Isaiah 49:4

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

But I thought,“I have worked in vain; I have expended my energy for absolutely nothing.” But the LORD will vindicate me; my God will reward me.

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Isa 65:23 : 23 They will not work in vain, or give birth to children that will experience disaster. For the LORD will bless their children and their descendants.
  • Isa 53:10-12 : 10 Though the LORD desired to crush him and make him ill, once restitution is made, he will see descendants and enjoy long life, and the LORD’s purpose will be accomplished through him. 11 Having suffered, he will reflect on his work, he will be satisfied when he understands what he has done.“My servant will acquit many, for he carried their sins. 12 So I will assign him a portion with the multitudes, he will divide the spoils of victory with the powerful, because he willingly submitted to death and was numbered with the rebels, when he lifted up the sin of many and intervened on behalf of the rebels.”
  • Isa 62:11 : 11 Look, the LORD announces to the entire earth:“Say to Daughter Zion,‘Look, your deliverer comes! Look, his reward is with him and his reward goes before him!’”
  • Isa 65:2 : 2 I spread out my hands all day long to my rebellious people, who lived in a way that is morally unacceptable, and who did what they desired.
  • Lev 26:20 : 20 Your strength will be used up in vain, your land will not give its yield, and the trees of the land will not produce their fruit.
  • Ps 22:22-31 : 22 I will declare your name to my countrymen! In the middle of the assembly I will praise you! 23 You loyal followers of the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! All you descendants of Israel, stand in awe of him! 24 For he did not despise or detest the suffering of the oppressed; he did not ignore him; when he cried out to him, he responded. 25 You are the reason I offer praise in the great assembly; I will fulfill my promises before the LORD’s loyal followers. 26 Let the oppressed eat and be filled! Let those who seek his help praise the LORD! May you live forever! 27 Let all the people of the earth acknowledge the LORD and turn to him! Let all the nations worship you! 28 For the LORD is king and rules over the nations. 29 All of the thriving people of the earth will join the celebration and worship; all those who are descending into the grave will bow before him, including those who cannot preserve their lives. 30 A whole generation will serve him; they will tell the next generation about the Lord. 31 They will come and tell about his saving deeds; they will tell a future generation what he has accomplished.
  • Isa 35:4 : 4 Tell those who panic,“Be strong! Do not fear! Look, your God comes to avenge! With divine retribution he comes to deliver you.”
  • Isa 40:10 : 10 Look, the Sovereign LORD comes as a victorious warrior; his military power establishes his rule. Look, his reward is with him; his prize goes before him.
  • Ezek 3:19 : 19 But as for you, if you warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wicked deed and from his wicked lifestyle, he will die for his iniquity but you will have saved your own life.
  • Matt 17:17 : 17 Jesus answered,“You unbelieving and perverse generation! How much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I endure you? Bring him here to me.”
  • Matt 23:37 : 37 Judgment on Israel“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would have none of it!
  • Luke 24:26 : 26 Wasn’t it necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and enter into his glory?”
  • John 1:11 : 11 He came to what was his own, but his own people did not receive him.
  • John 17:4-5 : 4 I glorified you on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me at your side with the glory I had with you before the world was created.
  • Rom 10:21 : 21 But about Israel he says,“All day long I held out my hands to this disobedient and stubborn people!”
  • 2 Cor 2:15 : 15 For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing–
  • 2 Cor 12:15 : 15 Now I will most gladly spend and be spent for your lives! If I love you more, am I to be loved less?
  • Gal 4:11 : 11 I fear for you that my work for you may have been in vain.
  • Phil 2:9-9 : 9 As a result God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow– in heaven and on earth and under the earth–
  • Heb 12:2 : 2 keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Isa 49:5-6
    2 verses
    79%

    5So now the LORD says, the one who formed me from birth to be his servant– he did this to restore Jacob to himself, so that Israel might be gathered to him; and I will be honored in the LORD’s sight, for my God is my source of strength–

    6he says,“Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant, to reestablish the tribes of Jacob, and restore the remnant of Israel? I will make you a light to the nations, so you can bring my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.”

