Isa 49 | EngLXX | STEP | Hearken to me, you⌃ islands; and attend, you⌃ Gentiles; after a long time it shall cometo pass, says the Lord: from my mother's womb he has called my name:

Isaiah 49

1 Hearken to me, you⌃ islands; and attend, you⌃ Gentiles; after a long time it shall cometo pass, says the Lord: from my mother's womb he has called my name: 2 and he has made my mouth as a sharp sword, and he has hid me under the shadow of his hand;he has made me as a choice shaft, and he has hid me in his quiver; 3 and said to me, You are my servant, O Israel, and in you I will be glorified. 4 Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have given my strength for vanity and for nothing:therefore is my judgment with the Lord, and my labor before my God. 5 And now, thus says the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his own servant, to gatherJacob to him and Israel. I shall be gathered and glorified before the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. 6 And he said to me,It is a great thing for you to be called my servant, to establish the tribes of Jacob, andto recover the dispersion of Israel: behold, I have given you for the covenant of a race, for a lightof the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the end of the earth. 7 Thus says the Lord that delivered you, the God of Israel, Sanctify him that despises hislife, him that is abhorred by the nations that are the servants of princes: kings shall behold him, andprinces shall arise, and shall worship him, for the Lord's sake: for the Holy One of Israel is faithful,and I have chosen you. 8 Thus says the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard you, and in a day of salvationhave I succored you: and I have formed you, and given you for a covenant of the nations, to establishthe earth, and to cause to inherit the desert heritages: 9 saying to them that are in bonds, Go forth; andbidding them that are in darkness show themselves. They shall be fed in all the ways, and inall the pathsshall be their pasture. 10 They shall not hunger, neither shall they thirst; neither shall the heat nor the sunstrike them; but he that has mercy on them shall comfortthem, and by fountains of waters shall he lead them. 11 And I will make every mountain a way, and every path a pasture to them. 12 Behold, these shall come from far:and these from the north and the west, and others from the land of the Persians. 13 Rejoice, you⌃ heavens; and let the earth be glad: let the mountains break forthwith joy; for the Lard has had mercy on his people, and has comforted the lowly ones of hispeople. 14 But Sion said, The Lord has forsaken me, and, The Lord has forgotten me. 15 Will a woman forget her child, so as not to have compassion upon the offspring of herwomb? but if a woman should even forget these, yet I will not forget you, says the Lord. 16 Behold, I have painted your walls on my hands, and you are continually before me. 17 And you shall soon be built by those by whom you were destroyed, and they that made youdesolate shall go forth of you. 18 Lift up your eyes round about, and look on them all; behold, they are gathered together,and are come to you.As I live, says the Lord, you shall clothe yourself with them all as with an ornament, andput them on as a bride her attire. 19 For your desert and marred and ruinedplaces shall now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that devoured you shallbe removed far from you. 20 For your sons whom you have lost shall say in your ears, The placeis too narrow for me: make room for me that I may dwell. 21 And you shall say in your heart, Who has begotten me these? whereas Iwas childless, and a widow; but who has brought up these for me? and I was left alone; butwhence came these to me? 22 Thus says the Lord,even the Lord, Behold, I lift up mine hand to the nations, and I will lift up my signal tothe islands: and they shall bring your sons intheir bosom, and shall bear your daughters ontheir shoulders. 23 And kings shall be your nursing fathers, and their princesses your nurses, they shallbow down to you on the face of the earth, and shall lick the dust of your feet; and you shall know thatI am the Lord, and they that wait on me shall not be ashamed. 24 Will any one take spoils from a giant? and if one should takea man captive unjustly, shall he be delivered? 25 For thus says the Lord, If one should take a giant captive, he shall take spoils, andhe who takesthem from a mightyman shall be delivered: for I will plead your cause, and I will deliver your children. 26 And they that afflicted you shall eat their own flesh; and they shall drink their ownblood as new wine, and shall be drunken: and all flesh shall perceive that I am the Lord that deliversyou, and that upholds the strength of Jacob.