Isaiah 49:1–7

THE SERVANT BRINGS SALVATION

49Coasts and islands,^A listen to me;

distant peoples, pay attention.

The Lord called^a me before I was born.

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

²He 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.

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

Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”

⁴But 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.

⁵And 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—

⁶he 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

⁷This is what the Lord,

the Redeemer^h of Israel, his Holy One, says

to one who is despised,

to one abhorred by people,^Ai

to a servant of rulers:

“Kings will see, princes will stand up,

and they^B will all bow down

because of the Lord, who is faithful,

the Holy One of Israel^j—and he has chosen you.”^k