Sunday, December 14, 2008

man of sorrows

see my servant shall prosper
he shall be exalted and lifted up
and shall be very high
just as there were many who were astonished at him
so marred was his appearance beyond human semblance
and his form beyond that of mortals
so he shall startle many nations
kings shall shut their mouths because of him
for that which had not been told them they shall see
and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate
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 majesty that we should look at him
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him
he was despised and rejected by others
a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity
and as one from whom others hide their faces
he was despised and we held him of no account
surely he has borne our infirmities
and carried our diseases
yet we accounted him stricken
struck down by god and afflicted
but he was wounded for our transgressions
crushed for our iniquities
upon him was the punishment that made us whole
and by his bruises we are healed
all we like sheep have gone astray
we have all turned to our own way
and the lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all
he was oppressed and he was afflicted
yet he did not open his mouth
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent
so he did not open his mouth
by a perversion of justice he was taken away
who could have imagined his future?
for he was cut off from the land of the living
stricken for the transgression of my people

isaiah 52:13-53:8 nrsv

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