Ante-Nicene Fathers — Volume I

Ante-Nicene Fathers — Vol. I — Section 130

who hath beheved our report ? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? We have an- nounced Him as a child before Him, as a root in a dry ground. He hath no form or comeHness, and when we saw Him He had no form or beauty ; but His form is dishonoured, and fails more than the sons of men. He is a man in affliction, and acquainted with bearing sickness, because His face has been turned away ; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. He bears our sins, and is distressed for us ; and we esteemed Him to be in toil and in affliction, and in evil treat- ment. But He was wounded for our transgres- sions. He was bruised for our iniquities ; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him. With His stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. Every man has turned to his own way ; and the Lord laid on Him our iniqui- ties, and by reason of His oppression He opens not His mouth. He was brought as a sheep to the slaughter ; and as a lamb before her shearer is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth. In His humiliation His judgment was taken away. And who shall declare His generation ? For His life is taken from the earth. Because of the trans- gressions of my people He came unto death. And I will give the wicked for His grave, and the rich for His death, because He committed no iniquity, and deceit was not found in His mouth. And the Lord wills to purify Him from affliction. If he has been given for sin, your soul shall see a long-lived seed. And the Lord wills to take His soul away from trouble, to show Him light, and to form Him in understanding, to justify the righteous One who serves many well. And He shall bear our sins ; therefore He shall inherit many, and shall divide the spoil of the strong, because His soul was delivered to death ; and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bare the sins of many, and was delivered for their transgression. Sing, O barren, who bearest not ; break forth and cry aloud, thou who dost not travail in pain : for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife. For the Lord said, Enlarge the place of thy tent and of thy curtains ; fix them, spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strength- en thy stakes ; stretch forth to thy right and thy left ; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and thou shalt make the desolate cities to be inherited. Fear not because thou art ashamed, neither be thou confounded because thou hast been re- proached ; for thou shalt forget everlasting shame, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood, because the Lord has made a name for Himself, and He who has redeemed thee shall be called through the whole earth the God of Israel. The Lord has called thee as ' a