Chapter 53

¹ O Lord, ¹who has believed our report? and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? ² We brought a report as of a child before him; he is as a root in a thirsty land: he has no form nor comeliness; and we saw him, but he had no form nor beauty. ³ But his form was ignoble, and inferior to that of the children of men; he was a man in suffering, and acquainted with the bearing of sickness, for his face is turned from us: he was dishonoured, and not esteemed. ^{4 2}He bears our sins, and is pained for us: yet we accounted him to be in trouble, and in suffering, and in affliction. ⁵ But he was wounded on account of our sins, and was ³bruised because of our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and by his ⁴bruises we were healed. ⁶ All we as sheep have gone astray; every one has gone astray in his way; and the Lord gave him up for our sins.

⁷ And he, because of his affliction, opens not his mouth: ⁵he was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is dumb, so he opens not his mouth. ⁸ In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken away from the earth: because of the iniquities of my people he was led to death. ⁹ And I will give the wicked for his burial, and the rich for his death; ⁶for he practised no iniquity, nor craft with his mouth. ¹⁰ The Lord also is pleased to purge him from his stroke. If ye can give an offering for sin, your soul shall see a long-lived seed: ¹¹ the Lord also is pleased to take away from the travail of his soul, to shew him light, and to form him with understanding; to justify the just one who serves many well; and he shall bear their sins. ¹² Therefore he shall inherit many, and he shall divide the spoils of the mighty; because his soul was delivered to death: and ⁷he was numbered among the transgressors; and he bore the sins of many, and was delivered because of their iniquities.

Chapter 54

^{1 8}Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that dost not travail: for more are the children of the desolate than of her that has a husband: for the Lord has said, ² Enlarge the placed of thy tent, and of thy curtains: fix the pins, spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy pins; ³ spread forth thy tent yet to the right and the left: for thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and thou shalt make the desolate cities to be inhabited. ⁴ Fear not, because thou has been put to shame, neither be

890

confounded, because thou was reproached: for thou shalt forget thy ⁹former shame, and shalt no more at all remember the reproach of thy widowhood. ⁵ For it is the Lord that made thee; the Lord of hosts is his name: and he that delivered thee, he is the God of Israel, and shall be called so by the whole earth. ⁶ The Lord has not called thee as a deserted and faint-hearted woman, nor as a woman hated from her youth, saith thy God.

⁷ For a little while I left thee: but with great mercy will I have compassion upon thee. ⁸ In a little wrath I turned away my face from thee; but with everlasting mercy will I have compassion upon thee, saith the Lord that delivers thee.

⁹ From the time of the water of Noe this is my purpose: as I sware to him at that time, saying of the earth, I will no more be wroth with thee, neither when thou art threatened, ¹⁰ shall the mountains depart, nor shall thy hills be removed: so neither shall my mercy fail thee, nor shall the covenant of thy peace be at all removed: for ¹⁰he Lord who is gracious to thee has spoken it.

¹¹ Afflicted and outcast thou has not been comforted: behold, I will prepare carbuncle for thy stones, and sapphire for thy foundations; ¹² and I will make thy buttresses jasper, and thy gates crystal, and thy border precious stones. ^{13 11}And I will cause all thy sons to be taught of God, and thy children to be in great peace. ¹⁴ And thou shalt be built in righteousness: abstain from injustice, and thou shalt not fear; and trembling shall not come nigh thee. ¹⁵ Behold, strangers shall come to thee by me, and shall sojourn with thee, and shall run to thee for refuge.

¹⁶ Behold, I have created thee, not as the coppersmith blowing coals, and bringing out a vessel fit for work; but I have created thee, not for ruin, that I should destroy thee. ¹⁷ I will not suffer any ¹²weapon formed against thee to prosper; and every voice that shall rise up against thee for judgment, thou shalt vanquish them all; and thine adversaries shall be condemned thereby. There is an inheritance to them that serve the Lord, and ye shall be righteous before me, saith the Lord.