Isaiah 49:1–6, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Isaiah 49:1–6
The Womb-Called Servant Is Sent beyond Jacob
I have labored in vain—listen, coastlands
A servant speaks from the womb-calling, named Israel, mouth like a sharp sword, hidden like an arrow in a quiver. The complaint is devastating: I have spent my strength for nothing. God answers by taking the lament seriously and then widening the job: restoring Jacob is too light a thing; I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach earth's end.
Keep the Israelite servant first. The figure is Israel, or a representative within Israel, whose apparent failure God will not let be the last word. Christian reading may confess a further fulfillment; it may not skip Israel, condemn Jewish readings, or treat one identity as a key that closes the poem. Coerced suffering is not the assignment.
The 'too light' line matters because despair had shrunk the vocation to a private accounting of results. A warranted life is to bring wasted-labor honesty to God, to let God reopen the horizon, and to serve the nations without using them—or Israel—as a disposable stage.
How this should shape us
Bring wasted-labor honesty to God, and let God reopen the horizon beyond a private scorecard. Keep the Israelite servant first, and do not use the nations as a stage that discards Israel.
Teach it back
Explain Isaiah 49:1–6 in your own words. Name its place in Isaiah, one source-controlled observation, one uncertainty, one enduring truth, and one harmful use the passage does not authorize.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do responsible readings differ?
Best judgment: The Womb-Called Servant Is Sent beyond Jacob does not authorize a Jesus-only shortcut, anti-Judaism, supersessionism, coerced suffering, abuse endurance, or claiming one identity settles every servant text.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Isaiah 49:1–6, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology at the exact unit, without treating morphology as apparatus, lexicon, composition history, or interpretation.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Isa.xml, OSIS 49:1–6 with Hebrew/KJV versification difference checked
Supports: Verse-level controls for Hebrew, syntax, poetry, older KJV language, chronology, names, textual issues, and material translation alternatives.
Official NET Isaiah PDF, translator, study, and textual notes attached to Isaiah 49:1–6 in the complete 205-page book PDF
Supports: Babylonian-exile and Persian horizons, new exodus, Cyrus, servant figures, Daughter Zion, nations, suffering, and transition to plural servants.
Yale Bible Study, Second Isaiah course, Servant and Bride guide on Isaiah 49:1-52:12; applied to Isaiah 49:1–6
Supports: Whole-book historical, literary, theological, ethical, and reception synthesis across Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and postexilic horizons.
Enter the Bible Isaiah course, Outline Book 2C, Themes, and Bible in the World; applied to Isaiah 49:1–6
Supports: First literary horizon, servant alternatives, unjust and vicarious suffering, Christian reception, and explicit resistance to coercion and persecution of Jews.
Tull, 'Commentary on Isaiah 53:4-12,' Working Preacher (2015), complete essay sections on Isaiah 49-54, 52:13-53:12, textual and translation difficulty, servant alternatives, New Testament reuse, and anti-Jewish misuse; applied to Isaiah 49:1–6
Supports: Controls against caricaturing Judaism, Torah-as-legalism claims, blanket condemnation, Gentile boasting, and supersessionist misuse.
Skinner, 'Anti-Judaism in Christian Teaching and Preaching,' Working Preacher (2008), complete essay categories and guidance; applied to the reception risks in Isaiah 49:1–6
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Isaiah 49:1–6, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Isaiah
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology at the exact unit, without treating morphology as apparatus, lexicon, composition history, or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Isa.xml, OSIS 49:1–6 with Hebrew/KJV versification difference checked
Open the fixed Hebrew Isaiah file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Isaiah
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2016; current official PDF
Supports: Verse-level controls for Hebrew, syntax, poetry, older KJV language, chronology, names, textual issues, and material translation alternatives.
Exact location: Official NET Isaiah PDF, translator, study, and textual notes attached to Isaiah 49:1–6 in the complete 205-page book PDF
Open the official NET Isaiah PDF ↗open university study guide series
Second Isaiah study-guide course
Robert R. Wilson and Stephen L. Cook
Yale Bible Study, 2019; current public course
Supports: Babylonian-exile and Persian horizons, new exodus, Cyrus, servant figures, Daughter Zion, nations, suffering, and transition to plural servants.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, Second Isaiah course, Servant and Bride guide on Isaiah 49:1-52:12; applied to Isaiah 49:1–6
Open the Yale Second Isaiah course ↗modern scholarly book course
Isaiah course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, themes, and reception
Fred Gaiser; revised by Michael Chan
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised August 2024
Supports: Whole-book historical, literary, theological, ethical, and reception synthesis across Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and postexilic horizons.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Isaiah course, Outline Book 2C, Themes, and Bible in the World; applied to Isaiah 49:1–6
Open the Enter the Bible Isaiah course ↗scholarly exegetical and reception essay
Commentary on Isaiah 53:4-12
Patricia Tull
Working Preacher, Luther Seminary, 2015
Supports: First literary horizon, servant alternatives, unjust and vicarious suffering, Christian reception, and explicit resistance to coercion and persecution of Jews.
Exact location: Tull, 'Commentary on Isaiah 53:4-12,' Working Preacher (2015), complete essay sections on Isaiah 49-54, 52:13-53:12, textual and translation difficulty, servant alternatives, New Testament reuse, and anti-Jewish misuse; applied to Isaiah 49:1–6
Open Tull on Isaiah 53 and its reception ↗scholarly ethical reception guidance
Anti-Judaism in Christian Teaching and Preaching
Matt Skinner
Working Preacher, Luther Seminary, 2008
Supports: Controls against caricaturing Judaism, Torah-as-legalism claims, blanket condemnation, Gentile boasting, and supersessionist misuse.
Exact location: Skinner, 'Anti-Judaism in Christian Teaching and Preaching,' Working Preacher (2008), complete essay categories and guidance; applied to the reception risks in Isaiah 49:1–6
Open Skinner's anti-Judaism guidance ↗