Isaiah 49:1–13

¹Listen to me, O coastlands,

and hearken, you peoples from afar.

The Lord called me from the womb,

from the body of my mother he named my name.

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 right is with the Lord,

and my recompense with my God.”

⁵And now the Lord says,

who formed me from 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 eyes 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 preserved 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 servant of rulers:

“Kings shall see and arise;

princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;

because of the Lord, who is faithful,

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

⁸Thus says the Lord:

“In a time of favor I have answered you,

in a day of salvation I have helped you;

I have kept you and given you

as a covenant to the people,

to establish the land,

to apportion the desolate heritages;

⁹saying to the prisoners, ‘Come forth,’

to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’

They shall feed along the ways,

on all bare heights shall be their pasture;

¹⁰they shall not hunger or thirst,

neither scorching wind nor sun shall smite them,

for he who has pity on them will lead them,

and by springs of water will guide them.

¹¹And I will make all my mountains a way,

and my highways shall be raised up.

¹²Lo, these shall come from afar,

and lo, these from the north and from the west,

and these from the land of Syene.”

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 afflicted.