Isaiah 53
12 verses
The fourth Servant Song presents the climactic vision of the suffering servant who "was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities," constituting one of Christianity's most significant Old Testament passages. The oracle emphasizes that the servant's appearance is marred and that He grows up like a tender shoot in harsh conditions, yet His suffering accomplishes justification and healing for many. The passage includes the remarkable declaration that the Lord has laid upon the servant the iniquity of us all and that through His wounds we are healed, establishing substitutionary atonement theology. The vision depicts the servant's willingness to go to death like a lamb to the slaughter and to be silent before his shearers, establishing patient endurance in the face of violence and injustice. The oracle promises that the servant will see His offspring and prolong His days and that the will of the Lord will prosper in His hand, establishing resurrection and vindication. The passage emphasizes that the servant's death accomplishes redemption for many, that His suffering is vicarious and redemptive. Isaiah 53 stands at the center of Christian theological interpretation of the cross and represents the Old Testament's most profound meditation on sacrificial atonement. The chapter establishes that ultimate salvation comes through the willing sacrifice of the innocent servant and that His death benefits the guilty.
VERSES IN THIS CHAPTER
1
Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
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2
For 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.
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3
He 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.
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4
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
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5
But 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.
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6
All 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.
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7
He 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.
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8
He 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.
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9
And 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.
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10
Yet 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.
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11
He 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.
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12
Therefore 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.
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