The Suffering Servant

(Acts 8:26–40, 1 Peter 2:21–25)

53 Who has believed our message?

And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?[fn]

2 He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,

and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no stately form or majesty to attract us,

no beauty that we should desire Him.

3 He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.

Like one from whom men hide their faces,

He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.

4 Surely He took on our infirmities

and carried our sorrows;[fn]

yet we considered Him stricken by God,

struck down and afflicted.

5 But He was pierced for our transgressions,

He was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him,

and by His stripes we are healed.[fn]

6 We all like sheep have gone astray,[fn]

each one has turned to his own way;

and the LORD has laid upon Him

the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted,

yet He did not open His mouth.

He was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,

so He did not open His mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away,

and who can recount His descendants?

For He was cut off from the land of the living;[fn]

He was stricken for the transgression of My people.