1. Listen to me, O coastlands,and pay attention, you peoples from afar.The Lord called me from the womb;from the body of my mother He named me.
2. He has made my mouth like a sharp sword;in the shadow of His hand He has hidden meand made me a select arrow;in His quiver He has hidden me.
3. He said to me, “You are My servant,Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
4. Then I said, “I have labored in vain;I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity,yet surely the justice due to me is with the Lord,and my reward with my God.”
5. 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(yet I am honored in the eyes of the Lord,and my God is my strength),
6. He says,“It is a light thing that you should be My servantto raise up the tribes of Jacoband to restore the preserved ones of Israel;I will also make you a light to the nationsso that My salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
7. Thus says the Lord,the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One,to the despised one, to the one whom the nation abhors,to the servant of rulers:“Kings shall see and arise,princes also shall worship,because of the Lord who is faithfuland the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.”
8. Thus says the Lord: In an acceptable time I have heard you,and in a day of salvation I have helped you;and I will preserve you, and give youas a covenant of the people,to restore the earth,to make them inherit the desolate heritages,