Isaiah 49:1-6

Christian Standard Bible

49 Coasts and islands,^[a] listen to me;
distant peoples, pay attention.
The Lord called^(A) me before I was born.
He named me while I was in my mother’s womb.^(B)
2 He made my words like a sharp sword;^(C)
he hid me in the shadow of his hand.^(D)
He made me like a sharpened arrow;
he hid me in his quiver.
³ He said to me, “You are my servant,^(E)
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
⁴ But I myself said: I have labored in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing and futility;
yet my vindication is with the Lord,
and my reward is with my God.
⁵ And now, says the Lord,
who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him
so that Israel might be gathered to him;
for I am honored in the sight of the Lord,
and my God is my strength—
⁶ he says,
“It is not enough for you to be my servant
raising up the tribes of Jacob
and restoring the protected ones of Israel.
I will also make you a light for the nations,^(F)
to be my salvation to the ends of the earth.”^(G)