The Servant of YHWH
Isaiah 49 Y’all islands, listen to me. Y’all peoples, hear from afar: YHWH 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 YHWH, and my reward with my God.”Now YHWH, ʜᴇ who formed me from the womb to be ʜɪꜱ servant, says to bring Jacob again to him, and to gather Israel to ʜɪᴍ, for I am honorable in YHWH’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.” YHWH, 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 will see and rise up, princes, and they will worship, because of YHWH who is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
YHWH says, “I will answered you in an favorable time. I will help 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, ‘Y’all come out!’ and to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves*!’ “They will feed along the road, and their pasture will be on every barren height. They will not hunger or thirst; neither will the heat nor sun strike them, for ʜᴇ who has mercy on them will lead them. Hᴇ will guide them by springs of water. I will make all my mountains into roads, and my highways will be raised up. Look, these will come from afar, from the north and from the west, and from the land of Sinim.” Y’all sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth! Break out into singing, mountains! For YHWH has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted.
YHWH Will Remember Zion
But Zion said, “YHWH 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? Even if these forget, I will not forget you! Look, 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 of them gather together and come to you. As I live,” declares YHWH, “you will 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? See, I was left alone. Where did they come from?’”Lord YHWH says, “Look! I will lift up my hand to the nations, and lift up my banner to the peoples. They will bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders. Kings will 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 YHWH, and those who wait for me will not be disappointed.”
Can plunder be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captives be delivered? But YHWH says, “Even the captives of the mighty will be taken away, and the plunder retrieved from the fierce, for I will contend with those 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 humanity will know that I, YHWH, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”