Isaiah 49:1–13

The Lord’s Servant Commissioned

¹Listen to me, all you in distant lands!

Pay attention, you who are far away!

The Lord called me before my birth;

from within the womb he called me by name.

²He made my words of judgment as sharp as a sword.

He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand.

I am like a sharp arrow in his quiver.

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

and you will bring me glory.”

⁴I replied, “But my work seems so useless!

I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose.

Yet I leave it all in the Lord’s hand;

I will trust God for my reward.”

⁵And now the Lord speaks—

the one who formed me in my mother’s womb to be his servant,

who commissioned me to bring Israel back to him.

The Lord has honored me,

and my God has given me strength.

⁶He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me.

I will make you a light to the Gentiles,

and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

⁷The Lord, the Redeemer

and Holy One of Israel,

says to the one who is despised and rejected by the nations,

to the one who is the servant of rulers:

“Kings will stand at attention when you pass by.

Princes will also bow low

because of the Lord, the faithful one,

the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

Promises of Israel’s Restoration

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.

⁹I will say to the prisoners, ‘Come out in freedom,’

and to those in darkness, ‘Come into the light.’

They will be my sheep, grazing in green pastures

and on hills that were previously bare.

¹⁰They will neither hunger nor thirst.

The searing sun will not reach them anymore.

For the Lord in his mercy will lead them;

he will lead them beside cool waters.

¹¹And I will make my mountains into level paths for them.

The highways will be raised above the valleys.

¹²See, my people will return from far away,

from lands to the north and west,

and from as far south as Egypt.”

¹³Sing for joy, O heavens!

Rejoice, O earth!

Burst into song, O mountains!

For the Lord has comforted his people

and will have compassion on them in their suffering.