A Light for the Nations

Isaiah 49

¹ Listen to me, O coastlands,
     and give attention, you peoples from afar.
  The LORD called me from the womb,
     from the body of my mother he named my
       name.
² He 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.
³ And he said to me, "You are my servant,
     Israel, in whom I will be glorified."
⁴ But 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."
⁵ And now the LORD says,
     he 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--
⁶ he says:
   "It is too light a thing that you should be my
      servant
     to raise up the tribes of Jacob
     and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
   I will make you as a light for the nations,
     that my salvation may reach to the end of
       the earth."
⁷ Thus says the LORD,
     the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
   to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,
     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."

Isaiah 49:1-7 ESV