THE SERVANT BRINGS SALVATION

49 Coasts and islands,A listen to me;

distant peoples, pay attention.

The Lord calleda me before I was born.

He named me while I was in my mother’s womb.b

2 He made my words like a sharp sword;c

he hid me in the shadow of his hand.d

He made me like a sharpened arrow;

he hid me in his quiver.

3 He said to me, “You are my servant,e

Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”

4 But I myself said: I have labored in vain,

I have spent my strength for nothing and futility;

yet my vindication is with the Lord,

and my reward is with my God.

5 And now, says the Lord,

who formed me from the womb to be his servant,

to bring Jacob back to him

so that Israel might be gathered to him;

for I am honored in the sight of the Lord,

and my God is my strength—

6 he says,

“It is not enough for you to be my servant

raising up the tribes of Jacob

and restoring the protected ones of Israel.

I will also make you a light for the nations,f

to be my salvation to the ends of the earth.”g