The Hebrew Prophets

Break out into joy! Sing together, you ruins of Yerushalayim! For ADONAI has comforted his people, he has redeemed Yerushalayim!

ADONAI has bared his holy arm in the sight of every nation, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.

Leave! Leave! Get out of there! Don't touch anything unclean! Get out from inside it, and be clean, you who carry ADONAI's temple equipment.

You need not leave in haste, you do not have to flee; for ADONAI will go ahead of you, and the God of Isra'el will also be behind you.

"See how my servant will succeed! He will be raised up, exalted, highly honored!

Just as many were appalled at him, because he was so disfigured that he didn't even seem human and simply no longer looked like a man,

so now he will startle many nations; because of him, kings will be speechless. For they will see what they had not been told, they will ponder things they had never heard."

Who believes our report? To whom is the arm of ADONAI revealed?

For before him he grew up like a young plant, like a root out of dry ground. He was not well-formed or especially handsome; we saw him, but his appearance did not attract us.

People despised and avoided him, a man of pains, well acquainted with illness. Like someone from whom people turn their faces, he was despised; we did not value him.

In fact, it was our diseases he bore, our pains from which he suffered; yet we regarded him as punished, stricken and afflicted by God.

But he was wounded because of our crimes, crushed because of our sins; the disciplining that makes us whole fell on him, and by his bruises we are healed.

We all, like sheep, went astray; we turned, each one, to his own way; yet ADONAI laid on him the guilt of all of us. Or: and in fellowship with him

Though mistreated, he was submissive - he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb led to be slaughtered, like a sheep silent before its shearers, he did not open his mouth.

After forcible arrest and sentencing, he was taken away; and none of his generation protested his being cut off from the land of the living for the crimes of my people, who deserved the punishment themselves.

He was given a grave among the wicked; in his death he was with a rich man. Although he had done no violence and had said nothing deceptive,

yet it pleased ADONAI to crush him with illness, to see if he would present himself as a guilt offering. If he does, he will see his offspring; and he will prolong his days; and at his hand ADONAI's desire will be accomplished.

After this ordeal, he will see satisfaction. "By his knowing [pain and sacrifice], my righteous servant makes many righteous; it is for their sins that he suffers.

Therefore I will assign him a share with the great, he will divide the spoil with the mighty, for having exposed himself to death and being counted among the sinners, while actually bearing the sin of many and interceding for the offenders."

"Sing, barren woman who has never had a child! Burst into song, shout for joy, you who have never been in labor! For the deserted wife will have more children than the woman who is living with her husband," says ADONAI.

Enlarge the space for your tent, extend the curtains of your dwelling; do not hold back, lengthen your cords, make your tent pegs firm.

For you will spread out to the right and the left, your descendants will possess the nations and inhabit the desolated cities.

Don't be afraid, for you won't be ashamed; don't be discouraged, for you won't be disgraced. You will forget the shame of your youth, no longer remember the dishonor of being widowed.

For your husband is your Maker, ADONAI-Tzva'ot is his name. The Holy One of Isra'el is your Redeemer. He will be called the God of all the earth.

For ADONAI has called you back like a wife abandoned and grief-stricken; "A wife married in her youth cannot be rejected," says your God.