World English Bible
- Listen, islands, to me. Listen, you peoples, from afar: the LORD has called me from the womb; from the inside of my mother, he has mentioned my name.
- He 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.
- He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
- But 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 the LORD, and my reward with my God.”
- Now the LORD, 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 the LORD’s eyes, and my God has become my strength.
- Indeed, 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.”
- The LORD, 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 the LORD who is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
- The LORD 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,
- saying 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.
- They 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.
- I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways shall be exalted.
- Behold, these shall come from afar, and behold, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Sinim.”
- Sing, heavens, and be joyful, earth! Break out into singing, mountains! For the LORD has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted.
- But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me.”
- “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!
- Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are continually before me.
- Your children hurry. Your destroyers and those who devastated you will leave you.
- Lift up your eyes all around, and see: all these gather themselves together, and come to you. As I live,” says the LORD, “you shall surely clothe yourself with them all as with an ornament, and dress yourself with them, like a bride.
- “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.
- The children of your bereavement will say in your ears, ‘This place is too small for me. Give me a place to live in.’
- Then 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?’”
- The Lord GOD 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.
- Kings 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 the LORD; and those who wait for me won’t be disappointed.”
- Shall the plunder be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captives be delivered?
- But the LORD 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.
- I 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, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
Isaiah 49 begins with a servant who has been called from the womb and ends with a city that believes she has lost her children. Between them lies a question many faithful people are afraid to ask: What if God’s calling has come to nothing?
The servant asks it plainly. “I have labored in vain” (verse 4). The Hebrew word behind “for nothing” is tohu—a word used for the unformed emptiness of Genesis 1:2. His work feels as though it has disappeared into the void. God does not rebuke him for saying so. Instead, God enlarges the promise: restoring Israel is not the whole of his calling; he will also be a light to the nations. The servant is called “Israel,” yet he is sent to bring Israel home. He stands for the people while doing for them what they cannot do for themselves. Christians have long recognized here the shape of Christ, who bears his people’s name and carries God’s salvation beyond their borders (Luke 2:32).
Then heaven and earth break into song—and Zion interrupts: “The LORD has forsaken me” (verses 13–14). Isaiah lets the song and the grief stand side by side. A promise can be true while a wounded person still cannot feel it.
God’s answer is startlingly tender. A mother may forget her nursing child, though such a thing seems almost unthinkable; God will not forget Zion. He has engraved her on his palms. Engraving is not a passing note that can be wiped away. And what is continually before him? Her walls. To an exiled people whose city had been devastated, walls meant safety, belonging, a future. God does not answer their loss by pretending the ruins are gone. He keeps them before his eyes.
Nor does he restore Zion through her own strength alone. Nations carry her sons and daughters home; kings and queens become foster parents. The people once imagined only as outsiders are drawn into the work of return. We should be slow, then, to despise those through whom God may bring life to his people.
The chapter’s fierce ending reminds us that tenderness is not helplessness. God’s compassion contends with those who hold others captive. The hands on which Zion is engraved are strong enough to set her children free.
Today, if your labor seems empty, bring God the truth of it. If you see only broken walls, do not mistake what is ruined for what is forgotten.
Suggested reading: Genesis 1:2; Luke 2:29–32; Acts
13:46–47.
Hymn: “O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go.”
Prayer: Lord, when our work feels lost and our hope lies in ruins, keep us near to you. Teach us to trust your remembering, welcome the help you send, and share your light with those beyond our borders. Amen.