Douay Rheims Original ↷
Isaiah 49 💬 📚 📜 📕 ↷
Servant and Light to the Gentiles
1 HEAR ye islands, and attend ye peoples from a far. The Lord hath called me from the womb, from my mother's belly he hath been mindful of my name.
2 And he hath made my mouth as a sharp sword: in the shadow of his hand he hath protected me, & hath made me as a chosen arrow, in his quiver he hath hidden me.
3 And he said to me: Thou art my servant Israel, because in thee will I glory.
4 And I said: I have laboured in vain, without cause, and in vain have I spent my strength: therefore my judgement is with the Lord, and my work with my God.
5 And now saith the Lord, that formed me from the womb to be his servant, that I may reduce Jacob unto him, and Israel will not be gathered together: and I am glorified in the eyes of the Lord, and my God is made my strength.
6 And he said: It is a small thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to convert the dregs of Israel. Behold, I have given thee to be the light of the Gentiles, that thou mayst be salvation even to the farthest part of the earth.
7 Thus saith our Lord the redeemer of Israel, the holy one thereof, to the contemptible soul, to the nation that is abhorred, to the servant of lords: kings shall see, & princes shall rise, & adore for our Lord's sake, because he is faithful, & for the holy one of Israel who hath chosen thee.
8 Thus saith our Lord: In time acceptable I have heard thee, and in the day of salvation I have holpen thee: and I have kept thee, and given thee to be a covenant of the people, that thou mightest raise up the land, and possess the inheritances dissipated.
9 That thou mightest say to them, that are bound: Come forth, & to them that are in darkness: Be ye discovered. Upon the ways shall they feed, & their pastures shall be in all plains.
10 They shall not hunger nor thirst, & heat and sun shall not strike them: because he that is merciful to them shall govern them, and all the fountains of waters shall give them drink.
11 And I will make all my mountains to be a way, & my paths shall be exalted.
12 Behold these shall come from far, & behold they from the North and the sea, and these from the South country.
13 Ye heavens praise, and earth rejoice, ye mountains give praise with jubilation, because our Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy on his poor ones.
14 And Sion said: Our Lord hath forsaken me, & our Lord hath forgotten me.
15 Why, can a woman forget her infant, that she will not have pity on the son of her womb? And if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee.
16 Behold, I have written thee in my hands, thy walls are before mine eyes always.
17 Thy builders are come: they that destroy thee and dissipate thee shall go out of thee.
18 Lift up thine eyes round about, and see, all these are gathered together, they are come to thee: I live, saith our Lord, for thou shalt be clothed with all these as with an ornament, and as a bride thou shalt put them about thee.
19 Because thy deserts, and thy solitary places, & the land of thy ruin, shall now be strait by reason of the inhabitants, & they shall be chased far away that swallowed thee up.
20 As yet shall the children of thy barrenness say in thine ears: The place is strait for me, make me space to dwell.
21 And thou shalt say in thy heart: Who hath begot me these? I am barren & not bearing, led into transmigration, & captive: & these who hath brought up? I destitute & alone: & these where were they?
22 Thus saith our Lord God: behold I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, & to the peoples I will exalt my sign. And they shall carry thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters upon their shoulders.
23 And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, & queens thy nurses: with countenance cast down toward the ground they shall adore thee, & they shall lick up the dust of thy feet. And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, upon whom they shall not be confounded that expect him.
24 Shall a prey be taken from the strong? Or can that which was caught of the mighty be saved?
25 Because thus saith our Lord: Yea verily, even the captivity shall be taken away from the strong: and that which was taken by the mighty, shall be saved. But those that have judged thee, will I judge, and thy children I will save.
26 And I will feed thine enemies with their own flesh: & as with new wine, so shall they be imbrued with their own blood: and all flesh shall know, that I am the Lord that save thee, & thy redeemer the mighty one of Jacob.
Copyright © 2025 by Narrow Gate Bible Productions. All Rights Reserved.
