Isaiah 49:1–13

The Servant’s Mission

⁴⁹Listen to me, O coastlands;

pay attention, you peoples from far away!

The Lord called me before I was born;

while I was in my mother’s womb he named me.^*

²He made my mouth like a sharp sword;

in the shadow of his hand he hid me;

he made me a polished arrow;

in his quiver he hid me away.^*

³And he said to me, “You are my servant,

Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”^*

⁴But I said, “I have labored in vain;

I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;

yet surely my cause is with the Lord

and my reward with my God.”^*

⁵And now the Lord says,

who formed me in the womb to be his servant,

to bring Jacob back to him,

and that Israel might be gathered to him,

for I am honored in the sight of the Lord,

and my God has become my strength—^*

⁶he says,

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant

to raise up the tribes of Jacob

and to restore the survivors of Israel;

I will give you as a light to the nations,

that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”^*

⁷Thus says the Lord,

the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,

to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations,

the slave of rulers,

“Kings shall see and stand up;

princes, and they shall prostrate themselves,

because of the Lord, who is faithful,

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

Zion’s Children to Be Brought Home

⁸Thus says the Lord:

In a time of favor I have answered you;

on a day of salvation I have helped you;

I have kept you and given you

as a covenant to the people,^u

to establish the land,

to apportion the desolate heritages,^*

⁹saying to the prisoners, “Come out,”

to those who are in darkness, “Show yourselves.”

They shall feed along the ways;

on all the bare heights^v shall be their pasture;^*

¹⁰they shall not hunger or thirst,

neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them down,

for he who has pity on them will lead them

and by springs of water will guide them.^*

¹¹And I will turn all my mountains into a road,

and my highways shall be raised up.^*

¹²Look, some shall come from far away,

some from the north and from the west,

and some from the land of Syene.^w*

¹³Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;

break forth, O mountains, into singing!

For the Lord has comforted his people

and will have compassion on his suffering ones.^*