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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Isaiah 49 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/isaiah/49.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; 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and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.</div>XLIX.</span><p>(1) <span class= "bld">Listen, O isles . . .</span>—The argument against idolatry has been brought to its close, and a new section opens, and with it there is a new speaker, the mysterious “Servant of the Lord,” (<a href="/isaiah/42-1.htm" title="Behold my servant, whom I uphold; my elect, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit on him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.">Isaiah 42:1</a>), at once identified with Israel (<a href="/isaiah/49-3.htm" title="And said to me, You are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.">Isaiah 49:3</a>), in fulfilling its ideal, and yet distinguished from it, as its Restorer and Redeemer. “Isles” as before stand vaguely for “far off countries.” The invitation is addressed to the heathen far and wide.<p><span class= "bld">The Lord hath called me from the womb.</span>—The words indicate a predestined vocation. (Comp. <a href="/jeremiah/1-5.htm" title="Before I formed you in the belly I knew you; and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you, and I ordained you a prophet to the nations.">Jeremiah 1:5</a>; <a href="/luke/1-15.htm" title="For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.">Luke 1:15</a>; <a href="/luke/1-41.htm" title="And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:">Luke 1:41</a>; <a href="/galatians/1-15.htm" title="But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace,">Galatians 1:15</a>.) Admitting the thought of a Divine order working in human history, the idea of such a vocation follows in inevitable sequence.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/49-2.htm">Isaiah 49:2</a></div><div class="verse">And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me;</div>(2) <span class= "bld">He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword.</span>—The words indicate at once the spiritual nature of the “Servant’s” victories. It is his speech that wounds and heals, his words that go like winged arrows to their mark. The description finds an echo in <a href="/hebrews/4-12.htm" title="For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.">Hebrews 4:12</a>; <a href="/revelation/1-16.htm" title="And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shines in his strength.">Revelation 1:16</a>; <a href="/revelation/19-15.htm" title="And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treads the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.">Revelation 19:15</a>; <a href="/ephesians/6-17.htm" title="And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:">Ephesians 6:17</a>. The “shaft” is “polished,” as piercing without impediment. It is “hid in the quiver,” reserved, in the drama of the world’s history, and in each crisis of the Servant’s life, till the “hour was come,” the appointed “fulness of time” (<a href="/john/2-4.htm" title="Jesus said to her, Woman, what have I to do with you? my hour is not yet come.">John 2:4</a>; <a href="/john/7-6.htm" title="Then Jesus said to them, My time is not yet come: but your time is always ready.">John 7:6</a>; <a href="/galatians/4-4.htm" title="But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,">Galatians 4:4</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/49-3.htm">Isaiah 49:3</a></div><div class="verse">And said unto me, Thou <i>art</i> my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.</div>(3) <span class= "bld">Thou art my servant, O Israel.</span>—Not that the “Servant” is merely the nation, but that he fulfils its ideal. “Israel” had begun with being an individual name. It should be so once more in the person of Him who would be truly “a prince with God.”<p><span class= "bld">In whom I will be glorified.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">in whom I will glorify myself. </span>The words find a conscious echo in <a href="/context/john/13-31.htm" title="Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him.">John 13:31-32</a>; <a href="/context/john/17-1.htm" title="These words spoke Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify you:">John 17:1-5</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/49-4.htm">Isaiah 49:4</a></div><div class="verse">Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: <i>yet</i> surely my judgment <i>is</i> with the LORD, and my work with my God.</div>(4) <span class= "bld">Then I said.</span>—The accents of disappointment sound strangely on coming from the lips of the true Servant; but the prophet had learnt by his own experience that this formed part of the discipline of every true servant of God, in proportion to the thoroughness of his service, and therefore it was not strange to him that <span class= "ital">the </span>ideal Servant should also taste that bitterness. We find in the prophet of Anathoth a partial illustration of the law (<a href="/jeremiah/20-14.htm" title="Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bore me be blessed.">Jeremiah 20:14</a>). We find its highest fulfilment in the cries of Gethsemane and Golgotha, The sense of failure is surmounted only, as here, by looking to another judgment than man’s, and another <span class= "ital">reward </span>(better than “work”). (Comp. <a href="/1_corinthians/4-3.htm" title="But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yes, I judge not my own self.">1Corinthians 4:3</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/49-5.htm">Isaiah 49:5</a></div><div class="verse">And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb <i>to be</i> his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.