Isaiah 53

Isaiah describes the Lord’s righteous Servant, who is rejected, suffers, and dies, though He is innocent. His suffering is carried on behalf of others and is no accident. It ends in His vindication and the blessing of many. Christians have long seen Jesus Christ in this chapter, and the New Testament quotes it often.

Isaiah 53:1

Isaiah opens with sad surprise. The message about the Servant sounds unbelievable, and few take it in. God’s power is working, but it comes in a form people do not expect, so many fail to recognize it.

BSA: arm (“the arm as stretched out; strength, might, power”): God’s saving power is pictured as His outstretched arm, yet here it is seen in a suffering Servant.

Hebrew: זְרוֹעַ (zeroa, H2220) — “arm.” The arm is the Hebrew picture of strength in action. It is striking that God’s mighty arm appears in weakness and suffering rather than in an obvious show of force.

See also: John 12:38; Romans 10:16.

Isaiah 53:2

The Servant grows up quietly, like a young plant struggling in poor soil. He has no royal splendor or striking looks to draw a crowd. Nothing about Him seems impressive by the world’s standards, yet He grows under His Father’s eye.

BSA: root (“shoresh, the underground part of a plant”): A root in dry ground suggests a life that seems unlikely to survive, yet it lives.

Hebrew: יוֹנֵק (yoneq, H3126) — “a nursing one, a sucker or young shoot.” The word means a tender sprout that draws its life from the parent plant. It shows the Servant’s weakness and His dependence on God.

See also: Isaiah 11:1.

Isaiah 53:3

People looked down on Him and turned away. He knew pain and grief personally, and He did not stay at a safe distance from them. We treated Him as worthless and did not give Him our respect.

BSA: despised (“rejected, looked down upon”): He was treated as something to look down on, not merely overlooked.

Hebrew: מַכְאֹבוֹת (makʼovot, H4341) — “pains, sorrows.” The plural suggests many kinds of pain, one after another. He is called a man of sorrows because grief became His familiar companion.

See also: Mark 9:12.

Isaiah 53:4

The people thought His suffering was God’s punishment for His own sins. Isaiah says the truth is the opposite. He was carrying our weaknesses and griefs. What looked like judgment on Him was Him bearing what belonged to us.

BSA: infirmities (“sicknesses, diseases”): The burden He lifted includes our brokenness and sickness as well as our guilt.

Hebrew: נָשָׂא (nasa, H5375) — “to lift up, carry, bear.” The word means to pick up a load and carry it away. It is also used elsewhere for bearing sin, so this verse already points toward Him carrying our guilt.

See also: Matthew 8:16-17.

Isaiah 53:5

This is the center of the chapter. He was wounded because of our rebellion and our sin. The punishment that brings us peace with God fell on Him, and through His wounds we are made whole.

BSA: punishment (“discipline, correction”): The word suggests the corrective penalty that sin deserves, and He took it on Himself. peace (“completeness, wellness, friendship”): The peace He won is more than quiet feelings. It means being made whole and restored to friendship with God.

Hebrew: שָׁלוֹם (shalom, H7965) — “peace, wholeness, well-being.” Shalom means complete well-being and a right relationship with God. The Servant’s pain paid the price for that wholeness.

See also: 1 Peter 2:24; Romans 4:25.

Isaiah 53:6

Isaiah says everyone has strayed like sheep, each following his own path. Then comes the wonder. The Lord placed the guilt of all of us on His Servant. The judgment we earned fell on Him.

BSA: laid (“to fall on, meet”): Our guilt was made to strike Him, as though all of it met Him at once.

Hebrew: הִפְגִּיעַ (hifgiaʻ, H6293) — “caused to fall upon, caused to meet.” The word describes a strong meeting or striking. The Lord caused the weight of our sin to land on the Servant.

See also: 1 Peter 2:25; 2 Corinthians 5:21.

Isaiah 53:7

He was harshly treated, yet He did not protest or defend Himself. He was like a lamb led to slaughter or a sheep held for shearing. His silence shows willing submission, not weakness.

BSA: lamb (“a gentle, innocent animal”): The lamb shows His gentleness and His innocence as He goes to His death.

See also: Acts 8:32-35; John 1:29.

Isaiah 53:8

He was seized and carried off through unjust treatment, and His life was cut short. No one in His generation seemed to think about who He was or what would come of Him. He was struck because of the sins of God’s people, not His own.

BSA: cut off (“cut off, severed”): His death was a violent separation from the land of the living.

Hebrew: נִגְזַר (nigzar, H1504) — “was cut off.” The word means to cut something away, as one cuts a branch from a tree. It shows His death was sudden and violent, not a natural end.

See also: Acts 8:33.

Isaiah 53:9

Men planned a grave for Him among criminals, yet He was laid with a rich man in His death. Isaiah stresses that He was innocent. He had done no violence, and no lie had ever been on His lips.

BSA: violence (“cruelty, injustice”): He had wronged no one, so the harm done to Him was entirely undeserved.

See also: Matthew 27:57-60; 1 Peter 2:22.

Isaiah 53:10

His suffering was not an accident. It was part of the Lord’s purpose. His life is made an offering for guilt, and afterward He is shown to live on. He will see children of His own, and God’s good plan will succeed through Him.

BSA: will (“pleasure, delight”): The Father did not delight in pain itself. He delighted in the rescue it would accomplish.

Hebrew: אָשָׁם (ʼasham, H817) — “guilt offering.” This is the offering of repayment for wrong done. It shows that the Servant’s life is given as the price that settles our debt.

See also: Acts 2:23.

Isaiah 53:11

After His soul’s anguish, the Servant sees the fruit of His work and is satisfied. Through His knowledge, this righteous One makes many right with God. He does it by carrying their sins Himself.

BSA: justify (“make right, declare innocent”): Many are counted righteous before God because of what the Servant has done. Servant (“slave, attendant”): He accomplishes this as one who gives complete obedience to God.

Hebrew: יַצְדִּיק (yatsdiq, H6663) — “will declare righteous.” It is a legal word for declaring someone to be in the right. The guilty are put right with God through the Servant.

See also: Romans 5:19.

Isaiah 53:12

God honors the Servant with victory and a share with the great. The reason is that He poured out His life, was counted among sinners, carried the sin of many, and prayed for those who sinned. His suffering ends in triumph.

BSA: numbered (“counted, reckoned”): He was officially placed in the ranks of lawbreakers, though He was innocent. intercession (“prayer, supplication”): He pleads for sinners and stands between them and God.

Hebrew: יַפְגִּיעַ (yafgiaʻ, H6293) — “he intercedes, he makes meet.” This is the same root used for laying our sin on Him in verse 6. The One who was struck by our sin now stands in the gap for sinners.

See also: Luke 22:37; Luke 23:34; Hebrews 7:25.