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Isaiah
53
1
Who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his
powerful arm? 2 My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender
green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing
beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to
him. 3 He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with
deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He
was despised, and we did not care. 4 Yet it was our weaknesses he
carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his
troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! 5
But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was
beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. 6
All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to
follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all. 7 He was
oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led
like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the
shearers, he did not open his mouth. 8 Unjustly condemned, he was led
away. No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was
cut short in midstream. But he was struck down for the rebellion of my
people. 9 He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But he
was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave. 10 But it
was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his
life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He
will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his
hands. 11 When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will
be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will
make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all
their sins. 12 I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier,
because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among the rebels.
He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.
(New
Living Translation)
For God
so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son .... John 3:16
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