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Isaiah 53
1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
(8,6,8,6)
How few receive with cordial faith
the tidings which we bring?
How few have seen the arm revealed
of heav’n’s eternal King?
The Saviour comes! no outward pomp
bespeaks his presence nigh;
No earthly beauty shines in him
to draw the carnal eye.
Fair as a beauteous tender flow’r
amidst the desert grows,
So slighted by a rebel race
the heav’nly Saviour rose.
Rejected and despised of men,
behold a man of woe!
Grief was his close companion still
through all his life below.
Yet all the griefs he felt were ours,
ours were the woes he bore:
Pangs, not his own, his spotless soul
with bitter anguish tore.
We held him as condemned by Heav’n,
an outcast from his God,
While for our sins he groaned, he bled,
beneath his Father’s rod.
His sacred blood hath washed our souls
from sin’s polluted stain;
His stripes es have healed us, and his death
revived our souls again.
We all, like sheep, had gone astray
in ruin’s fatal road:
On him were our transgressions laid;
he bore the mighty load.
Wronged and oppressed how meekly he
in patient silence stood!
Mute, as the peaceful harmless lamb,
when brought to shed its blood.
Who can his generation tell?
from prison see him led!
With impious show of law condemned,
and numbered with the dead.
’Midst sinners low in dust he lay;
the rich a grave supplied:
Unspotted was his blameless life;
unstained by sin he died.
Yet God shall raise his head on high,
though thus he brought him low;
His sacred off’ring, when complete,
shall terminate his woe.
For, saith the Lord, my pleasure then
shall prosper in his hand;
His shall a num’rous offspring be,
and still his honours stand.
His soul, rejoicing, shall behold
the purchase of his pain;
And all the guilty whom he saved
shall bless Messiah’s reign.
He with the great shall share the spoil,
and baffle all his foes;
Though ranked with sinners, here he fell,
a conqueror he rose.
He died to bear the guilt of men,
that sin might be forgiv’n:
He lives to bless them and defend,
and plead their cause in heav’n.
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