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And in the face of such oppression and suffering—silence.
    Not a word of protest, not a finger raised to stop it.
Like a sheep to a shearing, like a lamb to be slaughtered,
    he went—oh so quietly, oh so willingly.
Oppressed and condemned, he was taken away.
    From this generation, who was there to complain?
Who was there to cry “Foul”?
    He was, after all, cut off from the land of the living,
Smacked and struck, not on his account,
    because of how my people (my people!)
Disregarded the lines between right and wrong.
    They snuffed out his life.[a]
And when he was dead, he was buried with the disgraced
    in borrowed space (among the rich),
Even though he did no wrong by word or deed.[b]

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He was oppressed(A) and afflicted,
    yet he did not open his mouth;(B)
he was led like a lamb(C) to the slaughter,(D)
    and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression[a] and judgment(E) he was taken away.
    Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;(F)
    for the transgression(G) of my people he was punished.[b]
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,(H)
    and with the rich(I) in his death,
though he had done no violence,(J)
    nor was any deceit in his mouth.(K)

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 53:8 Or From arrest
  2. Isaiah 53:8 Or generation considered / that he was cut off from the land of the living, / that he was punished for the transgression of my people?