The Suffering Servant

¹Who has believed our message?And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

²He 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.

³He 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.

⁴Surely He took up our infirmitiesand carried our sorrows;yet we considered Him stricken,struck down by God, and afflicted.

⁵But 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.

⁶We all like sheep have gone astray,each one has turned to his own way;and the LORD has laid upon Himthe iniquity of us all.

⁷He 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.

⁸By oppression and judgment He was taken away,and who can recount His descendants?For He was cut off from the land of the living;He was stricken for the transgression of My people.

A Grave Assigned

⁹He was assigned a grave with the wicked,and with a rich man in His death,although He had done no violence,nor was any deceit in His mouth.

¹⁰Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush Himand to cause Him to suffer;and when His soul is made a guilt offering,He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days,and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.

¹¹After the anguish of His soul,He will see the light of lifeand be satisfied.By His knowledge My righteous Servant will justify many,and He will bear their iniquities.

¹²Therefore I will allot Him a portion with the great,and He will divide the spoils with the strong,because He has poured out His life unto death,and He was numbered with the transgressors.Yet He bore the sin of manyand made intercession for the transgressors.

Witnesses against Israel

¹Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt:

²“Only you have I knownfrom all the families of the earth;therefore I will punish youfor all your iniquities.”

³Can two walk togetherwithout agreeing where to go?

⁴Does a lion roar in the forestwhen he has no prey?Does a young lion growl in his denif he has caught nothing?

⁵Does a bird land in a snarewhere no bait has been set?Does a trap spring from the groundwhen it has nothing to catch?

⁶If a ram’s horn sounds in a city,do the people not tremble?If calamity comes to a city,has not the LORD caused it?

⁷Surely the Lord GOD does nothingwithout revealing His planto His servants the prophets.

⁸The lion has roared—who will not fear?The Lord GOD has spoken—who will not prophesy?

⁹Proclaim to the citadels of Ashdodand to the citadels of Egypt:“Assemble on the mountains of Samaria;see the great unrest in the cityand the acts of oppression in her midst.”

¹⁰“For they know not how to do right,”declares the LORD.“They store up violence and destructionin their citadels.”

¹¹Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says:“An enemywill surround the land;he will pull down your strongholdsand plunder your citadels.”

¹²This is what the LORD says:“As the shepherd snatches from the mouth of the liontwo legs or a piece of an ear,so the Israelites dwelling in Samaria will be rescuedhaving just the corner of a bedor the cushion of a couch.

¹³Hear and testify against the house of Jacob,declares the Lord GOD, the God of Hosts.

¹⁴On the day I punish Israel for their transgressions,I will visit destruction on the altars of Bethel;the horns of the altar will be cut off,and they will fall to the ground.

¹⁵I will tear down the winter housealong with the summer house;the houses of ivory will also perish,and the great houses will come to an end,”declares the LORD.

Tribute to Xerxes and Mordecai

¹Now King Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the land, even to its farthest shores.

²And all of Mordecai’s powerful and magnificent accomplishments, together with the full account of the greatness to which the king had raised him, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia?

³For Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews and highly favored by his many kinsmen, seeking the good of his people and speaking peace to all his countrymen.

The Mighty One Calls

¹The Mighty One, God the LORD,speaks and summons the earthfrom where the sun rises to where it sets.

²From Zion, perfect in beauty,God shines forth.

³Our God approaches and will not be silent!Consuming fire precedes Him,and a tempest rages around Him.

⁴He summons the heavens above,and the earth, that He may judge His people:

⁵“Gather to Me My saints,who made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”

⁶And the heavens proclaim His righteousness,for God Himself is Judge.Selah

⁷“Hear, O My people, and I will speak,O Israel, and I will testify against you:I am God, your God.

⁸I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices,and your burnt offerings are ever before Me.

⁹I have no need for a bull from your stallor goats from your pens,

¹⁰for every beast of the forest is Mine—the cattle on a thousand hills.

¹¹I know every bird in the mountains,and the creatures of the field are Mine.

¹²If I were hungry, I would not tell you,for the world is Mine, and the fullness thereof.

¹³Do I eat the flesh of bulls,or drink the blood of goats?

¹⁴Sacrifice a thank offering to God,and fulfill your vows to the Most High.

¹⁵Call upon Me in the day of trouble;I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”

¹⁶To the wicked, however, God says,“What right have you to recite My statutesand to bear My covenant on your lips?

¹⁷For you hate My instructionand cast My words behind you.

¹⁸When you see a thief, you befriend him,and throw in your lot with adulterers.

¹⁹You unleash your mouth for eviland harness your tongue to deceit.

²⁰You sit and malign your brother;you slander your own mother’s son.

²¹You have done these things, and I kept silent;you thought I wasjust like you.But now I rebuke youand accuse you to your face.

²²Now consider this, you who forget God,lest I tear you to pieces,with no one to rescue you:

²³He who sacrifices a thank offering honors Me,and to him who rightly orders his way,I will show the salvation of God.”