Isaiah 49:1–7

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.”