</div>(5) <span class= "bld">Though Israel be not gathered.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">and that Israel be gathered to Him. </span>The negative, as in <a href="/isaiah/9-3.htm" title="You have multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before you according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.">Isaiah 9:3</a>, comes from an error of transcription; for “yet” read <span class= "ital">and. </span>The Servant falls back upon the greatness of the work committed to him, that of restoring Israel, and is certain that sooner or later it will be accomplished. Comp. the argument of Romans 9-11<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/49-6.htm">Isaiah 49:6</a></div><div class="verse">And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.</div>(6) <span class= "bld">And he said.</span>—The words are repeated from “saith the Lord” of the preceding verse, where they had been followed by a long parenthesis. The Servant becomes conscious of a higher mission. All national barriers are broken down. He is to be the bearer of a message of peace to the whole race of mankind, and has “other sheep not of this fold” (<a href="/john/10-16.htm" title="And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.">John 10:16</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/49-7.htm">Isaiah 49:7</a></div><div class="verse">Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, <i>and</i> his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, <i>and</i> the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee.</div>(7) <span class= "bld">To him whom man despiseth.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">to one despised of soul, </span>where “soul” may either stand for “men” as in the Authorised version, or imply that the contempt enters into the soul of the sufferer. (Comp. <a href="/psalms/105-18.htm" title="Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron:">Psalm 105:18</a>.) The point of the words lies in the fact that the doer of the great work is to be despised by the world’s judgment or by his own people, by proud rulers (comp. <a href="/1_corinthians/1-27.htm" title="But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;">1Corinthians 1:27</a>); and yet he, and no other, will accomplish it.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/49-8.htm">Isaiah 49:8</a></div><div class="verse">Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;</div>(8) <span class= "bld">In an acceptable time.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">in the season of good pleasure. </span>The message is borne in on the soul of the servant as the secret of confidence and strength. It will be his work to be the link in a new covenant with the people, an idea afterwards developed by Jeremiah (<a href="/jeremiah/31-31.htm" title="Behold, the days come, said the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:">Jeremiah 31:31</a>), and reaching its fulfilment in <a href="/matthew/26-28.htm" title="For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.">Matthew 26:28</a>; <a href="/luke/22-20.htm" title="Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.">Luke 22:20</a>.<p><span class= "bld">To cause to inherit the desolate heritages.</span>—The prophet may have thought of a literal fulfilment such as was probably in part accomplished by Zerubbabel. We, seeing the prediction in the light of its fulfilment, look to the spiritual inheritance.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/49-9.htm">Isaiah 49:9</a></div><div class="verse">That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that <i>are</i> in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures <i>shall be</i> in all high places.</div>(9) <span class= "bld">That thou mayest say to the prisoners . . .</span>—Comp. <a href="/context/isaiah/42-6.htm" title="I the LORD have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and will keep you, and give you for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;">Isaiah 42:6-7</a>. Here, perhaps, the thought of the deliverance of Israel is more exclusively prominent; but the words have obviously a yet wider and higher application.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/49-10.htm">Isaiah 49:10</a></div><div class="verse">They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.</div>(10) <span class= "bld">Neither shall the heat . . .</span>—The word is the same as the “parched ground” of <a href="/isaiah/35-7.htm" title="And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.">Isaiah 35:7</a>, and stands, as there, for the mirage of the scorching desert.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/49-11.htm">Isaiah 49:11</a></div><div class="verse">And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.</div>(11) <span class= "bld">My mountains . . . my highways . . .</span>—The pronoun asserts the universal lordship of Jehovah. The whole earth is His.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/49-12.htm">Isaiah 49:12</a></div><div class="verse">Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.</div>(12) F<span class= "bld">rom the west.