Isaiah 53
The Servant's Rejection and Humiliation 1–3
The Meaning of His Suffering 4–6
Silent Submission and Unjust Death 7–9
Vindication and Glorious Reward 10–12
Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain
Study Notes for Isaiah 53
Verse 1
Who hath believed our report? — The passage begins at 52:13, 'Behold, my servant', and runs to the end of this chapter. 'Report' (shemu'ah) is a thing heard, a message. John cites the verse for the unbelief that met Christ's signs (John 12:38), Paul for Israel's response to the gospel (Rom 10:16).
Verse 2
a tender plant… a root out of a dry ground — Yoneq is a sucker, the shoot that springs from a felled stump, recalling the 'rod out of the stem of Jesse' (Isa 11:1). The Servant rises from a cut-down royal line in unpromising soil, with no 'form' or 'comeliness' (hadar, majesty) to draw the eye.
Verse 3
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief — 'Sorrows' (mak'ob) are pains, and 'grief' (choli) is literally sickness; the same two words return in v.4 as what he bears for others. 'Despised' frames the verse at both ends; John's 'his own received him not' (John 1:11) is its echo.
Verse 4
he hath borne our griefs — Again choli and mak'ob, sicknesses and pains. Matthew sees the verse fulfilled in Christ's healings: 'Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses' (Matt 8:17); Peter applies the bearing to sin and the cross (1 Pet 2:24). The onlookers had judged him 'smitten of God' for his own guilt.
Verse 5
with his stripes we are healed — 'Stripes' is singular in Hebrew (chabburah, the weal left by a blow). 'The chastisement of our peace' is the punishment that brought peace to others. Peter quotes the line, 'by whose stripes ye were healed', of Christ's death 'on the tree' (1 Pet 2:24).
Verse 6
the LORD hath laid on him — 'Laid' is paga', to fall upon; the same verb is rendered 'made intercession' in v.12, so the one on whom the iniquity fell becomes the one who intercedes. Peter echoes the straying sheep: 'ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd' (1 Pet 2:25).
Verse 7
as a lamb to the slaughter — The verse the Ethiopian treasurer was reading when Philip 'began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus' (Acts 8:32–35). The silence was kept before the high priest and Pilate (Matt 26:63; 27:12–14); John the Baptist names him 'the Lamb of God' (John 1:29).
Verse 8
who shall declare his generation? — Dor is a generation, an age or a line of descendants: who among his contemporaries considered that he was cut off for their transgression? Acts 8:33 quotes the verse in its Greek form. Early Christian writers also read it of his eternal generation from the Father.
Verse 9
with the rich in his death — Assigned a grave with the wicked, he was buried by 'a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph' in his own new tomb (Matt 27:57–60). 'Neither was any deceit in his mouth' is applied to Christ by Peter: 'Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth' (1 Pet 2:22).
Verse 10
an offering for sin — The Hebrew is asham, the 'trespass offering' of Leviticus 5–7, which made amends for a wrong against the holy things of the LORD (Lev 5:15). 'To bruise' is daka, to crush, the verb of 'bruised for our iniquities' (v.5); yet after death the Servant 'shall see his seed'.
Verse 11
my righteous servant justify many — 'Righteous' (tsaddiq) and 'justify' (tsadaq) share one root: the righteous one makes many righteous by bearing 'their iniquities'. Paul states the same exchange: 'by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous' (Rom 5:19).
Verse 12
numbered with the transgressors — Christ quotes these words of himself on the night of his arrest (Luke 22:37) and was crucified between two thieves (Mark 15:27–28). 'Made intercession' is paga', the verb of v.6; it is heard from the cross, 'Father, forgive them' (Luke 23:34), and continues in heaven (Heb 7:25).