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Isaiah 53
Our plain-language guide next to the Bible text. Each row lines up one section with the verses it explains.
Section 3: Despised and RejectedVerses 1 to 3
Then the people speak, looking back. "Who has believed our message?" (53:1).
He grew up like a small plant in dry ground. There was nothing special about the way he looked.
"He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief" (53:3).
People turned away from him. "We esteemed Him not" (53:3). To esteem means to value.
1Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no stately form or majesty to attract us, no beauty that we should desire Him. 3He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.
Section 4: Pierced for Our TransgressionsVerses 4 to 6
"Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows" (53:4). Infirmities are weaknesses and sicknesses.
We thought God was punishing him for something he did.
"But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed" (53:5).
Stripes are the marks left by a whip.
"We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all" (53:6).
4Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted. 5But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. 6We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.
Section 5: Like a LambVerses 7 to 9
"He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth" (53:7).
He was arrested and condemned unjustly, and cut off from the land of the living.
He was buried with the wicked, and with a rich man, though he had done nothing wrong.
7He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth. 8By oppression and judgment He was taken away, and who can recount His descendants? For He was cut off from the land of the living; He was stricken for the transgression of My people. 9He was assigned a 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.
Section 6: He Will See the LightVerses 10 to 12
It was God's will for the servant to suffer, as an offering for sin. But that is not the end.
"He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days" (53:10). Someone who died will live again.
"After the anguish of His soul, He will see the light of life and be satisfied" (53:11).
"By His knowledge My righteous Servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities" (53:11). To justify means to declare people right with God.
He was counted among sinners. "Yet He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors" (53:12).
10Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush Him and to cause Him to suffer; and when His soul is made a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. 11After the anguish of His soul, He will see the light of life and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities. 12Therefore I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He has poured out His life unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors. Yet He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.
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