Isaiah 49:4-6
Easy-to-Read Version
4 I said, “I worked hard for nothing.
I wore myself out, but I did nothing useful.
I used all my power,
but I did not really do anything.
So the Lord must decide what to do with me.
He must decide my reward.”
5 The Lord is the one who made me in my mother’s womb,
so that I could be his servant.
He wanted me to lead Jacob and Israel back to him.
The Lord gives me honor.
I get my strength from my God.
6 And now he says, “You are a very important servant to me.
You must bring back to me the tribes of Jacob.
You must bring back the people of Israel who are still alive.
But I have something else for you to do that is even more important:
I will make you a light for the other nations.
You will show people all over the world the way to be saved.”
Isaiah 49:4-6
New International Version
4 But I said, “I have labored in vain;(A)
I have spent my strength for nothing at all.
Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand,(B)
and my reward(C) is with my God.”(D)
5 And now the Lord says—
he who formed me in the womb(E) to be his servant
to bring Jacob back to him
and gather Israel(F) to himself,
for I am[a] honored(G) in the eyes of the Lord
and my God has been my strength(H)—
6 he says:
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant(I)
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.(J)
I will also make you a light(K) for the Gentiles,(L)
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”(M)
Footnotes
- Isaiah 49:5 Or him, / but Israel would not be gathered; / yet I will be
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