains a road,
and my highways shall be raised up.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:12 - Behold, these shall come from afar,
and behold, these from the north and from the west,[fn]
and these from the land of Syene.”[fn]
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:13 - Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;
break forth, O mountains, into singing!
For the LORD has comforted his people
and will have compassion on his afflicted.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:14 - But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me;
my Lord has forgotten me.”
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:15 - “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.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:16 - Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:17 - Your builders make haste;[fn]
your destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:18 - Lift up your eyes around and see;
they all gather, they come to you.
As I live, declares the LORD,
you shall put them all on as an ornament;
you shall bind them on as a bride does.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:19 - “Surely your waste and your desolate places
and your devastated land—
surely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants,
and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:20 - The children of your bereavement
will yet say in your ears:
‘The place is too narrow for me;
make room for me to dwell in.’
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:21 - Then you will say in your heart:
‘Who has borne me these?
I was bereaved and barren,
exiled and put away,
but who has brought up these?
Behold, I was left alone;
from where have these come?’”
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:22 - Thus says the Lord GOD:
“Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations,
and raise my signal to the peoples;
and they shall bring your sons in their arms,[fn]
and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:23 - Kings shall be your foster fathers,
and their queens your nursing mothers.
With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,
and lick the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am the LORD;
those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.”
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:24 - Can the prey be taken from the mighty,
or the captives of a tyrant[fn] be rescued?
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:25 - For thus says the LORD:
“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.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 49:26 - I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,
and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine.
Then all flesh shall know
that I am the LORD your Savior,
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
ESV Footnotes
Or I will display my beauty
Hebrew from the sea
Dead Sea Scroll; Masoretic Text Sinim
Dead Sea Scroll; Masoretic Text Your children make haste
Hebrew in their bosom
Dead Sea Scroll, Syriac, Vulgate (see also verse 25); Masoretic Text of a righteous man
ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

BLB Searches
Search the Bible
ESV
 [?]

Advanced Options

Other Searches

Multi-Verse Retrieval
x
ESV

Daily Devotionals
x

Blue Letter Bible offers several daily devotional readings in order to help you refocus on Christ and the Gospel of His peace and righteousness.

Daily Bible Reading Plans
x

Recognizing the value of consistent reflection upon the Word of God in order to refocus one's mind and heart upon Christ and His Gospel of peace, we provide several reading plans designed to cover the entire Bible in a year.

One-Year Plans

Two-Year Plan