Isaiah 49:23

49:23 Kings will be your children’s ¹  guardians;

their princesses will nurse your children. ² 

With their faces to the ground they will bow down to you

and they will lick the dirt on ³  your feet.

Then you will recognize that I am the Lord;

those who wait patiently for me are not put to shame.

Isaiah 49:26

49:26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh;

they will get drunk on their own blood, as if it were wine. ⁴ 

Then all humankind ⁵  will recognize that

I am the Lord, your deliverer,

your protector, ⁶  the powerful ruler of Jacob.” ⁷ 

[49:23]  ¹ tn Heb “your,” but Zion here stands by metonymy for her children (see v. 22b).

[49:23]  ² tn Heb “you.” See the preceding note.

[49:23]  ³ tn Or “at your feet” (NAB, NIV); NLT “from your feet.”

[49:26]  ⁴ sn Verse 26a depicts siege warfare and bloody defeat. The besieged enemy will be so starved they will their own flesh. The bloodstained bodies lying on the blood-soaked battle site will look as if they collapsed in drunkenness.

[49:26]  ⁵ tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB).

[49:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[49:26]  ⁷ tn Heb “the powerful [one] of Jacob.” See 1:24.