Isaiah 53 — The Suffering Servant
Seven hundred years before the cross, Isaiah saw a servant despised, pierced, and bearing the iniquity of us all.
1Who hath believed our message? and to whom hath the arm of Jehovah been revealed?
2For he grew 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 see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3He was despised, and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and as one from whom men hide their face he was despised; and we esteemed him not.
4Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
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.
6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and Jehovah hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he opened not his mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.
8By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who among them considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due?
9And they 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 Jehovah 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 Jehovah shall prosper in his hand.
11He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by the knowledge of himself shall my righteous servant justify many; and he shall 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 unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors: yet he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Historical context
Isaiah 53 is the fourth and longest of the so-called Servant Songs (Isaiah 42, 49, 50, 52:13–53:12). Written in the eighth century BC but pointing past Israel's exile to a deeper deliverance, it describes a singular Servant whose suffering accomplishes what sacrifice and law could not. The New Testament cites or alludes to this chapter more than any other Old Testament passage, applying it directly to Jesus (Acts 8:32-35; 1 Peter 2:22-25).
Commentary
The song opens with astonishment (53:1) — who has believed this report? The Servant comes 'as a tender plant' and 'a root out of dry ground,' without natural majesty. He is 'despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief' (v.3).
Verses 4-6 contain the chapter's central exchange. 'He has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows… he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.' The pronouns are decisive: our sin, his stripes, our peace. 'All we like sheep have gone astray… and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.' This is substitution stated in plain Hebrew.
Verses 7-9 describe the Servant's silent submission — 'as a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he didn't open his mouth.' His grave is appointed with the wicked, yet he is 'with the rich in his death' — fulfilled in Jesus' burial in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb (Matthew 27:57-60).
Verses 10-12 turn from suffering to vindication. It pleased the LORD to bruise him; yet 'he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days,' and 'by the knowledge of himself shall my righteous servant justify many.' The cross is not the end of the song — resurrection and a justified multitude are.