Isaiah 49:7 - Prayer Tents



Share: Select All button

Previous ChapterNext ChapterReduce Font SizeIncrease Font Size
Isaiah 49
The Message Help

A Light for the Nations

49Listen, far-flung islands, pay attention, faraway people: GOD put me to work from the day I was born. The moment I entered the world he named me.H8085H339H7181H3816H7350H3068H7121H990H4578H517H2142H8034 2He gave me speech that would cut and penetrate. He kept his hand on me to protect me. He made me his straight arrow and hid me in his quiver.H7760H6310H2299H2719H6738H3027H2244H7760H1305H2671H827H5641 3He said to me, "You're my dear servant, Israel, through whom I'll shine."H559H5650H3478H6286 4But I said, "I've worked for nothing. I've nothing to show for a life of hard work. Nevertheless, I'll let GOD have the last word. I'll let him pronounce his verdict."H559H3021H7385H3615H3581H8414H1892H403H4941H3068H6468H430 5"And now," GOD says, this God who took me in hand from the moment of birth to be his servant, To bring Jacob back home to him, to set a reunion for Israel— What an honor for me in GOD's eyes! That God should be my strength!H559H3068H3335H990H5650H7725H3290H7725H3478H622H3513H5869H3068H430H5797 6He says, "But that's not a big enough job for my servant— just to recover the tribes of Jacob, merely to round up the strays of Israel. I'm setting you up as a light for the nations so that my salvation becomes global!"H559H7043H5650H6965H7626H3290H7725H5341H5336H3478H5414H216H1471H3444H7097H776 7GOD, Redeemer of Israel, The Holy of Israel, says to the despised one, kicked around by the nations, slave labor to the ruling class: "Kings will see, get to their feet—the princes, too— and then fall on their faces in homage Because of GOD, who has faithfully kept his word, The Holy of Israel, who has chosen you."H559H3068H1350H3478H6918H5315H960H1471H8581H5650H4910H4428H7200H6965H8269H7812H3068H539H6918H3478H977 8GOD also says: "When the time's ripe, I answer you. When victory's due, I help you. I form you and use you to reconnect the people with me, To put the land in order, to resettle families on the ruined properties.H559H3068H7522H6256H6030H3117H3444H5826H5341H5414H1285H5971H6965H776H5157H8074H5159 9I tell prisoners, 'Come on out. You're free!' and those huddled in fear, 'It's all right. It's safe now.' There'll be foodstands along all the roads, picnics on all the hills—H559H631H3318H2822H1540H7462H1870H4830H8205 10Nobody hungry, nobody thirsty, shade from the sun, shelter from the wind, For the Compassionate One guides them, takes them to the best springs.H7456H6770H8273H8121H5221H7355H5090H4002H4325H5095 11I'll make all my mountains into roads, turn them into a superhighway.H7760H2022H1870H4546H7311 12Look: These coming from far countries, and those, out of the north, These streaming in from the west, and those from all the way down the Nile!"H935H7350H6828H3220H776H5515 13Heavens, raise the roof! Earth, wake the dead! Mountains, send up cheers! GOD has comforted his people. He has tenderly nursed his beaten-up, beaten-down people.H7442H8064H1523H776H6476H7440H2022H3068H5162H5971H7355H6041 14But Zion said, "I don't get it. GOD has left me. My Master has forgotten I even exist."H6726H559H3068H5800H136H7911 15"Can a mother forget the infant at her breast, walk away from the baby she bore? But even if mothers forget, I'd never forget you—never.H802H7911H5764H7355H1121H990H7911H7911 16Look, I've written your names on the backs of my hands. The walls you're rebuilding are never out of my sight.H2710H3709H2346H8548 17Your builders are faster than your wreckers. The demolition crews are gone for good.H1121H4116H2040H2717H3318 18Look up, look around, look well! See them all gathering, coming to you? As sure as I am the living God"—GOD's Decree— "you're going to put them on like so much jewelry, you're going to use them to dress up like a bride.H5375H5869H5439H7200H6908H935H2416H5002H3068H3847H5716H7194H3618 19"And your ruined land? Your devastated, decimated land? Filled with more people than you know what to do with! And your barbarian enemies, a fading memory.H2723H8074H776H2035H3334H3427H1104H7368 20The children born in your exile will be saying, 'It's getting too crowded here. I need more room.'H1121H7923H559H241H4725H6862H5066H4725H3427 21And you'll say to yourself, 'Where on earth did these children come from? I lost everything, had nothing, was exiled and penniless. So who reared these children? How did these children get here?'"H559H3824H3205H7921H1565H1540H5493H1431H7604H375 22The Master, GOD, says: "Look! I signal to the nations, I raise my flag to summon the people. Here they'll come: women carrying your little boys in their arms, men carrying your little girls on their shoulders.H559H136H3069H5375H3027H1471H7311H5251H5971H935H1121H2684H1323H5375H3802 23Kings will be your babysitters, princesses will be your nursemaids. They'll offer to do all your drudge work— scrub your floors, do your laundry. You'll know then that I am GOD. No one who hopes in me ever regrets it."H4428H539H8282H3243H7812H639H776H3897H6083H7272H3045H3068H954H6960 24Can plunder be retrieved from a giant, prisoners of war gotten back from a tyrant?H4455H3947H1368H6662H7628H4422 25But GOD says, "Even if a giant grips the plunder and a tyrant holds my people prisoner, I'm the one who's on your side, defending your cause, rescuing your children.H559H3068H7628H1368H3947H4455H6184H4422H7378H3401H3467H1121 26And your enemies, crazed and desperate, will turn on themselves, killing each other in a frenzy of self-destruction. Then everyone will know that I, GOD, have saved you—I, the Mighty One of Jacob."H398H3238H1320H7937H1818H6071H1320H3045H3068H3467H1350H46H3290


The Message (MSG). All Scripture quotations are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries. More details.
Old Testament
  • 25. Lamentations (5)
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 29. Joel (3)
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 31. Obadiah (1)
  • 1
  • 34. Nahum (3)
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 35. Habakkuk (3)
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 36. Zephaniah (3)
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 37. Haggai (2)
  • 1
  • 2

New Testament
  • 50. Philippians (4)
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 51. Colossians (4)
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 52. 1 Thessalonians (5)
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 53. 2 Thessalonians (3)
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 55. 2 Timothy (4)
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 56. Titus (3)
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 57. Philemon (1)
  • 1
  • 61. 2 Peter (3)
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 63. 2 John (1)
  • 1
  • 64. 3 John (1)
  • 1
  • 65. Jude (1)
  • 1
Please login to see history of your searches
Table of Contents
Hide Subtitles
Hide Footnotes
Spacing: 0 1 2 3
Verse Numbers Toggle
Strong Numbers Toggle
Info Language ArrowReturn to top