Isaiah was required by the LORD to proclaim to them what, one future day, the servant of the LORD would suffer FOR THEM – in their place.
So wonderful are the words of Isaiah – written in Hebrew and translated into Greek well before Jesus was born – that they are worth reproducing for all to read in a thoroughly modern format: The Message Copyright 2003 E F Peterson. Here’s the second half -
He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn’t say a word.
Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered and like a sheep being sheared, he took it all in silence.
Justice miscarried, and he was led off— and did anyone really know what was happening?
He died without a thought for his own welfare, beaten bloody for the sins of my people.
They buried him with the wicked, threw him in a grave with a rich man,
Even though he’d never hurt a soul or said one word that wasn’t true.
Still, it’s what God had in mind all along, to crush him with pain.
The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he’d see life come from it—life, life, and more life.
And God’s plan will deeply prosper through him.
Out of that terrible travail of soul, he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it.
Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant, will make many “righteous ones,” as he himself carries the burden of their sins.
Therefore I’ll reward him extravagantly—the best of everything, the highest honors—
Because he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch, because he embraced the company of the lowest.
He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many; he took up the cause of all the black sheep.
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