1Who has believed our message? To whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed? 2For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form nor comeliness. 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 Yahweh 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 mute, so he didn't open his mouth. 8He was taken away by oppression and judgment; and 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, neither was any deceit in his mouth. 10Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of Yahweh shall 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 will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
The Book ofIsaiah 53Chapter LIII 53
· 12 verses · 2 minute read
About this chapter
Isaiah 53 — The Suffering Servant
Isaiah 53 stands as one of the most extraordinary passages in the Old Testament—a messianic prophecy so detailed in its description of Jesus that traditional rabbinic Judaism largely avoided interpreting it messianically after the first century. Written some seven hundred years before Christ, it speaks of a "servant" (eved) who would be "wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities" (53:5). The chapter overturns every expectation of Jewish messianic hope: this messiah does not conquer but suffers, is rejected, buried among the wealthy, and through his stripes we are healed. Verse 6 contains one of Scripture's most concise summaries of the gospel: "All we like sheep have gone astray... and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." Verse 10 presents a paradox: "It pleased the Lord to bruise him"—not because God delights in suffering, but because redemption's plan required substitution. The Hebrew word asham (guilt offering) appears in verse 10, directly linking the servant to the sacrificial system. Philip used this very chapter to evangelize the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8. This is the chapter of the cross, written centuries before the cross existed.
Isaiah 52:13–53:12 comprises the fourth and longest of the 'Servant Songs.' While scholarly debate continues regarding authorship (Isaiah of Jerusalem or Deutero-Isaiah), pre-Christian dating is beyond question, confirmed by the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Read this to understand the cross—and to see that God did not devise Jesus's sacrifice in the New Testament, but promised it seven centuries before.
Key verses in Isaiah 53
Isaiah 53:5 · Promise · High comfortIsaiah 53:6 · Promise · High comfortIsaiah 53:1
Explore each verse of Isaiah 53
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