Isaiah 49:7 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 49:7
Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and 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, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee.
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD
יְהוָה֩Yah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
Redeemer
גֹּאֵ֨לgo.'El
H1350
to be the next of kin (and as such to buy back a relati… · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֜לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
One
קְדוֹשׁ֗וֹke.do.Sho
H6918
sacred (ceremonially or morally) · adjective, masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
man
נֶ֜פֶשׁNe.fesh
H5315
properly · noun, common feminine singular absolute
despiseth
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Peter 2:4 To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,
Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised,…
Matthew 26:67 Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands,
Isaiah 48:17 Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the wa…
Psalms 22:6-8 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
Psalms 72:10-11 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.
Isaiah 49:23 And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth,…
Psalms 69:7-9 Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 49:7-12
In these verses we have,
I. The humiliation and exaltation of the Messiah (Isa 49:7): The Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and Israel's Holy One, who had always taken care of the Jewish church and wrought out for them those deliverances that were typical of the great salvation, speaks here to him, who was the undertaker of that salvation. And, 1. He takes notice of his humiliation, the instances of which were uncommon, nay, unparalleled. He was one whom man despised. He is despised and rejected of men, Isa 53:3. To be despised by so mean a creature (man, who is himself a worm) bespeaks the lowest and most contemptible condition imaginable. Man, whom he came to save and to put honour upon, yet d…
whom man despiseth--Hebrew, "the despised of soul," that is, by every soul, by all men (Isa 52:14-15; Isa 53:3; Isa 50:6-9; Psa 22:6). LOWTH translates, "whose person is despised."
abhorreth--literally, "who is an abomination to the nation" (Luk 23:18-23). The Jews contemptuously call Him always Tolvi, "the crucified." I prefer, on account of Goi, the Hebrew term for nation being usually applied to the Gentiles, and that for people to the Jews (Hos 1:9; so the Greek terms respectively also Laos and Ethne, Rom 9:25), to take "nation" here collectively for the Gentile world, which also spurned Him (Psa 2:1-3; Act 4:25-27).
servant of rulers-- (Mat 17:27). He who would not exert His power a…
Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One,.... These are all the titles of the Father of Christ, who is the Jehovah, the self-existent Being, and from whom all have their Being; "the redeemer of Israel", being concerned with his Son in the redemption, of his people, in the contriving and settling the method of it, and bringing it about; "and his Holy One", or the Holy One of Israel, the sanctifier of them, together with the blessed Spirit; who speaks the following words, not to the Prophet Isaiah, as Aben Ezra, nor to the people of the Jews, as the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi, but to Christ:
to him whom man despiseth; whom the Jews despised, because of the meanness of his…
The Church Fathers
For any powers and rational beings and also human beings on the earth who are holy—only through participation in the holy One by nature and who alone is truly holy are they called holy … and he who is alone holy together with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit has given from his own fullness to those sharing the holiness with him.
For it is clear that Christ caused the salvation of the flesh for all those on the earth. Through his resurrection, death was destroyed and destruction was stamped out, and we are brought springing back to life, we who through Adam had been driven into opposition. So we do not say that the Savior prayed out of a sense of failure but rather on account of the plan [economy] that he carried out in order to inspire our following.… For he stands as an example for us in the way he showed courage before the cross.
