Yesaya 49:22-26

49:22 This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“Look I will raise my hand to the nations;

I will raise my signal flag to the peoples.

They will bring your sons in their arms

and carry your daughters on their shoulders.

49:23 Kings will be your children’s ¹  guardians;

their princesses will nurse your children. ² 

With their faces to the ground they will bow down to you

and they will lick the dirt on ³  your feet.

Then you will recognize that I am the Lord;

those who wait patiently for me are not put to shame.

49:24 Can spoils be taken from a warrior,

or captives be rescued from a conqueror? ⁴ 

49:25 Indeed,” says the Lord,

“captives will be taken from a warrior;

spoils will be rescued from a conqueror.

I will oppose your adversary

and I will rescue your children.

49:26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh;

they will get drunk on their own blood, as if it were wine. ⁵ 

Then all humankind ⁶  will recognize that

I am the Lord, your deliverer,

your protector, ⁷  the powerful ruler of Jacob.” ⁸ 

[49:23]  ¹ tn Heb “your,” but Zion here stands by metonymy for her children (see v. 22b).

[49:23]  ² tn Heb “you.” See the preceding note.

[49:23]  ³ tn Or “at your feet” (NAB, NIV); NLT “from your feet.”

[49:24]  ⁴ tc The Hebrew text has צָדִיק (tsadiq, “a righteous [one]”), but this makes no sense in the parallelism. The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a reads correctly עריץ (“violent [one], tyrant”; see v. 25).

[49:26]  ⁵ sn Verse 26a depicts siege warfare and bloody defeat. The besieged enemy will be so starved they will their own flesh. The bloodstained bodies lying on the blood-soaked battle site will look as if they collapsed in drunkenness.

[49:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB).

[49:26]  ⁷ tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[49:26]  ⁸ tn Heb “the powerful [one] of Jacob.” See 1:24.