Discovery BoxIsaiah 49:1 
Context49:1 Listen to me, you coastlands! 1
Pay attention, you people who live far away!
The Lord summoned me from birth; 2
he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world. 3
Isaiah 49:12
Context49:12 Look, they come from far away!
Look, some come from the north and west,
and others from the land of Sinim! 4
1 tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “in far-off lands.”
sn The Lord’s special servant, introduced in chap. 42, speaks here of his commission.
2 tn Heb “called me from the womb.”
3 tn Heb “from the inner parts of my mother he mentioned my name.”
4 tc The MT reads “Sinim” here; the Dead Sea Scrolls read “Syene,” a location in Egypt associated with modern Aswan. A number of recent translations adopt this reading: “Syene” (NAB, NRSV); “Aswan” (NIV); “Egypt” (NLT).
sn The precise location of the land of Sinim is uncertain, but since the north and west are mentioned in the previous line, it was a probably located in the distant east or south.
