|
My servant
he will prosper
he will be exalted and lifted up
he
will be very high.
Many, many were appalled at the sight of him,
so
disfigured was he that he did not seem human.
Many nations will be
astonished at him,
kings will be speechless,
for they will see what
was unheard of
and witness what was unthinkable.
Who could
believe our story,
to whom could God's power be revealed?
He grew
like a sapling out of dry ground,
he had no beauty, no majesty, no
attraction.
He was despised and men rejected him,
a man of sorrows,
familiar with suffering.
We looked away from him, despised him, thought
nothing of him.
And yet, ours were the sufferings he bore,
ours
the sorrows he carried,
and we thought it was him that God was
punishing.
He was wounded for our wrongdoing,
crushed because of the
evil we have done.
The punishment he suffered has made us whole,
through his wounds we are healed.
We all have each one gone his own
way,
like sheep we have gone astray.
The Lord has piled on him the
sins of us all.
Harshly was he dealt with, and he took it humbly,
silent like a lamb being slaughtered,
quiet as a sheep being sheared.
He was taken by force, without justice,
and who could plead for him?
His life was taken, struck down was he for our faults.
He was buried
along with the wicked,
dead in a rich man's grave,
although he had
not committed violence
nor ever told a lie.
Yet to crush him
with suffering was what the Lord wished.
When he gives his life as a
guilt offering,
he will see his posterity, live a long life.
Through
him what the Lord wishes shall be done.
His anguish over, he shall see
what has been accomplished,
and be content.
By his sufferings shall he
justify many,
taking their faults on himself.
I will give him many
people as his tribute,
he shall divide the spoil of victory with the
mighty
because he surrendered himself to death,
letting himself be
taken for a sinner
while he was bearing the faults of many
and
praying for sinners.
Readers will recognise this is a version of Isaiah 52.13
to 53.12, one of four passages which students call 'servant songs' in
Isaiah. (The others are 42.1-4, 49.1-6 and 50.4-9.)
If one looks at this scripture in modern versions, it is
remarkable how each version puts it in a slightly different way. The
version above is eclectic, drawing on several different versions, in an
attempt to express the same emotional feel as the Authorised Version but
in modern speech. It is not intended for close analytical study, there are
commentaries which can be used for this. It aims to give the feel of the
passage as a poem or song, pointing a contemporary reader to the 'Man of
Sorrows'.
This passage is quoted four times in the Gospels.
1. In John 12.38, the apostle John quotes 53.1, 'who has
believed our report', and says it was fulfilled when the people did not
believe in Jesus, despite his miracles.
2. In Matthew 8.17, the writer quotes 53.4, 'carried our
sorrows' as being fulfilled when Jesus gave himself to the task of healing
many people's sicknesses
3. In John 1.29,36 the phrase 'Lamb of God' used by John the
Baptist is referenced to 53.7, where the Servant is described as being
like a lamb. Being the 'Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world'
is not a word for word quotation from Isaiah, but has the same general
meaning.
4. Luke 22.37 is a quotation by Jesus himself of 53.12, when
the Servant is counted among the transgressors. He saw the sequence of
events leading to his death as fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy.
|
