Isaiah 49:1-7

New King James Version

The Servant, the Light to the Gentiles

49 “Listen, ^(A)O coastlands, to Me,
And take heed, you peoples from afar!
^(B)The Lord has called Me from the womb;
From the ^[a]matrix of My mother He has made mention of My name.
²And He has made ^(C)My mouth like a sharp sword;
^(D)In the shadow of His hand He has hidden Me,
And made Me ^(E)a polished shaft;
In His quiver He has hidden Me.”

³“And He said to me,
^(F)‘You are My servant, O Israel,
^(G)In whom I will be glorified.’
⁴^(H)Then I said, ‘I have labored in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain;
Yet surely my ^[b]just reward is with the Lord,
And my ^[c]work with my God.’ ”

⁵“And now the Lord says,
Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,
To bring Jacob back to Him,
So that Israel ^(I)is ^[d]gathered to Him
(For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord,
And My God shall be My strength),
⁶Indeed He says,
‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob,
And to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also give You as a ^(J)light to the Gentiles,
That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”

⁷Thus says the Lord,
The Redeemer of Israel, ^[e]their Holy One,
^(K)To Him ^[f]whom man despises,
To Him whom the nation abhors,
To the Servant of rulers:
^(L)“Kings shall see and arise,
Princes also shall worship,
Because of the Lord who is faithful,
The Holy One of Israel;
And He has chosen You.”