Isaiah 53

Who has believed the message we told? And to whom has the arm of the LORD, his power at work, been revealed?

1Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

NoteThe speakers are an unidentified "we" who look back and admit they had misread the figure this chapter describes. That figure is never named here; he is introduced just before the chapter opens (52:13) as "my servant," and who he stands for (the nation of Israel, a prophet, or a single individual) has been read in different ways since ancient times. God's "arm" is a standard Hebrew image for his power in action, especially rescuing power, as in the "outstretched arm" that brought Israel out of Egypt.

2He grew up in the LORD's sight like a tender young shoot, like a root coming out of dry ground. He had no impressive form and no majesty. When we looked at him, there was nothing in his appearance to make us want him.

2For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

NoteA shoot coming up out of dry ground has nothing feeding it and no reason to thrive: the image is of something small, unpromising and easy to overlook. "Before him" means in the LORD's sight. "Comeliness" in 1611 English meant attractive or handsome appearance.

3People despised him and would not have him. He was a man of sorrows, and he knew suffering well. He was like someone others hide their faces from. He was despised, and we thought he was worth nothing.

3He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

NoteThe Hebrew words behind "sorrows" and "grief" cover physical pain and sickness as much as emotional distress; the same pair returns in the next verse. "We esteemed him not" means we reckoned him of no value, which is stronger than simply disliking him.

4Yet it was our suffering he took up, and our sorrows he carried. But we thought God had struck him down. We assumed God was hitting him and making him suffer.

4Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

Note"Griefs" and "sorrows" are the same two Hebrew words as in verse 3, pains and sicknesses. "Stricken" translates a verb often used in the Hebrew Bible for being struck with disease, which is why onlookers read his condition as a punishment sent directly by God against him.

5But he was pierced because of the wrong we did, and crushed because of our sins. The punishment that brought us peace fell on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

5But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Note"Stripes" in 1611 English meant the welts or lash marks left by a whipping. "Bruised" translates a stronger word than it sounds today: crushed. "The chastisement of our peace" means the punishment that produced our peace, and the Hebrew word for peace, shalom, means wholeness and wellbeing generally, not merely the absence of conflict.

6All of us have wandered off like sheep. Each one of us turned to go his own way. And the LORD laid on him the guilt of all of us.

6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

NoteThe Hebrew word translated "iniquity" can mean the wrong act itself, the guilt incurred by it, or the punishment that follows from it; the line works in all three senses at once. Laying it on someone is the ordinary language of shifting a burden or a liability onto another party.

7He was treated harshly and made to suffer, yet he did not open his mouth. He was led like a lamb to be killed. Like a sheep that stays silent while its wool is cut off, he did not open his mouth.

7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

Note"Dumb" in 1611 English meant silent or unable to speak, with no suggestion of stupidity. Sheep are not killed in order to be sheared: the point of the second comparison is only the animal's passivity while it is handled.

8He was taken away by force and by a legal sentence. And who can tell about his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living. He was struck down for the wrongdoing of my people.

8He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

NoteThe Hebrew of this verse is among the hardest in the book, and translations differ widely. "From prison and from judgment" more likely means "by restraint and by legal sentence": he was carried off through an oppressive judicial process, not rescued out of one. "Who shall declare his generation?" is genuinely ambiguous: it can ask who will speak about his descendants, or about the people of his own time and what they did, or about his fate. "Cut off out of the land of the living" is a standard idiom for being killed. The final clause reads literally "the stroke was to them," an odd form that translators resolve in different ways.

9He was given a grave with the wicked, and he was with a rich man in his death, even though he had done no violence and no lie had ever been in his mouth.

9And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

NoteBurial among the wicked meant a dishonourable burial, away from one's own family tomb, a serious disgrace in Israel. The parallel phrase "with the rich" is unexpected, since Hebrew poetry normally pairs a negative term with another negative term; the oldest surviving manuscripts read the same way, and the sense has been debated for centuries. "No deceit in his mouth" means he had never told a lie.

10Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and to make him suffer. When his life is made an offering for sin, he will see his offspring, he will live on for many days, and what the LORD wants will succeed in his hand.

10Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

Note"It pleased the LORD" means it was the LORD's will or purpose, not that he enjoyed it; "the pleasure of the LORD" later in the verse likewise means what he wills or determines. "An offering for sin" translates asham, the specific guilt or reparation offering in Israel's sacrificial law, a sacrifice that both dealt with an offense and made compensation for the damage it caused. "His seed" means his offspring, and "prolong his days" is the ordinary Hebrew idiom for living a long life.

11After the painful struggle of his soul, he will see the result and be satisfied. By his knowledge my righteous servant will make many people right with God, for he will carry their sins.

11He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

Note"Travail" in 1611 English meant hard labor or anguish, including the pains of childbirth. "Justify" is a courtroom word: to declare someone in the right, to acquit. The Hebrew text the King James translators used reads only "he shall see"; the Dead Sea Scrolls and the ancient Greek translation read "he shall see light," which is why many modern versions supply a word at this point.

12So I will give him a portion along with the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong. This is because he poured out his life to the point of death and was counted among those who break the law. He carried the sin of many, and he pleaded on behalf of those who break the law.

12Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

NoteDividing a portion and sharing out spoil is the language of a victorious army distributing plunder after a battle, the imagery of a conqueror's reward. "Poured out his soul unto death" uses the Hebrew nephesh, which means a person's life or whole self rather than an immaterial part of them. "Made intercession" means pleaded or stepped in on another's behalf, as someone might speak up for the accused.