49:1-7Before the Servant, the Messiah, was born, God had chosen him to bring the light of the gospel (the message of salvation) to the worid (see Acts 13:47). Christ offered salvation to all nations, and his apostles began the missionary movement to take this gospel to the ends of the earth. Missionary work today continues Jesus’ great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20), taking the light of the gospel to all nations. Do you support evangelism and missionary efforts with your money? Do you have talent or other resources to help spread the message of Christ? God wants you to be involved. How can you help? forget them, as a loving mother would not forget her little child. When we feel that God has forsaken us, we must ask if we have forsaken and forgotten God (see Deuteronomy 31:6).
Life Application Study BibleIsaiahChapter 49
Isaiah 49
New Living Translation · Life Application Study Bible · Original pages: 1169, 1170, 1171
A few verse numbers on this page were hard to read in the scan and are marked with a dotted underline — compare with the original page image if in doubt.
1from within the womb he called me by name.
2He made my words of judgment as sharp as a sword.He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand.Tam like a sharp arrow in his quiver.
3He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel,and you will bring me glory.”
4T replied, “But my work seems so useless!I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose.Yet I leave it all in the LORD’s hand;I will trust God for my reward.”
5And now the LORD speaks—the one who formed me in my mother’s womb to be his servant,who commissioned me to bring Israel back to him.The LORD has honored me,and my God has given me strength.
6He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me.Iwill make you a light to the Gentiles,and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”
7The LORD, the Redeemerand Holy One of Israel,says to the one who is despised and rejected by the nations,to the one who is the servant of rulers:“Kings will stand at attention when you pass by.Princes will also bow lowbecause of the LORD, the faithful one,the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
Promises of Israel’s Restoration
88This is what the LORD says:“At just the right time, I will respond to you.*On the day of salvation I will help you.I will protect you and give you to the peopleas my covenant with them.Through you I will reestablish the land of Israeland assign it to its own people again.
9I will say to the prisoners, ‘Come out in freedom,’and to those in darkness, ‘Come into the light.’They will be my sheep, grazing in green pasturesand on hills that were previously bare.
10They wil] neither hunger nor thirst.The searing sun will not reach them anymore.For the LORD in his mercy will lead them;he will lead them beside cool waters.
11And I will make my mountains into level paths for them.The highways will be raised above the valleys.
12See, my people will return from far away,from lands to the north and west,and from as far south as Egypt.*”
13Sing for joy, O heavens!Rejoice, O earth!Burst into song, O mountains!For the LORD has comforted his peopleand will have compassion on them in their suffering.
14Yet Jerusalem* says, “The LORD has deserted us; the LORD has forgotten us.”
15“Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child?Can she feel no love for the child she has borne?But even if that were possible,I would not forget you!
16See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins.
17Soon your descendants will come back,and all who are trying to destroy you will go away.
18Look around you and see,for all your children will come back to you.As surely as I live,” says the LORD,“they will be like jewels or bridal ornaments for you to display.
19“Even the most desolate parts of your abandoned land will soon be crowded with your people.
Your enemies who enslaved youwill be far away.
20The generations born in exile will return and say,‘We need more room! It’s crowded here!’
21Then you will think to yourself,“Who has given me all these descendants?For most of my children were killed,and the rest were carried away into exile.I was left here all alone.Where did ail these people come from?Who bore these children?Who raised them for me?’”
22This is what the Sovereign LORD says:“See, I will give a signal to the godless nations.They will carry your little sons back to you in their arms;they will bring your daughters on their shoulders.
23Kings and queens will serve youand care for all your needs.They will bow to the earth before youand lick the dust from your feet.Then you will know that I am the LORD.Those who trust in me will never be put to shame.”
24Who can snatch the plunder of war from the hands of a warrior?Who can demand that a tyrant* let his captives go?
25But the LORD says,“The captives of warriors will be released,and the plunder of tyrants will be retrieved.For I will fight those who fight you,and I will save your children.
26I will feed your enemies with their own flesh.They will be drunk with rivers of their own blood.All the world will know that I, the LORD,am your Savior and your Redeemer,the Mighty One of Israel.*”
Textual footnotes
- region of Aswan, which is in southern Egypt. Masoretic Text reads from the region of Sinim.
- 49:8 Greek version reads / heard you. Compare 2 Cor 6:2.
- 49:12 As in Dead Sea Scrolls, '
- 49:24 As in Dead Sea Scrolls, Syriac version, and Latin Vulgate (also see 49:25);
- 49:26 Hebrew of Jacob. See note on 14:1,
Life Application Notes 2 notes
49:24,25God would prove to the world that he is God by doing the impossible—causing warriors to set their captives free; and these warriors would even return the plunder they had taken from the captives! God had done this before at the Exodus and would do it again when the exiles returned to Israel. Never should we doubt that God will fulfill his promises. He will even do the impossible to make them come true.
Charts, profiles & sidebars from the printed pages
Study feature · page 1170
vhich read from the 49:14 Hebrew Zion.
49:14, 15 The people of israel felt that God had forgotten them in Babylon; but tsaiah pointed out that God would never
Study feature · page 1171
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Study feature · page 1171
Masoretic Text reads a righteous
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