Isaiah 49

Isaiah 49
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The Great Isaiah Scroll, the best preserved of the biblical scrolls found at Qumran from the second century BC, contains all the verses in this chapter.
Book	Book of Isaiah
Hebrew Bible part	Nevi'im
Order in the Hebrew part	5
Category	Latter Prophets
Christian Bible part	Old Testament
Order in the Christian part	23

Isaiah 49 is the forty-ninth chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Isaiah, and is one of the Books of the Prophets. This chapter includes the second of the songs of the "Suffering Servant".

Text

The original text is written in Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 26 verses.

Textual versions

Some early witnesses for the text of this chapter in Hebrew language:

• Masoretic Text (10th century)
• Dead Sea Scrolls:
  • 1QIsa^a: complete
  • 1QIsa^b: extant: verses 1‑13, 15
  • 4QIsa^b (4Q56): extant: verses 21-23
  • 4QIsa^d (4Q58): extant: verses 1‑15

There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BC. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; ${\mathfrak {G}}$^B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK: ${\mathfrak {G}}$^S; 4th century), Codex Alexandrinus (A; ${\mathfrak {G}}$^A; 5th century) and Codex Marchalianus (Q; ${\mathfrak {G}}$^Q; 6th century).

Parashot

The parashah sections listed here are based on the Aleppo Codex. Isaiah 49 is a part of the Consolations (Isaiah 40–66). {P}: open parashah; {S}: closed parashah.

{P} 49:1-4 {S} 49:5-6 {S} 49:7 {S} 49:8-13 {S} 49:14-21 {P} 49:22-23 {S} 49:24 {S} 49:25-26 {S}

Second servant song

The servant songs were first identified by Bernhard Duhm in his 1892 Commentary on Isaiah. The songs are four poems within the Book of Isaiah written about a certain "servant of YHWH". God calls the servant to lead the nations, but the servant is horribly repressed. In the end, he is rewarded. Those four poems are:

1. Isaiah 42:1–9
2. Isaiah 49:1–12
3. Isaiah 50:4–9
4. Isaiah 52-53

The second of the "servant songs" begins at Isaiah 49:1, continuing through 49:12. This poem, written from the Servant's point of view, is an account of his pre-natal calling by God to lead both Israel and the nations. The Servant is now portrayed as the prophet of the Lord equipped and called to restore the nation to God. Yet, anticipating the fourth song, he is without success. Taken with the picture of the Servant in the first song, his success will come not by political or military action, but by becoming a light to the Gentiles. Ultimately his victory is in God's hands.

Verse 1

“Listen, O coastlands, to Me,

And take heed, you peoples from afar!

The coastlands (or islands) are frequently referred to in Deutero-Isaiah. The first reference is in 40:15.

Verse 16

See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;

Your walls are continually before Me.

Biblical translator and commentator Robert Lowth suggests that there was "some practice, common among the Jews at that time, of making marks on their hands or arms by punctures on the skin, with some sort of sign or representation of the city (i.e. Jerusalem) or temple, to shew their affection and zeal for it".

See also

• Christian messianic prophecies
• Christianity and Judaism
• Great Commission
• Jewish messianism
• Messianic prophecies of Jesus
• New Covenant, Replacement theology
• Related Bible parts: Isaiah 42, Isaiah 50, Isaiah 52, Isaiah 53, Matthew 28, Luke 1, John 8, Acts 1

Bibliography

• Würthwein, Ernst (1995). The Text of the Old Testament. Translated by Rhodes, Erroll F. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN 0-8028-0788-7. Retrieved January 26, 2019.

External links

Jewish

• Isaiah 49: Hebrew with Parallel English

Christian

• Isaiah 49 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate
• Catholic Encyclopedia: Messiah
• Israel, the Suffering Servant