Isaiah 53

1 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him.3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.8 He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.9 And they made His grave with the wicked But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth.10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities.12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.

ISAIAH 53

What God's Servant Did //for Us

1  t Has anyone believed us
or seen the mighty power
of the [Lord] in action?

2 Like a young plant or a root
that sprouts in dry ground,
the servant grew up
obeying the [Lord].
He wasn't some handsome king.
Nothing about the way he looked
made him attractive to us.

3 He was hated and rejected;
his life was filled with sorrow
and terrible suffering.
No one wanted to look at him.
We despised him and said,
“He is a nobody!”

4 He suffered and endured
great pain for us,
but we thought his suffering
was punishment from God.

5  t t He was wounded and crushed
because of our sins;
by taking our punishment,
he made us completely well.

6  t All of us were like sheep
that had wandered off.
We had each gone our own way,
but the [Lord] gave him
the punishment we deserved.

7  t t t He was painfully abused,
but he did not complain.
He was silent like a lamb
being led to the butcher,
as quiet as a sheep
having its wool cut off.

8 He was condemned to death
without a fair trial.
Who could have imagined
what would happen to him?
His life was taken away
because of the sinful things
my peoplet had done.

9  t He wasn't dishonest or violent,
but he was buried in a tomb
among cruel, rich people.t

10 The [Lord] decided his servant
would suffer as a sacrifice
to take away the sin
and guilt of others.
Now the servant will live
to see his own descendants.t
He did everything
the [Lord] had planned.

11 By suffering, the servant
will learn the true meaning
of obeying the [Lord].
Although he is innocent,
he will take the punishment
for the sins of others,
so that many of them
will no longer be guilty.

12  t The [Lord] will reward him
with honor and power
for sacrificing his life.
Others thought he was a sinner,
but he suffered for our sins
and asked God to forgive us.