Godless and evil people will no longer come to you.

2 Shake the dust from yourselves.

Get up, captive Jerusalem.

Free yourself from the chains around your neck, captive people of Zion.

3 This is what Yahweh says: You were sold, but no price was paid. You will be bought back, but without money.

4 This is what Adonay Yahweh says: In the beginning my people went to Egypt to live there as foreigners. Later the Assyrians oppressed them for no reason. 5 So what do I find here? asks Yahweh. My people are taken away for no reason. Their rulers are screaming, declares Yahweh. And my name is cursed all day long. 6 Now my people will know my name. When that day comes, they will know that I am the one who says, "Here I am!"

7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces the good news, "All is well."

He brings the good news, announces salvation, and tells Zion that its Elohim rules as king.

8 Listen! Your watchmen raise their voices and shout together joyfully.

When Yahweh brings Zion back, they will see it with their own eyes.

9 Break out into shouts of joy, ruins of Jerusalem.

Yahweh will comfort his people.

He will reclaim Jerusalem.

10 Yahweh will show his holy power to all the nations.

All the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our Elohim.

11 Run away! Run away!

Get away from there!

Do not touch anything unclean.a Get away from it!

Make yourselves pure, you Levites who carry the utensils for Yahweh's temple.

12 You will not go away in a hurry, nor will you go away quickly.

Yahweh will go ahead of you.

The Elohim of Israel will guard you from behind.

The Suffering Servant 13 My servant will be successful.

He will be respected, praised, and highly honored.

14 Many will be shocked by him.b His appearance will be so disfigured that he won't look like any other man.

His looks will be so disfigured that he will hardly look like a human.

15 He will cleanse many nations with his blood.

Kings will shut their mouths because of him.

They will see things that they had never been told.

They will understand things that they had never heard.

EBED YAHWEH, ISH MAKOBOTH.

SERVANT OF THE LORD, MAN OF SORROWS.

After God led the Israelites out of their slavery in Egypt, he did not treat them as slaves but as his own people, his sons and daughters. Though slavery was practiced in Israel, the law forbade the forcible enslavement of freeborn individuals. To kidnap or sell such a person was to incur the death penalty. However, people could sell themselves in order to pay off their debts. Even so, Hebrew slaves were to be released after a certain number of years because no child of God was meant to live in perpetual bondage.

Though the Israelites were not considered God's slaves, theywere considered his servants, freely putting his interests before their own, confident of his care and protection. Prophets, judges, and kings were called servants of God in the Bible. Scripture speaksof Moses, Joshua, Hannah, David, Isaiah, Mary the mother of Jesus, and many others as God's servants because they lived a life of faithful obedience.

The Servant Songs in Isaiah (42:1-4; 49:1-7; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12) all speak of a mysterious Servantwhowould bringjusticetothe nations. Through his suffering, this Man of Sorrows, or Ish Makoboth (ISH makuh-BOTH), would redeem many. The Jews may have understood this as a reference to Israel, while early Christians understood these passages as messianic prophecies pointing to the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. By becoming one of us, Jesus suffered both with and for us. He was the Servant, Ebed (E-bed), par excellence.

In ancient times, a servant's status was directly related to the status of his master. To be a servant of the King of Kings, then, is the greatest of privileges. It is no surprise to discover that the word minister, derived from a Latin word, and the word deacon, derived from a Greek word, both mean "servant."

Praying to Ebed Yahweh, Ish Makoboth In recent years, we've heard a lot about the H1N1 virus, popularly known as the swine flu. But something far deadlier is making the rounds right now. It's a vicious disease that has taken root across much of America without anyone seeming to notice. Worse yet, the rate of infection is alarmingly high among professing Christians. Here's how one headline describes the threat: Most Christians Infected with Prosperity Gospel.

