Isaiah 49:5-7 New English Translation
5 So now the Lord says,
the one who formed me from birth[a] to be his servant—
he did this[b] to restore Jacob to himself,
so that Israel might be gathered to him;
and I will be honored[c] in the Lord’s sight,
for my God is my source of strength[d]—
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[e] of Israel?[f]
I will make you a light to the nations,[g]
so you can bring[h] my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.”
7 This is what the Lord,
the Protector[i] of Israel, their Holy One,[j] says
to the one who is despised[k] and rejected[l] by nations,[m]
a servant of rulers:
“Kings will see and rise in respect,[n]
princes will bow down,
because of the faithful Lord,
the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 49:5 tn Heb “from the womb” (so KJV, NASB).
- Isaiah 49:5 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.
- Isaiah 49:5 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.”
- Isaiah 49:5 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.
- Isaiah 49:6 tn Heb “the protected [or “preserved”] ones.”
- Isaiah 49:6 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.
- Isaiah 49:6 tn See the note at 42:6.
- Isaiah 49:6 tn Heb “be” (so KJV, ASV); CEV “you must take.”
- Isaiah 49:7 tn Heb “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.
- Isaiah 49:7 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
- Isaiah 49:7 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.”
- Isaiah 49:7 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.”
- Isaiah 49:7 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).
- Isaiah 49:7 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.
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