Isaiah 53 (DBY)

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Chapter Text

53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of Jehovah been revealed?

53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender sapling, and as a root out of dry ground: he hath no form nor lordliness, and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

53:3 He is despised and left alone of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, and like one from whom [men] hide their faces; despised, and we esteemed him not.

53:4 Surely *he* hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; and we, we did regard him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

53:5 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.

53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way; and Jehovah hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all.

53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, but he opened not his mouth; he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and was as a sheep dumb before her shearers, and he opened not his mouth.

53:8 He was taken from oppression 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.

53:9 And [men] appointed his grave with the wicked, but he was with the rich in his death, because he had done no violence, neither was there guile in his mouth.

53:10 Yet it pleased Jehovah to bruise him; he hath subjected [him] to suffering. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see a seed, he shall prolong [his] days, and the pleasure of Jehovah shall prosper in his hand.

53:11 He shall see of [the fruit of] the travail of his soul, [and] shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant instruct many in righteousness; and *he* shall bear their iniquities.

53:12 Therefore will I assign 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 was reckoned with the transgressors; and he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "intercession", "borne our griefs", "carried our sorrows", "wounded", "transgressions", "iniquities", "stripes", and "healed". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "intercession" and "borne our griefs", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The local DBY text gives this verse as the immediate unit, so "intercession" and "borne our griefs" carries the first interpretive weight. In The Suffering Servant Bears Iniquity, the local focus is the servant of the LORD, atonement, and judgment and restoration.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "intercession" and "borne our griefs" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.