The Prophecy of Isaiah - circa 700 B.C.

Who has believed what we have heard?

     And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

For he grew up before him like a young plant,

     And like a root out of dry ground;

He had no form or comeliness that we should look at him,

     And no beauty that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by men;

     A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;

And as one from whom men hide their faces

     He was despised, and we esteemed him not. 

Surely he has borne our griefs

     And carried our sorrows;

Yet we esteemed him stricken,

     Smitten by God, and afflicted. 

But he was wounded for our transgressions,

     He was bruised for our iniquities;

Upon him was the chastisement that made us whole,

     And with his stripes we are healed.

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. 

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

     Yet he opened not his mouth;

Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

     And like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, So he opened not his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away;

     And as for his generation, who considered

That he was cut off out of the land of the living,

     Stricken for the transgression of my people?

And they made his grave with the wicked

     And with a rich man in his death,

Although he had done no violence,

     And there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the LORD to bruise him;

     He has put him to grief;

When he makes himself an offering for sin,

     He shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days;

The will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand;

     He shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied;

By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous;

     And he shall bear their iniquities.

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 to death,

     And was numbered with the transgressors;

Yet he bore the sin of many,

     And made intercession for the transgressors.  Isaiah 53*  

© 2010 St. Mark's Anglican Church, unless otherwise noted

*Downloaded from the Oxford Text Archive and used with permission. The following header is required to be posted: All Biblical quotations on this website have been transcribed from: The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version containing the Old and New Testaments, translated from the original tongues: being the version set forth A.D. 1611, revised A.D. 1881-1885 and A.D. 1901: compared with the most ancient authorities and revised A.D. 1946-52. — 2nd ed. of New Testament A.D. 1971. Language: English.  Availability: Freely available for non-commercial use provided that this header is included in its entirety with any copy distributed.