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While Jeremiah does not speak of God “calling” him, Isaiah’s second Song of the Servant of the Lord does speak of being called: Before birth the LORD called me, from my mother’s womb he gave me my name. (Isa 49:1, italics added) This prophecy would have caught Paul’s attention because it declares God’s plan for the Gentiles: It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel; I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. (Isa 49:6) Acts records that Paul applied this text to his own apostolate to the Gentiles (Acts 13:47).
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