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.📜💬📚

Douay Rheims Original ↷

Isaiah 49 📜 📕 ↷

Servant and Light to the Gentiles

Next Chapter: Isaiah 50