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!”

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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