Isaiah 49:4-6
The Message
4 But I said, “I’ve worked for nothing.
I’ve nothing to show for a life of hard work.
Nevertheless, I’ll let God have the last word.
I’ll let him pronounce his verdict.”
5-6 “And now,” God says,
this God who took me in hand
from the moment of birth to be his servant,
To bring Jacob back home to him,
to set a reunion for Israel—
What an honor for me in God’s eyes!
That God should be my strength!
He says, “But that’s not a big enough job for my servant—
just to recover the tribes of Jacob,
merely to round up the strays of Israel.
I’m setting you up as a light for the nations
so that my salvation becomes global!”
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
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
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