Who has believed what he has heard from us?
        And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
    For he grew up before him like a young plant,
        and like a root out of dry ground;
    he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
        and no beauty that we should desire him.
    He was despised and rejected by men,
        a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
    and as one from whom men hide their faces
        he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
    
    
    Surely he has borne our griefs
        and carried our sorrows;
    yet we esteemed him stricken,
        smitten by God, and afflicted.
    But he was pierced for our transgressions;
        he was crushed for our iniquities;
    upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
        and with his wounds we are healed.
    All we like sheep have gone astray;
        we have turned—every one—to his own way;
    and the LORD has laid on him
        the iniquity of us all.
    
    
    He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
        yet he opened not his mouth;
    like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
        and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
        so he opened not his mouth.
    By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
        and as for his generation, who considered
    that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
        stricken for the transgression of my people?
    And they made his grave with the wicked
        and with a rich man in his death,
    although he had done no violence,
        and there was no deceit in his mouth.
    
    
    Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
        he has put him to grief;
    when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
        he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
    the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
    Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
    by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
        make many to be accounted righteous,
        and he shall bear their iniquities.
    Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
        and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
    because he poured out his soul to death
        and was numbered with the transgressors;
    yet he bore the sin of many,
        and makes intercession for the transgressors.
    
    
        “Sing, O barren one, who did not bear;
        break forth into singing and cry aloud,
        you who have not been in labor!
    For the children of the desolate one will be more
        than the children of her who is married,” says the LORD.
    “Enlarge the place of your tent,
        and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out;
    do not hold back; lengthen your cords
        and strengthen your stakes.
    For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left,
        and your offspring will possess the nations
        and will people the desolate cities.
    
    
    “Fear not, for you will not be ashamed;
        be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced;
    for you will forget the shame of your youth,
        and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.
    For your Maker is your husband,
        the LORD of hosts is his name;
    and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,
        the God of the whole earth he is called.
    For the LORD has called you
        like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit,
    like a wife of youth when she is cast off,
        says your God.
    For a brief moment I deserted you,
        but with great compassion I will gather you.
    In overflowing anger for a moment
        I hid my face from you,
    but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,”
        says the LORD, your Redeemer.
    
    
    “This is like the days of Noah to me:
        as I swore that the waters of Noah
        should no more go over the earth,
    so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you,
        and will not rebuke you.
    For the mountains may depart
        and the hills be removed,
    but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,
        and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,”
        says the LORD, who has compassion on you.
    
    
    “O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted,
        behold, I will set your stones in antimony,
        and lay your foundations with sapphires.
    I will make your pinnacles of agate,
        your gates of carbuncles,
        and all your wall of precious stones.
    All your children shall be taught by the LORD,
        and great shall be the peace of your children.
    In righteousness you shall be established;
        you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear;
        and from terror, for it shall not come near you.
    If anyone stirs up strife,
        it is not from me;
    whoever stirs up strife with you
        shall fall because of you.
    Behold, I have created the smith
        who blows the fire of coals
        and produces a weapon for its purpose.
    I have also created the ravager to destroy;
        no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed,
        and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment.
    This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD
        and their vindication from me, declares the LORD.”
    
    
        “Come, everyone who thirsts,
        come to the waters;
    and he who has no money,
        come, buy and eat!
    Come, buy wine and milk
        without money and without price.
    Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
        and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
    Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
        and delight yourselves in rich food.
    Incline your ear, and come to me;
        hear, that your soul may live;
    and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
        my steadfast, sure love for David.
    Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,
        a leader and commander for the peoples.
    Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,
        and a nation that did not know you shall run to you,
    because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,
        for he has glorified you.
    
    
    “Seek the LORD while he may be found;
        call upon him while he is near;
    let the wicked forsake his way,
        and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
    let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him,
        and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
    For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
        neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
    For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
        so are my ways higher than your ways
        and my thoughts than your thoughts.
    
    
    “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
        and do not return there but water the earth,
    making it bring forth and sprout,
        giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
    so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
        it shall not return to me empty,
    but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
        and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
    
    
    “For you shall go out in joy
        and be led forth in peace;
    the mountains and the hills before you
        shall break forth into singing,
        and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
    Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
        instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
    and it shall make a name for the LORD,
        an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.” (ESV)

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

  To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:

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

  First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

  For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (ESV)