49:1 Listen to me, you coastlands! ¹ 

Pay attention, you people who live far away!

The Lord summoned me from birth; ² 

he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world. ³ 

49:2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword,

he hid me in the hollow of his hand;

he made me like a sharpened ⁴  arrow,

he hid me in his quiver. ⁵ 

49:3 He said to me, “You are my servant,

Israel, through whom I will reveal my splendor.” ⁶ 

49:4 But I thought, ⁷  “I have worked in vain;

I have expended my energy for absolutely nothing.” ⁸ 

But the Lord will vindicate me;

my God will reward me. ⁹ 

49:5 So now the Lord says,

the one who formed me from birth ¹⁰  to be his servant –

he did this ¹¹  to restore Jacob to himself,

so that Israel might be gathered to him;

and I will be honored ¹²  in the Lord’s sight,

for my God is my source of strength ¹³  –

49:6 he says, “Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant,

to reestablish the tribes of Jacob,

and restore the remnant ¹⁴  of Israel? ¹⁵ 

I will make you a light to the nations, ¹⁶ 

so you can bring ¹⁷  my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.”

49:7 This is what the Lord,

the protector ¹⁸  of Israel, their Holy One, ¹⁹  says

to the one who is despised ²⁰  and rejected ²¹  by nations, ²² 

a servant of rulers:

“Kings will see and rise in respect, ²³ 

princes will bow down,

because of the faithful Lord,

the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.”