49:4 But I thought, 1 “I have worked in vain;
I have expended my energy for absolutely nothing.” 2
But the Lord will vindicate me;
my God will reward me. 3
49:5 So now the Lord says,
the one who formed me from birth 4 to be his servant –
he did this 5 to restore Jacob to himself,
so that Israel might be gathered to him;
and I will be honored 6 in the Lord’s sight,
for my God is my source of strength 7 –
49:6 he says, “Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant,
to reestablish the tribes of Jacob,
and restore the remnant 8 of Israel? 9
I will make you a light to the nations, 10
so you can bring 11 my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.”
49:7 This is what the Lord,
the protector 12 of Israel, their Holy One, 13 says
to the one who is despised 14 and rejected 15 by nations, 16
a servant of rulers:
“Kings will see and rise in respect, 17
princes will bow down,
because of the faithful Lord,
the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.”
49:8 This is what the Lord says:
“At the time I decide to show my favor, I will respond to you;
in the day of deliverance I will help you;
I will protect you 18 and make you a covenant mediator for people, 19
to rebuild 20 the land 21
and to reassign the desolate property.
49:9 You will say 22 to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’
and to those who are in dark dungeons, 23 ‘Emerge.’ 24
They will graze beside the roads;
on all the slopes they will find pasture.
1 tn Or “said” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “I replied.”
2 tn Heb “for nothing and emptiness.” Synonyms are combined to emphasize the common idea.
3 tn Heb “But my justice is with the Lord, and my reward [or “wage”] with my God.”
4 tn Heb “from the womb” (so KJV, NASB).
5 tn The words “he did this” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text the infinitive construct of purpose is subordinated to the previous statement.
6 tn The vav (ו) + imperfect is translated here as a result clause; one might interpret it as indicating purpose, “and so I might be honored.”
7 tn Heb “and my God is [perhaps, “having been”] my strength.” The disjunctive structure (vav [ו] + subject + verb) is interpreted here as indicating a causal circumstantial clause.
8 tn Heb “the protected [or “preserved”] ones.”
9 sn The question is purely rhetorical; it does not imply that the servant was dissatisfied with his commission or that he minimized the restoration of Israel.
10 tn See the note at 42:6.
11 tn Heb “be” (so KJV, ASV); CEV “you must take.”
12 tn Heb “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.
13 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
14 tc The Hebrew text reads literally “to [one who] despises life.” It is preferable to read with the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa לבזוי, which should be vocalized as a passive participle, לִבְזוּי (livzuy, “to the one despised with respect to life” [נֶפֶשׁ is a genitive of specification]). The consonantal sequence וי was probably misread as ה in the MT tradition. The contextual argument favors the 1QIsaa reading. As J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 2:294) points out, the three terse phrases “convey a picture of lowliness, worthlessness, and helplessness.”
15 tn MT’s Piel participle (“to the one who rejects”) does not fit contextually. The form should be revocalized as a Pual, “to the one rejected.”
16 tn Parallelism (see “rulers,” “kings,” “princes”) suggests that the singular גּוֹי (goy) be emended to a plural or understood in a collective sense (see 55:5).
17 tn For this sense of קוּם (qum), see Gen 19:1; 23:7; 33:10; Lev 19:32; 1 Sam 20:41; 25:41; 1 Kgs 2:19; Job 29:8.
18 tn The translation assumes the verb is derived from the root נָצָר (natsar, “protect”). Some prefer to derive it from the root יָצָר (yatsar, “form”).
19 tn Heb “a covenant of people.” A person cannot literally be a covenant; בְּרִית (bÿrit) is probably metonymic here, indicating a covenant mediator. Here עָם (’am, “people”) appears to refer to Israel. See the note at 42:6.
20 tn The Hiphil of קוּם (qum, “arise”) is probably used here in the sense of “rebuild.”
21 tn The “land” probably stands by metonymy for the ruins within it.
22 tn Heb “to say.” In the Hebrew text the infinitive construct is subordinated to what precedes.
23 tn Heb “in darkness” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “the prisoners of darkness.”
24 tn Heb “show yourselves” (so ASV, NAB, NASB).