The Son of God assumed human nature, and in it he endured all that belongs to the human condition. This is a remedy for humanity of a power beyond our imagining. Could any pride be cured, if the humility of God's Son does not cure it? Could any greed be cured, if the poverty of God's Son does not cure it? Or any anger, if the patience of God's Son does not cure it? Or any coldness, if the love of God's Son does not cure it? Lastly, what fearfulness can be cured, if it is not cured by the resurrection of the body of Christ the Lord? Let humanity raise its hopes and recognize its own nature: let it observe how high a place it has in the works of God. Do not despise yourselves, you men: the Son of God assumed manhood. Do not despise yourselves, you women: God's Son was born of a woman. But do not set your hearts on the satisfaction of the body, for in the Son of God we are "neither male nor female." Do not set your heart on temporal rewards: if it were good to do so, that human nature which God's Son assumed would have set its heart on this. Do not fear insults, crosses and death: for if they did harm humanity, the humanity that God's Son assumed would not have endured.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Christ, The King · Kings shall do homage to — Kings shall do homage to
Faithfulness Of God, The · Is part of his character — Is part of his character
Israel, Prophecies Concerning · referred to as ISRAEL, as in — referred to as ISRAEL, as in
Persecution · OF JESUS — OF JESUS
Prophecies Respecting Christ · His being hated by the Jews — His being hated by the Jews
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
בָּזֹהbâzôh
H960
scorned
nation
גּוֹי֙goy
H1471
a foreign nation · noun, common masculine singular absolute
abhorreth
לִמְתָ֤עֵֽבlim.Ta.'ev
H8581
to loathe · preposition + verb, piel active participle, masculine singular construct
servant
לְעֶ֣בֶדle.'E.ved
H5650
a servant · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
rulers
מֹשְׁלִ֔יםmo.she.Lim
H4910
to rule · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
Kings
מְלָכִים֙me.la.Khim
H4428
a king · noun, common masculine plural absolute
see
יִרְא֣וּyir.'U
H7200
to see · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
arise
וָקָ֔מוּva.Ka.mu
H6965
to rise (in various applications · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural
princes
שָׂרִ֖יםsa.Rim
H8269
a head person (of any rank or class) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
worship
וְיִֽשְׁתַּחֲוּ֑וּve.yish.ta.cha.Vu
H7812
to depress · conjunction + verb, 3rd person masculine plural
LORD
יְהוָה֙Yah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
faithful
נֶאֱמָ֔ןne.'e.Man
H539
properly · verb, niphal active participle, masculine singular absolute
One
קְדֹ֥שׁke.Dosh
H6918
sacred (ceremonially or morally) · adjective, masculine singular construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֖לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
choose
וַיִּבְחָרֶֽךָּvai.yiv.cha.Re.ka
H977
properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
Thus saith Jehovah. Isaiah pursues the same subject, that the people, when they were afflicted by that terrible calamity, might cherish the hope of a better condition; and, in order to confirm it the more, he calls God, who promised these things, the Redeemer and the Holy One of Israel It will be objected that these statements are contradictory, that is, that God is called the "redeemer" of that people which he permitted to be oppressed; for where is this redemption, and where is this sanctification, if the people could reply that they were miserable and ruined? I reply, the record of ancient history is here exhibited as the ground of confidence and hope; for when the Jews were on the point…
The words of the servant of God, in which he enforces his claim upon the nations, are now lost in words of Jehovah to him, which are no longer reported by him, but are appended as an independent address. His present condition is one of the deepest humiliation. "Thus saith Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One, to him of contemptible soul, to the abhorrence of the people, to the servant of tyrants: kings shall see and arise; princes, and prostrate themselves for the sake of Jehovah, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, that He hath chosen thee." As bâzōh with a changeable kamtez (cf., châmōts, Isa 1:17) has, if not exactly a passive force, yet something very like a passive cir…
The promised servant would be despised and rejected by the nations (see 52:14–53:5) as well as by his own people (see also 50:6-7; 53:8-9). • Kings and princes will also bow low to express respect and humility before the servant (see also 52:15), whom God will exalt after he has suffered. God is faithful to his servant.
Rashi on Isaiah 49:7
about him who is despised of men Heb. לִבְזֹה נֶפֶשׁ, a despised soul, about Israel, who are despised.
about him whom the nation abhors About him whom the nation abhors, and he is a slave to those who rule over him.
Kings shall see him and rise.
Who is faithful to keep His promise that He promised Abraham concerning the kingdoms, as the matter is stated (Gen. 15:17): “And behold a smoking stove, etc.”
the Holy One of Israel is He, and He chose you.
