The Servant, the Light to the Gentiles

¹“Listen, O coastlands, to Me,[#Is. 41:1]

And take heed, you peoples from afar!

The Lord has called Me from the womb;

From the matrix of My mother He has made mention of My name.

²And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword;[#Is. 11:4; Hos. 6:5; (Heb. 4:12); Rev. 1:16; 2:12]

In the shadow of His hand He has hidden Me,

And made Me a polished shaft;

In His quiver He has hidden Me.”

³“And He said to me,

‘You are My servant, O Israel,

In whom I will be glorified.’

⁴Then I said, ‘I have labored in vain,[#(Ezek. 3:19)]

I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain;

Yet surely my just reward is with the Lord ,

And my 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 is 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 light to the Gentiles,

That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”

⁷Thus says the Lord ,

The Redeemer of Israel, their Holy One,

To Him whom man despises,

To Him whom the nation abhors,

To the Servant of rulers:

“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.”

⁸Thus says the Lord :

“In an acceptable time I have heard You,

And in the day of salvation I have helped You;

I will preserve You and give You

As a covenant to the people,

To restore the earth,

To cause them to inherit the desolate heritages;

⁹That You may say to the prisoners, ‘Go forth,’[#Is. 61:1; Zech. 9:12; Luke 4:18]

To those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’

“They shall feed along the roads,

And their pastures shall be on all desolate heights.

¹⁰They shall neither hunger nor thirst,[#Is. 33:16; 48:21; Rev. 7:16]

Neither heat nor sun shall strike them;

For He who has mercy on them will lead them,

Even by the springs of water He will guide them.

¹¹I will make each of My mountains a road,[#Is. 40:4]

And My highways shall be elevated.

¹²Surely these shall come from afar;[#Is. 43:5, 6]

Look! Those from the north and the west,

And these from the land of Sinim.”

¹³Sing, O heavens![#Is. 44:23]

Be joyful, O earth!

And break out in singing, O mountains!

For the Lord has comforted His people,

And will have mercy on His afflicted.

God Will Remember Zion

¹⁴But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,[#Is. 40:27]

And my Lord has forgotten me.”

¹⁵“Can a woman forget her nursing child,[#Ps. 103:13; Mal. 3:17]

And not have compassion on the son of her womb?

Surely they may forget,

Yet I will not forget you.

¹⁶See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;[#Ex. 13:9; Song 8:6; Hag. 2:23]

Your walls are continually before Me.

¹⁷Your sons shall make haste;

Your destroyers and those who laid you waste

Shall go away from you.

¹⁸Lift up your eyes, look around and see;[#Is. 60:4; John 4:35]

All these gather together and come to you.

As I live,” says the Lord ,

“You shall surely clothe yourselves with them all as an ornament,

And bind them on you as a bride does.

¹⁹“For your waste and desolate places,

And the land of your destruction,

Will even now be too small for the inhabitants;

And those who swallowed you up will be far away.

²⁰The children you will have,[#Is. 60:4]

After you have lost the others,

Will say again in your ears,

‘The place is too small for me;

Give me a place where I may dwell.’

²¹Then you will say in your heart,

‘Who has begotten these for me,

Since I have lost my children and am desolate,

A captive, and wandering to and fro?

And who has brought these up?

There I was, left alone;

But these, where were they?’ ”

²²Thus says the Lord God :[#Is. 60:4]

“Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations,

And set up My standard for the peoples;

They shall bring your sons in their arms,

And your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders;

²³Kings shall be your foster fathers,[#Ps. 72:11; Is. 52:15]

And their queens your nursing mothers;

They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth,

And lick up the dust of your feet.

Then you will know that I am the Lord ,

For they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me.”

²⁴Shall the prey be taken from the mighty,[#Matt. 12:29; Luke 11:21, 22]

Or the captives of the righteous be delivered?

²⁵But thus says the Lord :

“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away,

And the prey of the terrible be delivered;

For I will contend with him who contends with you,

And I will save your children.

²⁶I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh,[#Is. 9:20]

And they shall be drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine.

All flesh shall know

That I, the Lord , am your Savior,

And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”