Old/New Testament

53 ¶ Who shall believe our report? and upon whom shall the arm of the LORD be manifested?

² With all this he shall grow up before him as a tender sprout and as a root out of a dry ground. There is no outward appearance in him, nor beauty. We shall see him, yet nothing attractive about him that we should desire him.

³ He is despised and rejected among men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with weakness; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

⁴ ¶ Surely he has borne our sicknesses and suffered our pain: and we considered him stricken, smitten of God, and cast down.

⁵ But he was wounded for our rebellions; he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and by his stripes healing was provided for us.

⁶ All we like sheep have become lost; we have turned each one to his own way; and the LORD transposed in him the iniquity of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he did not open his mouth.

⁸ He was taken from prison and from judgment; and who shall count his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living; for the rebellion of my people he was smitten.

⁹ And he made his grave with the wicked, and his death with the rich; even though he had never done evil, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰ ¶ With all this the LORD chose to bruise him; subjecting him to grief. When he shall have offered his soul for atonement, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the will of the LORD shall be prospered in his hand.

¹¹ He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. And by his knowledge shall my righteous slave justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.

¹² Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil unto the strong because he has poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the rebellious, having borne the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

54 ¶ Rejoice, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud with joy, thou that didst not travail with child: for more shall be the sons of the desolate than the sons of the married wife, said the LORD.

² Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;

³ for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left, and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.

⁴ Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.

⁵ For thy Maker shall be thine husband; the LORD of the hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.

⁶ ¶ For as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit has the LORD called thee, and as a young woman who is put away, said thy God.

⁷ For a small moment I have forsaken thee; but with great mercies I will gather thee.

⁸ In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with eternal mercy I will have compassion on thee, said the LORD thy Redeemer.

⁹ For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so I have sworn that I would not be wroth again with thee, nor reprehend thee.

¹⁰ For the mountains shall be removed, and the hills shall tremble; but my mercy shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be changed, said the LORD that has mercy on thee.

¹¹ ¶ O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will cement thy stones upon carbuncle and lay thy foundations upon sapphires.

¹² And I will make thy windows of precious stones, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of stones of great price.

¹³ And all thy sons shall be taught of the LORD; and the peace of thy sons shall be multiplied.

¹⁴ With righteousness shalt thou be adorned: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear it; and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.

¹⁵ If anyone should conspire against thee, it shall be without me, whosoever would conspire against thee shall fall before thee.

¹⁶ Behold, I have created the smith that blows the coals in the fire, and that brings forth the instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.

¹⁷ No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the slaves of the LORD, and their justice from me, said the LORD.

55 ¶ Ho, every one that thirsts, come ye to the waters, and he that has no money; come ye, buy, and eat; come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

² Why do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which does not satisfy? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.

³ Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an eternal covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

⁴ Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a captain and teacher to the peoples.

⁵ Behold, thou shalt call a people that thou knowest not, and Gentiles that did not know thee shall run unto thee because of the LORD thy God and for the Holy One of Israel, for he has honoured thee.

⁶ ¶ Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near:

⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

⁸ For my thoughts are not as your thoughts, neither are your ways as my ways, saith the LORD.

⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts more than your thoughts.

¹⁰ For as the rain comes down, and the snow from the heavens, and does not return there, but waters the earth and makes it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater:

¹¹ So shall my Word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall be prospered in that for which I sent it.

¹² For ye shall go out with joy, and be returned with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

¹³ Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an eternal sign that shall not be cut off.

1 ¶ Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, unto the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} of the Thessalonians in God our Father and in our Lord Jesus Christ:

² Grace unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³ We must thank God always for you, brethren, as is due because your faith grows exceedingly, and the charity of each and every one of you toward each other abounds,

⁴ so that we ourselves glory in you in the congregations {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure and

⁵ ¶ in testimony of the just judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer,

⁶ seeing it is a just thing with God to recompense tribulation to those that trouble you

⁷ and to give you, who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with the angels of his power,

⁸ with flaming fire, to take vengeance on those that do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,

⁹ who shall be punished with eternal destruction by the presence of the Lord and by the glory of his power,

¹⁰ when he shall come to be glorified in his saints and to be admired in all those that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.

¹¹ ¶ Therefore in this manner we pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of his calling and fill each will with goodness and the work of faith with power

¹² that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be clarified in you, and ye in him, by the grace of our God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.