  • Isa 49:2-3
    2 verses
    79%

    2He made my mouth like a sharp sword, he hid me in the hollow of his hand; he made me like a sharpened arrow, he hid me in his quiver.

    3He said to me,“You are my servant, Israel, through whom I will reveal my splendor.”

  • Isa 40:27
    74%

    27Why do you say, Jacob, Why do you say, Israel,“The LORD is not aware of what is happening to me, My God is not concerned with my vindication”?

  • Job 9:29
    74%

    29If I am guilty, why then weary myself in vain?

  • Hab 2:13
    73%

    13Be sure of this! The LORD of Heaven’s Armies has decreed: The nations’ efforts will go up in smoke; their exhausting work will be for nothing.

  • Isa 63:5
    71%

    5I looked, but there was no one to help; I was shocked because there was no one offering support. So my right arm accomplished deliverance; my raging anger drove me on.

  • Ps 31:10
    70%

    10For my life nears its end in pain; my years draw to a close as I groan. My strength fails me because of my sin, and my bones become brittle.

  • Isa 45:24
    70%

    24they will say about me,“Yes, the LORD is a powerful deliverer.”’” All who are angry at him will cower before him.

  • Lam 3:18
    70%

    18So I said,“My endurance has expired; I have lost all hope of deliverance from the LORD.”

  • Isa 41:9-10
    2 verses
    70%

    9you whom I am bringing back from the earth’s extremities, and have summoned from the remote regions– I told you,“You are my servant.” I have chosen you and not rejected you.

    10Don’t be afraid, for I am with you! Don’t be frightened, for I am your God! I strengthen you– yes, I help you– yes, I uphold you with my saving right hand!

  • Isa 50:7
    70%

    7But the Sovereign LORD helps me, so I am not humiliated. For that reason I am steadfastly resolved; I know I will not be put to shame.

  • Isa 45:18-19
    2 verses
    70%

    18For this is what the LORD says, the one who created the sky– he is the true God, the one who formed the earth and made it; he established it, he did not create it without order, he formed it to be inhabited–“I am the LORD, I have no peer.

    19I have not spoken in secret, in some hidden place. I did not tell Jacob’s descendants,‘Seek me in vain!’ I am the LORD, the one who speaks honestly, who makes reliable announcements.

  • Ps 18:24
    70%

    24The LORD rewarded me for my godly deeds; he took notice of my blameless behavior.

  • Isa 50:2
    70%

    2Why does no one challenge me when I come? Why does no one respond when I call? Is my hand too weak to deliver you? Do I lack the power to rescue you? Look, with a mere shout I can dry up the sea; I can turn streams into a desert, so the fish rot away and die from lack of water.

  • Mal 3:13-14
    2 verses
    70%

    13Resistance to the Lord through Self-sufficiency“You have criticized me sharply,” says the LORD,“but you ask,‘How have we criticized you?’

    14You have said,‘It is useless to serve God. How have we been helped by keeping his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD of Heaven’s Armies?

  • Isa 51:5
    70%

    5I am ready to vindicate, I am ready to deliver, I will establish justice among the nations. The coastlands wait patiently for me; they wait in anticipation for the revelation of my power.

  • Lam 1:12-14
    3 verses
    69%

    12ל(Lamed) Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by on the road? Look and see! Is there any pain like mine? The Lord has afflicted me, he has inflicted it on me when he burned with anger.

    13מ(Mem) He sent down fire into my bones, and it overcame them. He spread out a trapper’s net for my feet; he made me turn back. He has made me desolate; I am faint all day long.

    14נ(Nun) My sins are bound around my neck like a yoke; they are fastened together by his hand. He has placed his yoke on my neck; he has sapped my strength. The Lord has handed me over to those whom I cannot resist.

  • Ps 73:13
    69%

    13I concluded,“Surely in vain I have kept my motives pure and maintained a pure lifestyle.

