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Isaiah 53

The rejected servant bears the sins of others through suffering and death, and YHWH declares his vindication.

A rejected servant suffers while those speaking confess that they misjudged him. They had treated his pain as evidence that God had struck him; they now describe him bearing their sins. The speakers’ identity is uncertain, and the servant is unnamed here. The poem follows his oppression, silence, death, and burial, then speaks of life beyond his suffering. At the close, YHWH declares that his righteous servant will justify many and receive honor.

guilt and confessionpraise and worshipsermon or Bible study notes
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1Who has believed our message? To whom has the LORD’s arm been revealed?
2For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no good looks or majesty. When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t respect him.
4Surely he has borne our sickness and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.
5But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed.
6All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he didn’t open his mouth.
8He was taken away by oppression and judgment. As for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living and stricken for the disobedience of my people?
9They made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he will see his offspring. He will prolong his days and the LORD’s pleasure will prosper in his hand.
11After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light and be satisfied. My righteous servant will justify many by the knowledge of himself; and he will bear their iniquities.
12Therefore I will give him a portion with the great. He will divide the plunder with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was counted with the transgressors; yet he bore the sins of many and made intercession for the transgressors.
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Key verses
Isaiah 53:6The sheep image joins each person’s wandering to the shared guilt that YHWH lays on the servant.
Isaiah 53:10The servant’s suffering becomes an offering for sin, while promised offspring and prolonged days point beyond his death.
Isaiah 53:4The speakers confess their mistake: the suffering they took as his punishment was a burden he carried for them.
Where this chapter reaches

1 Peter draws on the servant’s innocence, wounds, and bearing of sins to describe Jesus’ suffering; Matthew quotes the language of bearing sickness in its account of his healings. John quotes the opening question about unbelief, while Hebrews shares the theme of bearing the sins of many.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What changes in the speakers’ understanding of the servant, and which words make that change clear?

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How does the promise of the servant’s vindication shape your reading of his suffering?

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Questions people ask about Isaiah 53

Who is the suffering servant in Isaiah 53?

The servant is unnamed in these twelve verses. He is described as innocent, rejected, and bearing the sins of others, then honored by God. The identity of the speakers is also uncertain. Christians understand the servant as Jesus Christ, following the use of this passage in books such as 1 Peter and John.

Why does Isaiah 53:10 say it pleased YHWH to bruise him?

Verse 10 places the servant’s suffering within YHWH’s purpose and describes his life as an offering for sin. The surrounding verses identify what that suffering accomplishes: he bears iniquities and justifies many. The text also calls his treatment oppression and affirms his innocence. God’s purpose does not make the human violence innocent.

Does Isaiah 53:5 promise physical healing?

The chapter includes sickness and suffering, while verse 5 links wounds and healing with transgressions, iniquities, and peace. Matthew connects verse 4 with Jesus’ healings, and 1 Peter uses the wounds language in connection with sin and righteousness. The passage does not promise that every believer’s illness will end in this life.

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Isaiah · 66 chapters
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).