Isaiah 53
About IsaiahWritten by AI
Isaiah is the first of the major prophets and one of the books the New Testament quotes most often. Isaiah son of Amoz preached in Jerusalem from about 740 to 700 BC, during the reigns of four kings of Judah, while the Assyrian empire threatened the land. Many scholars think chapters 40 to 66 come from later writers in the time of the exile and return. Many Christians hold that Isaiah wrote the whole book, noting that the New Testament quotes both halves under his name.
The book moves from judgment to comfort. Chapters 1 to 39 confront Judah's sin and the proud nations, with the history of King Hezekiah at the center. From chapter 40 the tone changes: “Comfort, comfort My people.” God promises to bring His people home, and the book ends with new heavens and a new earth.
Watch for God's title, the Holy One of Israel, and for the promised King from David's line and the Servant of the LORD who suffers for others. Christians see both fulfilled in Jesus, though some prophecies are read differently among believers.
Before you read Isaiah 53Written by AI
The heart of the Servant Songs. The Servant is despised and rejected, and He suffers in the place of others: “He was pierced for our transgressions.” He goes silent like a lamb to the slaughter, dies, and yet will see His offspring. The New Testament applies this chapter to Jesus, as Philip does in Acts 8; many Jewish readers see the Servant as Israel.
The Suffering Servant
Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
He 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.
He 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.
Surely He took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows;
yet we considered Him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
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.
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.
He 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.
By 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.
A Grave Assigned
He 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.
Yet 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.
After 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.
Therefore 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.