Isaiah 53
Holman Christian Standard Bible
53 Who has believed what we have heard?[a]
And who has the arm of the Lord(A) been revealed to?(B)
2 He grew up before Him like a young plant(C)
and like a root out of dry ground.
He didn’t have an impressive form
or majesty that we should look at Him,
no appearance that we should desire Him.(D)
3 He was despised and rejected by men,(E)
a man of suffering who knew what sickness was.(F)
He was like someone people turned away from;[b]
He was despised, and we didn’t value Him.
4 Yet He Himself bore our sicknesses,
and He carried our pains;(G)
but we in turn regarded Him stricken,
struck down by God,(H) and afflicted.
5 But He was pierced because of our transgressions,(I)
crushed because of our iniquities;(J)
punishment(K) for our peace was on Him,
and we are healed by His wounds.(L)
6 We all went astray like sheep;(M)
we all have turned to our own way;
and the Lord has punished Him
for[c] the iniquity(N) of us all.(O)
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet He did not open His mouth.
Like a lamb led to the slaughter
and like a sheep silent before her shearers,
He did not open His mouth.(P)
8 He was taken away because of oppression and judgment;
and who considered His fate?[d]
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
He was struck because of my people’s rebellion.
9 They[e] made His grave with the wicked
and with a rich man at His death,(Q)
although He had done no violence
and had not spoken deceitfully.(R)
10 Yet the Lord was pleased(S) to crush Him severely.[f](T)
When[g] You make Him a restitution offering,(U)
He will see His seed, He will prolong His days,
and by His hand, the Lord’s pleasure will be accomplished.(V)
11 He will see it[h] out of His anguish,
and He will be satisfied with His knowledge.
My righteous(W) Servant(X) will justify many,(Y)
and He will carry their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give Him[i] the many as a portion,
and He will receive[j] the mighty as spoil,
because He submitted Himself to death,(Z)
and was counted among the rebels;(AA)
yet He bore the sin of many(AB)
and interceded for the rebels.(AC)
Footnotes
- Isaiah 53:1 Or believed our report
- Isaiah 53:3 Lit And like a hiding of faces from Him
- Isaiah 53:6 Or has placed on Him; lit with
- Isaiah 53:8 Or and as for His generation, who considered [Him]?
- Isaiah 53:9 DSS; MT reads He
- Isaiah 53:10 Or Him; He made Him sick.
- Isaiah 53:10 Or If
- Isaiah 53:11 DSS, LXX read see light
- Isaiah 53:12 Or Him with
- Isaiah 53:12 Or receive with
Isaiah 53
The Message
53 Who believes what we’ve heard and seen?
Who would have thought God’s saving power would look like this?
2-6 The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling,
a scrubby plant in a parched field.
There was nothing attractive about him,
nothing to cause us to take a second look.
He was looked down on and passed over,
a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—
our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself,
that God was punishing him for his own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him,
that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
Through his bruises we get healed.
We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost.
We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong,
on him, on him.
7-9 He was beaten, he was tortured,
but he didn’t say a word.
Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered
and like a sheep being sheared,
he took it all in silence.
Justice miscarried, and he was led off—
and did anyone really know what was happening?
He died without a thought for his own welfare,
beaten bloody for the sins of my people.
They buried him with the wicked,
threw him in a grave with a rich man,
Even though he’d never hurt a soul
or said one word that wasn’t true.
10 Still, it’s what God had in mind all along,
to crush him with pain.
The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin
so that he’d see life come from it—life, life, and more life.
And God’s plan will deeply prosper through him.
11-12 Out of that terrible travail of soul,
he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it.
Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,
will make many “righteous ones,”
as he himself carries the burden of their sins.
Therefore I’ll reward him extravagantly—
the best of everything, the highest honors—
Because he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch,
because he embraced the company of the lowest.
He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many,
he took up the cause of all the black sheep.
Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson