1The people asked:
‘Who believed our message?
The Lord has shown that He is strong.
To whom did He show it?
2This man was like a small plant
that started to grow,
like a root that started to grow in dry ground.
He was like a plant that we could not see,
a plant that was not strong or beautiful.
3The people hated him,
and they did not want to accept him.
He suffered a lot and he was always sick.
The people turned away their faces,
because they did not want to look at him.
The people said he was not important,
and they said he was worthless.
4But he became sick
so that we could be healed,
and he suffered so that we would not have to suffer.
And we thought that it was God
who punished him,
and who beat and humiliated him.
5Yes, they pierced him with a spear
because we have sinned and rebelled.
They wounded him
because we have done wrong.
They punished him so that we could have peace,
and he was hurt so that God could heal us.
6All of us were like sheep that were lost,
and everyone went his own way.
We have all done wrong,
but God punished him,
and he had to pay for our sins.
7The people oppressed him
and did bad things to him,
but he said nothing. He was like a sheep
that someone wants to kill,
or that keeps quiet and says nothing
when they shear its wool.
8He was a prisoner, and they said he was guilty.
Was anyone worried about him? No, no one.
They cut him off from the living people,
and they made him suffer
because his people did wrong.
9They gave him a grave
with the guilty rich people.
But he had done nothing wrong,
and he had never lied.
10The Lord decided that his servant
should suffer and become sick.
The Lord said he must be a guilt-offering.
That is why he will live forever
and have many descendants.
The Lord will use his servant to do
what the Lord wants to do.’
11The Lord says:
‘My servant has suffered a lot of pain,
but he will live and be satisfied
because he knows Me.
My servant is not guilty.
He is righteous and
he will make many people righteous,
because he will be punished
for everything that they have done wrong.
12That is why I will give him
a place with important people.
He will be with the leaders
when they decide what everyone must get.
I will do it because he was willing
to give his life, to sacrifice himself
and to be with sinful people
while everyone thought that he was one of them.
He was punished
for the sins of many people.
He prayed for the people who rebelled.’
