The Suffering Servant

¹Who has believed [confidently trusted in, relied on, and adhered to] our message [of salvation]? [Is 52:7, 10]

And to whom [if not us] has the arm and infinite power of the Lord been revealed? [John 12:38-41; Rom 10:16]

²For He [the Servant of God] grew up before Him like a tender shoot (plant),

And like a root out of dry ground;

He has no stately form or majestic splendor

That we would look at Him,

Nor [handsome] appearance that we would be attracted to Him.

³He was despised and rejected by men,

A Man of sorrows and pain and acquainted with grief;

And like One from whom men hide their faces

He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or esteem Him.

⁴¶But [in fact] He has borne our griefs,

And He has carried our sorrows and pains;

Yet we [ignorantly] assumed that He was stricken,

Struck down by God and degraded and humiliated [by Him]. [Matt 8:17]

⁵But He was wounded for our transgressions,

He was crushed for our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing];

The punishment [required] for our well-being fell on Him,

And by His stripes (wounds) we are healed.

⁶All of us like sheep have gone astray,

We have turned, each one, to his own way;

But the Lord has caused the wickedness of us all [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing]

To fall on Him [instead of us]. [1 Pet 2:24, 25]

⁷¶He was oppressed and He was afflicted,

Yet He did not open His mouth [to complain or defend Himself];

Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

And like a sheep that is silent before her shearers,

So He did not open His mouth.

⁸After oppression and judgment He was taken away;[#53:8 Or Due to .]

And as for His generation [His contemporaries], who [among them] concerned himself with the fact

That He was cut off from the land of the living [by His death]

For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke [of death] was due?

⁹His grave was assigned with the wicked,

But He was with a rich man in His death,

Because He had done no violence,

Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. [Matt 27:57-60; 1 Pet 2:22, 23]

¹⁰¶Yet the Lord was willing[#53:10 Or pleased .]

To crush Him, causing Him to suffer;

If He would give Himself as a guilt offering [an atonement for sin],

He shall see His [spiritual] offspring,

He shall prolong His days,

And the will (good pleasure) of the Lord shall succeed and prosper in His hand.

¹¹As a result of the anguish of His soul,[#53:11 Lit trouble .]

He shall see it and be satisfied;

By His knowledge [of what He has accomplished] the Righteous One,

My Servant, shall justify the many [making them righteous—upright before God, in right standing with Him],

For He shall bear [the responsibility for] their sins.

¹²Therefore, I will divide and give Him a portion with the great [kings and rulers],

And He shall divide the spoils with the mighty,

Because He [willingly] poured out His life to death,

And was counted among the transgressors;

Yet He Himself bore and took away the sin of many,

And interceded [with the Father] for the transgressors. [Luke 22:37]