Isaiah 53:1-12

The passage

The song tells of a servant who was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows who bore our griefs and carried our sorrows, wounded for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. Like a lamb led to the slaughter he opened not his mouth, yet after his suffering he sees his offspring and prolongs his days, and the will of the LORD prospers in his hand.

Where it stands

Isaiah 53, running from 52:13, is the fourth of the Servant Songs. Christians have read it as prophecy of Christ's passion since the first century; the Ethiopian official of Acts 8 was reading this very passage when Philip explained it to him.