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">from the sea, </span>which commonly has this meaning. In <a href="/psalms/107-3.htm" title="And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.">Psalm 107:3</a>, however, it clearly stands for the south, and is probably used in that sense here. In this case “from far” stands for the south, probably for the distant Ethiopia, where Jewish exiles had already found their way (<a href="/zephaniah/3-10.htm" title="From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring my offering.">Zephaniah 3:10</a>).<p><span class= "bld">From the land of Sinim.</span>—The region thus named is clearly the <span class= "ital">ultima Thule </span>of the prophet’s horizon, and this excludes the “Sinites” of Canaan (<a href="/genesis/10-17.htm" title="And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,">Genesis 10:17</a>), and the Sin (Pelusium) of Egypt. Modern scholars are almost unanimous in making it refer to the Chinese. Phœnician or Babylonian commerce may have made that people known, at least by name, to the prophet. Recent Chinese researches have brought to light traditions that in B.C. 2353 (and again in B.C. 1110) a people came from a strange western land, bringing with them a tortoise, on the shell of which was a history of the world, in strange characters “like tadpoles.” It is inferred that this was a cuneiform inscription, and the theory has been recently maintained that this was the origin of the present Chinese mode of writing. (See Cheyne’s “Excursus,” 2 p. 20, and an elaborate article on “China and Assyria” in the <span class= "ital">Quarterly Review </span>for October, 1882.) Porcelain with Chinese characters has been found, it may be added, in the ruins of the Egyptian Thebes (Wilkinson, <span class= "ital">Ancient Egyptians, </span>1st ser., iii. 106-109). All recent discoveries tend to the conclusion that the commerce of the great ancient monarchies was wider than scholars of the sixteenth century imagined. The actual immigration of Jews into China is believed to have taken place about B.C. 200 (Delitzsch <span class= "ital">in loc</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/49-13.htm">Isaiah 49:13</a></div><div class="verse">Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.</div>(13) <span class= "bld">Sing, O heavens.</span>—As in <a href="/isaiah/44-23.htm" title="Sing, O you heavens; for the LORD has done it: shout, you lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, you mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.">Isaiah 44:23</a>, all nature is invited to join in the chorus of praise for the deliverance of Israel.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/49-14.htm">Isaiah 49:14</a></div><div class="verse">But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.</div>(14) <span class= "bld">But Zion said . . .</span>—In the midst of all that Jehovah was doing for his people they were still showing their little faith, and thinking of themselves as forsaken. They shared the misgivings which were felt even by <span class= "ital">the </span>Servant, but they did not rise out of them as quickly as He did into the full assurance of faith.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/49-15.htm">Isaiah 49:15</a></div><div class="verse">Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.</div>(15) <span class= "bld">Can a woman forget . . .?</span>—The love of Jehovah for His chosen ones is more than that of a father, more tender and unchangeable even than the maternal love which exists often in the most depraved. Even that may perish, but not so His pitying affection.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/49-16.htm">Isaiah 49:16</a></div><div class="verse">Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of <i>my</i> hands; thy walls <i>are</i> continually before me.</div>(16) <span class= "bld">Behold, I have graven thee . . .</span>—The words point to the almost universal practice of tattooing. A man thus “engraved” the name of his god, or the outlines of his home, or the face of her he loved, upon his hands or arms. So, by a boldly anthropomorphic figure, Jehovah had “graven” Jerusalem on His hands. He could not open them, <span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> could not act, without being reminded of her. The “walls” may be either those of the earthly city lying in ruins, or those of the heavenly Jerusalem.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/49-17.htm">Isaiah 49:17</a></div><div class="verse">Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.</div>(17) <span class= "bld">Thy children shall make haste.</span>—A various reading adopted by the LXX., Targum, and Vulg., gives <span class= "ital">thy builders. </span>They rush to their work of restoration; the destroyers and ravagers go forth.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/49-18.htm">Isaiah 49:18</a></div><div class="verse">Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, <i>and</i> come to thee. <i>As</i> I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them <i>on thee</i>, as a bride <i>doeth</i>.</div>(18) <span class= "bld">Lift up thine eyes.</span>—The daughter of Zion is called on to gaze on the returning exiles. They shall be her gems and her girdle as the bride of her new espousals. A distant parallel is found in the story of the mother of the Gracchi pointing to her children as more precious jewels than those of her wealthy rival.