For surely Isaiah was not sending you off to a bathhouse there to wash away murder and your other sins—sins which not even all the water of the sea is sufficient to cleanse; but rather, as is fitting, this was of old that saving washing of which he spoke, the one for those who repent and are cleansed no longer by the blood of goats and sheep, or by the ashes of a heifer, or by offerings of fine flour, but by faith, through the blood of Christ and his death, who for this very reason died, as Isaiah himself declared, speaking thus:
'The Lord shall lay bare his holy arm before all the nations, and all the nations and the ends of the earth shall see the salvation that comes from God. Depart, depart, depart, go out from there and touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her, be separate, you who bear the vessels of the Lord; for you shall not go out in haste—for the Lord shall go before your face, and the God of Israel is he who gathers you. Behold, my servant shall understand, and shall be exalted and greatly glorified.'
'Just as many shall be astonished at you—so marred shall your appearance and your glory be, beyond that of men—so shall many nations marvel at him, and kings shall shut their mouths; for those to whom nothing was told concerning him shall see, and those who have not heard shall understand. Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? We declared his presence as a little child, as a root in thirsty ground.'
'He has no form nor glory; and we saw him, and he had no form nor beauty, but his appearance was without honour, falling short beyond the sons of men. A man stricken and acquainted with bearing infirmity, because his face was turned away, he was dishonoured and held of no account. He bears our sins, and is in anguish for us; and we accounted him to be in pain, and stricken, and in affliction.'
'But he was wounded for our sins, and bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, every man has wandered in his own way. And the Lord delivered him up for our sins, and he, because he was afflicted, does not open his mouth. As a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb voiceless before its shearer, so he does not open 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 iniquities of my people he has come to death. And I will give the wicked in exchange for his burial, and the rich in exchange for his death, because he committed no iniquity, nor was deceit found in his mouth. And the Lord wills to cleanse him of his stroke. If you make an offering for sin, your soul shall see a long-lived offspring.'
'And the Lord wills to take away from the travail of his soul, to show him light, and to form him with understanding, to justify the righteous one who serves many well. And he himself shall bear up our sins. Therefore he shall inherit many, and shall divide the spoils of the strong, because his soul was delivered up to death, and he was reckoned among the transgressors, and he himself bore the sins of many, and was delivered up for their iniquities.'
'Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who do not travail; for the children of the desolate are more than those of her who has a husband. For the Lord has said: Enlarge the place of your tent and of your curtains; fix them firmly, do not spare; lengthen your cords and make strong your stakes; spread out to the right and to the left; and your seed shall inherit the nations, and you shall inhabit desolate cities.'
'Do not fear, because you were put to shame; neither be confounded, because you were reproached; for you shall forget the everlasting shame, and shall no longer remember the reproach of your widowhood; because the Lord has made a name for himself, and your Redeemer, he is the God of Israel, and shall be called the God of all the earth. As a woman forsaken and faint-hearted has the Lord called you, as a wife hated from her youth.'