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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.”
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.

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.”

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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)

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)
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)

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 49:5 Or him, / but Israel would not be gathered; / yet I will be