New Living Translation
Isaiah 49:19
19“Even the most desolate parts of your abandoned land will soon be crowded with your people. Your enemies who enslaved you will be far away.
Isaiah 49:19 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)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.
- New International Version (NIV)“Though you were ruined and made desolate and your land laid waste, now you will be too small for your people, and those who devoured you will be far away.
- English Standard Version (ESV)"Surely your waste and your desolate places and your devastated land— surely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
- New King James Version (NKJV)“For your waste and desolate places, And the land of your destruction, Will even now be too small for the inhabitants; And those who swallowed you up will be far away.
Context of Isaiah 49:19
17Soon your descendants will come back, and all who are trying to destroy you will go away. 18Look around you and see, for all your children will come back to you. As surely as I live,” says the Lord, “they will be like jewels or bridal ornaments for you to display. “Even the most desolate parts of your abandoned land will soon be crowded with your people. Your enemies who enslaved you will be far away. 20The generations born in exile will return and say, ‘We need more room! It’s crowded here!’ 21Then you will think to yourself, ‘Who has given me all these descendants? For most of my children were killed, and the rest were carried away into exile. I was left here all alone. Where did all these people come from? Who bore these children? Who raised them for me?’”
Read all of Isaiah 49Isaiah 49:19 word by word
כִּ֤י חָרְבֹתַ֙יִךְ֙ וְשֹׁ֣מְמֹתַ֔יִךְ וְאֶ֖רֶץ הֲרִֽסֻתֵ֑יךְ כִּ֤י עַתָּה֙ תֵּצְרִ֣י מִיּוֹשֵׁ֔ב וְרָחֲק֖וּ מְבַלְּעָֽיִךְ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- For thy wasteחׇרְבָּהchorbâh · desolationH2723
- and thy desolate placesשָׁמֵםshâmêm · be desolate: destroyedH8074
- and the landאֶ֫רֶץ'erets · land: country/planetH776
- of thy destructionהֲרִיסוּתhărîysûth · ruinsH2035
- shall even now be too narrowיָצַרyâtsar · be distressedH3334
- by reason of the inhabitantsיָשַׁבyâshab · to dwellH3427
- and they that swallowed thee upבָּלַעbâla‛ · to swallow upH1104
- shall be far awayרָחַקrâchaq · to removeH7368
Cross-references for Isaiah 49:19
- Isaiah 49:8This is what the Lord says: “At just the right time, I will respond to you. On the day of salvation I will help you. I will protect you and give you to the people as my covenant with them. Through you I will reestablish the land of Israel and assign it to its own people again.
- Isaiah 51:3The Lord will comfort Israel again and have pity on her ruins. Her desert will blossom like Eden, her barren wilderness like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found there. Songs of thanksgiving will fill the air.
- Isaiah 54:1“Sing, O childless woman, you who have never given birth! Break into loud and joyful song, O Jerusalem, you who have never been in labor. For the desolate woman now has more children than the woman who lives with her husband,” says the Lord.
- Jeremiah 30:18This is what the Lord says: “When I bring Israel home again from captivity and restore their fortunes, Jerusalem will be rebuilt on its ruins, and the palace reconstructed as before.
- Jeremiah 33:10“This is what the Lord says: You have said, ‘This is a desolate land where people and animals have all disappeared.’ Yet in the empty streets of Jerusalem and Judah’s other towns, there will be heard once more
- Ezekiel 36:9See, I care about you, and I will pay attention to you. Your ground will be plowed and your crops planted.
- Hosea 1:10“Yet the time will come when Israel’s people will be like the sands of the seashore—too many to count! Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said, ‘You are children of the living God.’
- Zechariah 2:4The other angel said, “Hurry, and say to that young man, ‘Jerusalem will someday be so full of people and livestock that there won’t be room enough for everyone! Many will live outside the city walls.
- Zechariah 10:10I will bring them back from Egypt and gather them from Assyria. I will resettle them in Gilead and Lebanon until there is no more room for them all.
- Isaiah 49:17Soon your descendants will come back, and all who are trying to destroy you will go away.
- Psalms 56:1O God, have mercy on me, for people are hounding me. My foes attack me all day long.
- Psalms 124:3They would have swallowed us alive in their burning anger.
- Proverbs 1:12Let’s swallow them alive, like the grave; let’s swallow them whole, like those who go down to the pit of death.
- Jeremiah 30:16“But all who devour you will be devoured, and all your enemies will be sent into exile. All who plunder you will be plundered, and all who attack you will be attacked.
- Jeremiah 51:33This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Babylon is like wheat on a threshing floor, about to be trampled. In just a little while her harvest will begin.”
- Ezekiel 36:3Therefore, son of man, give the mountains of Israel this message from the Sovereign Lord: Your enemies have attacked you from all directions, making you the property of many nations and the object of much mocking and slander.
Commentaries on Isaiah 49:19
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 19For thy waste and thy desolate places - Thy land over which ruin has been spread, and ever which the exile nation mourns. And the land of thy destruction - That is, thy land laid in ruins. The construction is not uncommon where a noun is used to express the sense of an adjective. Thus in Psalm 2:6, the Hebrew phrase (margin) is correctly rendered my holy hill.‘ Here the sense is, that their entire country had been so laid waste as to be a land of…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 18-23Verses 18-23 Zion is addressed as an afflicted widow, bereaved of her children. Numbers flock to her, and she is assured that they come to be a comfort to her. There are times when the church is desolate and few in number; yet its desolations shall not last for ever, and God will repair them. God can raise up friends for returning Israelites, even among Gentiles. They shall bring their children, and make them thy children. Let all deal tenderly and…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 19-21The population growth would extend beyond Israel to include people from other nations who turn to the Lord (see Isaiah 56:6–8; Revelation 7:9). make room: The increased population would need space far beyond Israel's traditional borders (see also Zechariah 2:4).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1919. land of thy destruction--thy land once the scene of destruction. too narrow--(Is 54:1, 2; Zec 10:10).Read the comment
Topics related to Isaiah 49:19
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Isaiah 49
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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