  • Jer 16:19
    69%

    19Then I said,“LORD, you give me strength and protect me. You are the one I can run to for safety when I am in trouble. Nations from all over the earth will come to you and say,‘Our ancestors had nothing but false gods– worthless idols that could not help them at all.

  • Isa 43:13
    69%

    13From this day forward I am he; no one can deliver from my power; I will act, and who can prevent it?”

  • Isa 42:1
    69%

    1The Lord Commissions His Special Servant“Here is my servant whom I support, my chosen one in whom I take pleasure. I have placed my Spirit on him; he will make just decrees for the nations.

  • Isa 49:8
    69%

    8This is what the LORD says:“At the time I decide to show my favor, I will respond to you; in the day of deliverance I will help you; I will protect you and make you a covenant mediator for people, to rebuild the land and to reassign the desolate property.

  • Job 16:7
    69%

    7Surely now he has worn me out, you have devastated my entire household.

  • Isa 1:24
    69%

    24Therefore, the Sovereign LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the Powerful One of Israel, says this:“Ah, I will seek vengeance against my adversaries, I will take revenge against my enemies.

  • Isa 48:11
    69%

    11For my sake alone I will act, for how can I allow my name to be defiled? I will not share my glory with anyone else!

  • Ezek 29:20
    69%

    20I have given him the land of Egypt as his compensation for attacking Tyre, because they did it for me, declares the Sovereign LORD.

  • Isa 45:13
    69%

    13It is me– I stir him up and commission him; I will make all his ways level. He will rebuild my city; he will send my exiled people home, but not for a price or a bribe,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

  • Eccl 2:11
    69%

    11Yet when I reflected on everything I had accomplished and on all the effort that I had expended to accomplish it, I concluded:“All these achievements and possessions are ultimately profitless– like chasing the wind! There is nothing gained from them on earth.”

  • Ps 54:4
    69%

    4Look, God is my deliverer! The Lord is among those who support me.

  • Jer 20:8
    69%

    8For whenever I prophesy, I must cry out,“Violence and destruction are coming!” This message from the LORD has made me an object of continual insults and derision.

  • Isa 57:12
    69%

    12I will denounce your so-called righteousness and your deeds, but they will not help you.

  • Job 34:5
    68%

    5For Job says,‘I am innocent, but God turns away my right.

  • Jer 20:11
    68%

    11But the LORD is with me to help me like an awe-inspiring warrior. Therefore those who persecute me will fail and will not prevail over me. They will be thoroughly disgraced because they did not succeed. Their disgrace will never be forgotten.

  • Ps 39:5
    68%

    5Look, you make my days short-lived, and my life span is nothing from your perspective. Surely all people, even those who seem secure, are nothing but vapor.(Selah)

  • Isa 57:10
    68%

    10Because of the long distance you must travel, you get tired, but you do not say,‘I give up.’ You get renewed energy, so you don’t collapse.

  • Isa 45:9
    68%

    9The Lord Gives a Warning One who argues with his Creator is in grave danger, one who is like a mere shard among the other shards on the ground! The clay should not say to the potter,“What in the world are you doing? Your work lacks skill!”

  • Isa 38:15
    68%

    15What can I say? He has decreed and acted. I will walk slowly all my years because I am overcome with grief.

  • Ps 43:2
    68%

    2For you are the God who shelters me. Why do you reject me? Why must I walk around mourning because my enemies oppress me?

  • Isa 45:4
    68%

    4For the sake of my servant Jacob, Israel, my chosen one, I call you by name and give you a title of respect, even though you do not submit to me.

  • Isa 42:4
    68%

    4He will not grow dim or be crushed before establishing justice on the earth; the coastlands will wait in anticipation for his decrees.”

  • Ps 143:4
    68%

    4My strength leaves me; I am absolutely shocked.

  • Job 30:2
    68%

    2Moreover, the strength of their hands– what use was it to me? Men whose strength had perished;

  • Isa 51:16
    68%

    16Zion’s Time to Celebrate I commission you as my spokesman; I cover you with the palm of my hand, to establish the sky and to found the earth, to say to Zion,‘You are my people.’”