UST ISA Chapter 53

◄ ISA 53 ► ║ ═ ©

53 We challenge people to believe what we tell them about God’s servant.

We challenge people to recognize that Yahweh has acted powerfully through him.

2 While God watched over him, his servant grew up.

He was vulnerable and in danger,

like a young plant growing from a root in dry ground.

He did not get people’s attention by being handsome or splendid.

No, his appearance did not attract people.

3 People spoke of him with contempt, and they did not accept him.

He experienced much sadness and disappointment.

Because people regarded him with contempt and did not value him,

they did not pay attention to him.

4 But the truth is that he experienced the suffering that we should have experienced.

He endured the pain that we deserved.

Yet we thought that God was punishing him.

We believed that God was making him to suffer for his own sins.

5 He suffered injury because of the evil things that we did.

He died because of our sins.

Because of his punishment, now we can have peace.

By his wounds, God has healed us.

6 We have all disobeyed God,

just as sheep stray from their shepherd.

Each of us has done what we wanted instead of what God wanted.

But Yahweh punished him instead of us for our sins.

7 People treated him harshly and made him suffer,

but he did not protest.

They led him away to kill him

the way people lead sheep away to slaughter them.

And just as a sheep remains silent when someone shears its wool,

he said nothing to defend himself.

8 After an unfair trial,

the authorities executed him.

Because people killed him,

it did not seem that he would have any descendants,

He received the punishment that his people deserved

for the wrong things they did.

9 People planned to bury his body where they buried wicked people.

But instead, a rich man buried him in his own tomb.

That is because he had not done anything violent

and he had not said anything deceptive.

10 Yet Yahweh chose to make him suffer and die.

When he accepts his life as a restoring sacrifice,

then he will have many descendants.

He will live for a long time,

and he will accomplish what Yahweh wants him to do.

11 After he has suffered, he will live again,

and he will have a full number of descendants.

Yahweh says, “Because of what he experiences,

my servant, who will have done what is right,

will make many people right with me,

because he will have received the punishment for their sins.

12 As a result, I will give him the kind of reward

that a great soldier receives after a battle.

I will do that because he was willing

for people to consider him a criminal and execute him.

He took the punishment for the sins of many people,

and he prays for people who have sinned.”