The Servant of Yahweh

Isaiah 49:1-7 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.” (ESV)