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/49-19.htm">Isaiah 49:19</a></div><div class="verse">For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away.</div>(19) <span class= "bld">Shall even now be too narrow.</span>—Literally, with a vivid abruptness, <span class= "ital">thou shalt be </span><span class= "bld">. . .</span> The over population of the future is contrasted with the depopulation of the past (<a href="/isaiah/3-6.htm" title="When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, You have clothing, be you our ruler, and let this ruin be under your hand:">Isaiah 3:6</a>; <a href="/isaiah/4-1.htm" title="And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by your name, to take away our reproach.">Isaiah 4:1</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/49-20.htm">Isaiah 49:20</a></div><div class="verse">The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place <i>is</i> too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.</div>(20) <span class= "bld">The children which thou shalt have . . .</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">the children of thy bereavement </span>(i.e., born when Zion thought herself bereaved) <span class= "ital">shall yet say </span><span class= "bld">. . .</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/49-21.htm">Isaiah 49:21</a></div><div class="verse">Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where <i>had</i> they <i>been</i>?</div>(21) <span class= "bld">Who hath begotten me these . . .</span>?—Better, <span class= "ital">who hath borne </span><span class= "bld">. . .</span>? The widowed daughter of Zion cannot believe that these crowding children are her own, and asks, Who then is their mother? She, the widowed one, the prisoner, dragged hither and thither, could not claim them.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/49-22.htm">Isaiah 49:22</a></div><div class="verse">Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in <i>their</i> arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon <i>their</i> shoulders.</div>(22) <span class= "bld">The Gentiles . . . the people . . .</span>—Both words are used of the heathen. They are summoned by the uplifted signal of Jehovah to do their work as nursing fathers, carrying the children <span class= "ital">in their bosom </span>(<a href="/numbers/11-12.htm" title="Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that you should say to me, Carry them in your bosom, as a nursing father bears the sucking child, to the land which you swore to their fathers?">Numbers 11:12</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/49-23.htm">Isaiah 49:23</a></div><div class="verse">And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with <i>their</i> face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I <i>am</i> the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.</div>(23) <span class= "bld">Kings shall be thy nursing fathers . . .</span>—As a rule kings gave their children to be brought up by their nobles (<a href="/2_kings/10-5.htm" title="And he that was over the house, and he that was over the city, the elders also, and the bringers up of the children, sent to Jehu, saying, We are your servants, and will do all that you shall bid us; we will not make any king: do you that which is good in your eyes.">2Kings 10:5</a>). Zion should have kings themselves and their queens to rear her children. They shall bow down to her, the true Israel, the true <span class= "ital">Ecclesia, </span>as the dwelling-place of Jehovah.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/49-24.htm">Isaiah 49:24</a></div><div class="verse">Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?</div>(24) <span class= "bld">Shall the prey be taken . . .</span>?—The question is asked by Zion in her little faith. The next phrase, “lawful captive,” literally “captive of righteousness,” may mean, (1) as in the Authorised version a captive whom the conqueror had a right to take, or (2) one who was righteous and yet had been given into captivity. Neither meaning is quite satisfactory. A conjectural emendation gives <span class= "ital">the captives of the terrible one, </span>which fits in with the parallelism of the next verse.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/49-25.htm">Isaiah 49:25</a></div><div class="verse">But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.</div>(25) <span class= "bld">I will contend . . .</span>—The pronoun is specially emphatic. The question of <a href="/isaiah/49-24.htm" title="Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?">Isaiah 49:24</a> is answered in the affirmative, because Jehovah is the deliverer.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/49-26.htm">Isaiah 49:26</a></div><div class="verse">And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD <i>am</i> thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.</div>(26) <span class= "bld">I will feed them that oppress thee . . .</span>—The words are, of course, symbolical of the utter collapse, the self-destructive struggles of the enemies of Zion, <span class= "ital">i.e., </span>of the company, or <span class= "ital">Ecclesia, </span>of the redeemed.<p><span class= "bld">The mighty One of Jacob.</span>—Same word, and that a rare one, as in <a href="/isaiah/1-24.htm" title="Therefore said the LORD, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of my adversaries, and avenge me of my enemies:">Isaiah 1:24</a>.<p><span class= "bld"><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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