He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
But I was like a gentle lamb that is brought to the slaughter, and I did not know that they had devised plots against me, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with the fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living so that his name may be remembered no more.”
But You, O Lord, know me; You have seen me and tested my heart toward You. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.
But none of these things deter me. Nor do I count my life of value to myself, so that I may joyfully finish my course and the ministry which I have received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
The passage of Scripture which he was reading was this: “He was led as a sheep to slaughter; and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so He opened not His mouth.
For I think that God has exhibited us, the apostles, last, as if we were sentenced to death. For we have been made a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men.
Are they servants of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, often facing death.