The Servant of the Lord

49 Listen(A) to me, you islands;(B)
    hear this, you distant nations:
Before I was born(C) the Lord called(D) me;
    from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.(E)
He made my mouth(F) like a sharpened sword,(G)
    in the shadow of his hand(H) he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow(I)
    and concealed me in his quiver.
He said to me, “You are my servant,(J)
    Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.(K)
But I said, “I have labored in vain;(L)
    I have spent my strength for nothing at all.
Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand,(M)
    and my reward(N) is with my God.”(O)

And now the Lord says—
    he who formed me in the womb(P) to be his servant
to bring Jacob back to him
    and gather Israel(Q) to himself,
for I am[a] honored(R) in the eyes of the Lord
    and my God has been my strength(S)
he says:
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant(T)
    to restore the tribes of Jacob
    and bring back those of Israel I have kept.(U)
I will also make you a light(V) for the Gentiles,(W)
    that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”(X)

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 49:5 Or him, / but Israel would not be gathered; / yet I will be

49 Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The Lord hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.

And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me;

And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.

Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God.

And now, saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength.

And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.

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37 “When famine(A) or plague(B) comes to the land, or blight(C) or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers,(D) or when an enemy besieges them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, 38 and when a prayer or plea is made by anyone among your people Israel—being aware of the afflictions of their own hearts, and spreading out their hands(E) toward this temple— 39 then hear(F) from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive(G) and act; deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know(H) their hearts (for you alone know every human heart), 40 so that they will fear(I) you all the time they live in the land(J) you gave our ancestors.

41 “As for the foreigner(K) who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name— 42 for they will hear(L) of your great name and your mighty hand(M) and your outstretched arm—when they come and pray toward this temple, 43 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know(N) your name and fear(O) you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.(P)

44 “When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray(Q) to the Lord toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name, 45 then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.(R)

46 “When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin(S)—and you become angry with them and give them over to their enemies, who take them captive(T) to their own lands, far away or near; 47 and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead(U) with you in the land of their captors and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly’;(V) 48 and if they turn back(W) to you with all their heart(X) and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray(Y) to you toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and the temple(Z) I have built for your Name;(AA) 49 then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. 50 And forgive your people, who have sinned against you; forgive all the offenses they have committed against you, and cause their captors to show them mercy;(AB) 51 for they are your people and your inheritance,(AC) whom you brought out of Egypt, out of that iron-smelting furnace.(AD)

52 “May your eyes be open(AE) to your servant’s plea and to the plea of your people Israel, and may you listen to them whenever they cry out to you.(AF) 53 For you singled them out from all the nations of the world to be your own inheritance,(AG) just as you declared through your servant Moses when you, Sovereign Lord, brought our ancestors out of Egypt.”

54 When Solomon had finished all these prayers and supplications to the Lord, he rose from before the altar of the Lord, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven. 55 He stood and blessed(AH) the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying:

56 “Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest(AI) to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises(AJ) he gave through his servant Moses. 57 May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us nor forsake(AK) us. 58 May he turn our hearts(AL) to him, to walk in obedience to him and keep the commands, decrees and laws he gave our ancestors. 59 And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day’s need, 60 so that all the peoples(AM) of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other.(AN) 61 And may your hearts(AO) be fully committed(AP) to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time.”

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37 If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpiller; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be;

38 What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house:

39 Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;)

40 That they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.

41 Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name's sake;

42 (For they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched out arm;) when he shall come and pray toward this house;

43 Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for: that all people of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Israel; and that they may know that this house, which I have builded, is called by thy name.

44 If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto the Lord toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house that I have built for thy name:

45 Then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

46 If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near;

47 Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness;

48 And so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name:

49 Then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause,

50 And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them:

51 For they be thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron:

52 That thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy servant, and unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto thee.

53 For thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.

54 And it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven.

55 And he stood, and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying,

56 Blessed be the Lord, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant.

57 The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us:

58 That he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers.

59 And let these my words, wherewith I have made supplication before the Lord, be nigh unto the Lord our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel at all times, as the matter shall require:

60 That all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God, and that there is none else.

61 Let your heart therefore be perfect with the Lord our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.

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