Isaiah 49:6-8

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 ¹  of Israel? ² 

I will make you a light to the nations, ³ 

so you can bring ⁴  my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.”

49:7 This is what the Lord,

the protector ⁵  of Israel, their Holy One, ⁶  says

to the one who is despised ⁷  and rejected ⁸  by nations, ⁹ 

a servant of rulers:

“Kings will see and rise in respect, ¹⁰ 

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 ¹¹  and make you a covenant mediator for people, ¹² 

to rebuild ¹³  the land ¹⁴ 

and to reassign the desolate property.

[49:6]  ¹ tn Heb “the protected [or “preserved”] ones.”

[49:6]  ² 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.

[49:6]  ³ tn See the note at 42:6.

[49:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “be” (so KJV, ASV); CEV “you must take.”

[49:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[49:7]  ⁶ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[49:7]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text reads literally “to [one who] despises life.” It is preferable to read with the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a 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 1QIsa^a reading. As J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 2:294) points out, the three terse phrases “convey a picture of lowliness, worthlessness, and helplessness.”

[49:7]  ⁸ 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.”

[49:7]  ⁹ 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).

[49:7]  ¹⁰ 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.

[49:8]  ¹¹ 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”).

[49:8]  ¹² 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.

[49:8]  ¹³ tn The Hiphil of קוּם (qum, “arise”) is probably used here in the sense of “rebuild.”

[49:8]  ¹⁴ tn The “land” probably stands by metonymy for the ruins within it.