UST GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR EZRA NEH EST JOB PSA PROV ECC SNG ISA JER LAM EZE DAN HOS JOEL AMOS OBA YNA MIC NAH HAB ZEP HAG ZEC MAL MAT MARK LUKE YHN ACTs ROM 1 COR 2 COR GAL EPH PHP COL 1 TH 2 TH 1 TIM 2 TIM TIT PHM HEB YAC 1 PET 2 PET 1 YHN 2 YHN 3 YHN YUD REV

ISA C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 C25 C26 C27 C28 C29 C30 C31 C32 C33 C34 C35 C36 C37 C38 C39 C40 C41 C42 C43 C44 C45 C46 C47 C48 C49 C50 C51 C52 C53 C54 C55 C56 C57 C58 C59 C60 C61 C62 C63 C64 C65 C66

UST ISA Chapter 49

◄ ISA 49 ► ║ ═ ©

49 People throughout the world, listen carefully to what I say!

Yahweh appointed me to be a prophet before I was born.

2 He equipped me to say things that would convict people,

just as a sharp sword cuts through things.

He kept me safe by his power while he was doing that.

He prepared me to deliver his message,

just as an arrow whose shaft someone has polished flies straight and fast.

He has kept me ready for just the right time

like an arrow in a quiver.

3 He said to me, “You are my servant.

You represent the people of Israel.

Through you, I will show how glorious I am.”

4 But for my part, I said, “I have worked hard, but I have not accomplished anything.

Indeed, I have used up my strength, but I have not achieved anything.

Nevertheless, Yahweh will do what is right for me.

My God will give me what I deserve.”

5 Even as I was forming inside my mother’s body,

Yahweh was preparing me to serve him

by leading the people of Israel to worship him again.

Yahweh is proud of me for doing that.

He is my God, and he makes me strong.

This is what he now says to me.

6 He says, “I have much more for you to do as my servant

beyond restoring the surviving Israelites, the descendants of Jacob.

I will also make you someone who brings the truth about me to other nations.

Then I will save people throughout the world.”

7 Yahweh is rescuing the Israelites.

He is their holy God.

The Israelites do not like his prophet.

They do not care whether he lives or dies.

Foreign rulers have made him their subject.

But this is what Yahweh says to his prophet:

“When kings see you, they will stand up to honor you.

When princes see you, they will bow down to you.

They will do this because I, Yahweh, will keep my promises to you.

I am the holy God of the Israelites, and I have chosen you.”

8 Yahweh also says this:

“At the right time, I will act on your behalf.

Yes, when it is time for me to save you, I will help you.

I will keep you alive,

and through you I will fulfill my agreement with my people.

I will restore the land

and give my people back the territory that others have made desolate.

9 You will say to those whom your enemies have captured, ‘You are free to leave!’

You will say to those who are in dark prisons, ‘Come out into the light!’

As they return home, they will find what they need along the roads,

They will even find food on bare hilltops.

10 They will not be hungry or thirsty,

and the burning heat of the sun will not harm them.

That is because I, Yahweh, will treat them kindly

and lead them to springs of water.

11 To make a road for them,

I will flatten the mountains and fill in the valleys.

12 People will see exiles returning from distant countries.

They will see them coming from the north and from the west

and from the land of Sinim.”

13 Everything throughout the creation

should shout to celebrate this!

If they could, the mountains should sing joyfully.

They should do this because Yahweh will treat his people kindly.

He will be merciful to those who are suffering.

14 However, the people of Jerusalem say,

“Yahweh has abandoned us;

yes, he has forgotten about us.”

15 Yahweh replies, “A mother would not forget the infant she was nursing.

She would not be harsh to a child to whom she gave birth.

But even if a mother could do that,

for my part, I would never forget you!

16 Listen! I have written the name of your city on my palms

so that I will always remember you.

I am always thinking about you people of that city.

17 Those who tore your city down and ruined it are leaving,

and your fellow citizens are hurrying back to you.

18 You will look around and see all the people

who have come together and who are returning to you.

I, Yahweh, swear by myself

that those people will make your city a wonderful place, as if they are jewels that your city is wearing.

You will keep them with you, just as a bride securely ties on her jewels.

19 Your enemies destroyed your land,

and now there are many areas in it where no one lives.

But soon those enemies will be gone,

and there will not be enough room in the land

for everyone who wants to live there.

20 Soon you will hear Israelites who were born in exile and who have returned say,

‘This place is not big enough for all of us;

give us more land on which we can live!’

21 Then you will think to yourselves,

‘How did we get all these people?

Enemies took away most of our people as prisoners.

Our city was like a woman whose children had died and who was not having more children.

So we do not know who raised these children!

Indeed, our city was like a woman whose husband had died.

So we do not know where they came from!’ ”

22 This is what Yahweh, the Lord, says:

“Listen! I will signal to the people of other nations

what I want them to do.

Then they will bring your exiled people back to you

the way people carry children on their shoulders or have them sit on their laps as they ride an animal.

23 Kings will take care of your children as if they were their fathers.

Their princesses will nurse them as if they were their mothers.

They will bow down low to the ground in front of you

to show you great honor.

Then you will know that I, Yahweh, am the only true God.

No one will feel shame because he trusted in me.”

24 People do not take valuable possessions away

from a mighty soldier who has captured them.

People do not take captives away

from a tyrant who has captured them.

25 But this is what Yahweh says:

“I will free even captives that a mighty soldier is holding.

I will take back what a tyrant has seized.

I myself will fight against those who are fighting against you,

and I myself will rescue your people.

26 I will cause your enemies to destroy one another.

They will kill each other with great violence.

Then people throughout the world will know

that I, Yahweh, the Mighty God of the descendants of Jacob,

am the one who is saving and rescuing you.”