Sam Storms, a pastor from Oklahoma, characterizes the health and prosperity gospel as a "corrosive and disintegrative pox" and as "a disease far more infectious and ultimately fatal to the soul than the worst bubonic plague."a Storms believes that most of us value pleasure and comfort far more than we do spiritual conformity to Christ. We look to Jesus not as the model of who we are to become, but as someone who has done the hard things so we don't have to. But as Storms points out, conformity to Christ is often achieved through the very thing we hope to avoid-trials and hardship.

What if Jesus had pursued a life of pleasure and comfort? No doubt he may have lived to a ripe old age. But we wouldn't know, because history would have forgotten him. Who cares about a person who lives only for himself? That's not the God we worship, not the Lord we follow.

Storms cites Jonathan Edwards to make the point that our problem is not that we focus on pleasure but that we settle for inferior kinds of pleasure rather than the durable delights God offers us in communion with himself.

Jesus is the Man of Sorrows, who has served us in the most profound way possible, allowing himself to be nailed to a cross so that we might have life and have it to the full.

Jesus, living Servant of the LORD, deliver me from embracing a kind of flabby and feeble form of Christianity. Remind me of what really matters as you stretch and mold me into your image and likeness. Make me a servant like you.

Promises Associated with the Name EBED YAHWEH, ISH MAKOBOTH.

Yahweh protects the souls of his servants. All who take refuge in him will never be condemned. (Psalm 34:22) But that's not the way it's going to be among you. Whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant. Whoever wants to be most important among you will be your slave. (Matthew 20:26-27) The throne of God and the lamb will be in the city. His servants will worship him and see his face. His name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night, and they will not need any light from lamps or the sun because the Lord God will shine on them. They will rule as kings forever and ever. (Revelation 22:3-5)

53 1 Who has believed our message?

To whom has Yahweh's power been revealed?

2 He grew up in his presence like a young tree, like a root out of dry ground.

He had no form or majesty that would make us look at him.

He had nothing in his appearance that would make us desire him.

3 He was despised and rejected by people.

He was an Ish Makoboth, familiar with suffering.

He was despised like one from whom people turn their faces, and we didn't consider him to be worth anything.

4 He certainly has taken upon himself our suffering and carried our sorrows, but we thought that Elohim had wounded him, beat him, and punished him.

5 He was wounded for our rebellious acts.

He was crushed for our sins.

He was punished so that we could have peace, and we received healing from his wounds.

6 We have all strayed like sheep.

Each one of us has turned to go his own way, and Yahweh has laid all our sins on him.

7 He was abused and punished, but he didn't open his mouth.

He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.

He was like a sheep that is silent when its wool is cut off.

He didn't open his mouth.

8 He was arrested, taken away, and judged.

Who would have thought that he would be removed from the world?

He was killed because of my people's rebellion.

9 He was placed in a tomb with the wicked.

He was put there with the rich when he died, although he had done nothing violent and had never spoken a lie.

10 Yet, it was Yahweh's will to crush him with suffering.

When Yahweh has made his life a sacrifice for our wrongdoings, he will see his descendants for many days.

The will of Yahweh will succeed through him.

11 He will see and be satisfied because of his suffering.

My righteous Ebed will acquit many people because of what he has learned through suffering.

He will carry their sins as a burden.

12 So I will give him a share among the mighty, and he will divide the prize with the strong, because he poured out his life in death and he was counted with sinners.

He carried the sins of many.

He intercedes for those who are rebellious.

The LORD'S Compassion for the Women without Children 54 1 Sing with joy, you childless women who never gave birth to children.

Break into shouts of joy, you women who never had birth pains.

"There will be more children of women who have been deserted than there are children of married women," says Yahweh.

2 Expand the space of your tent.

Stretch out the curtains of your tent, and don't hold back.

Lengthen your tent ropes, and drive in the tent pegs.

3 You will spread out to the right and left.

Your descendants will take over other nations, and they will resettle deserted cities.

4 Don't be afraid, because you won't be put to shame.

Don't be discouraged, because you won't be disgraced.

You'll forget the shame you've had since you were young.

You won't remember the disgrace of your husband's death anymore.

5 Your husband is your maker.

His name is Yahweh Tsebaoth .