Isaiah 49:23

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

their princesses will nurse your children.

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

and they will lick the dirt on your feet.

Then you will recognize that I am the Lord;

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

Isaiah 49:26

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

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

Then all humankind will recognize that

I am the Lord, your deliverer,

your protector, the powerful ruler of Jacob.”


tn Heb “your,” but Zion here stands by metonymy for her children (see v. 22b).

tn Heb “you.” See the preceding note.

tn Or “at your feet” (NAB, NIV); NLT “from your feet.”

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.

tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB).

tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

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