Isaiah 53

The suffering servant.

Text — King James Version (1611)

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

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

53:3He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

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

53:5But 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.

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

53:7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

53:8He was taken from prison 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.

53:9And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

53:10Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

53:11He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

53:12Therefore will I divide 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 he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

From the site’s Bible translations (Day 10). Compare other translations on the compare view.

Works discussing this passage

Links marked curated are an editor’s selection; links marked cited in text were found by scanning the work for a reference to this passage.

Justin Martyr — Dialogue with Trypho curated
Tertullian — Adversus Marcionem curated
Origen — Contra Celsum curated
Athanasius — On the Incarnation of the Word curated

Cited in the Fathers’ own texts

Justin Martyr — Dialogue with Trypho cited in text · 9 references — The bells on the priest's robe were a figure of the apostles
Ambrose of Milan — Exposition of the Christian Faith cited in text · 8 references
Tertullian — Adversus Marcionem cited in text · 6 references — Prophecy Sets Forth Two Different Conditions of Christ, One Lowly, the Other Majestic. This Fact Points to Two Advents of Christ.
Gregory of Nazianzus — Select Orations cited in text · 5 references — Third Theological Oration (Oration 29) (Gregory Nazianzen)
Aphrahat — Demonstrations (NPNF selection: I, V, VI, VIII, X, XVII, XXI, XXII) cited in text · 4 references — Demonstration VI — Of Monks
Ambrose of Milan — On the Holy Spirit cited in text · 2 references
Augustine of Hippo — City of God cited in text · 2 references — Passages from the Psalms of David Which Predict the End of the World and the Last Judgment.
Ephrem the Syrian — Hymns on the Nativity of Christ in the Flesh cited in text · 2 references — Hymn 1
Justin Martyr — First Apology cited in text · 2 references — His humiliation predicted
Ambrose of Milan — Letters cited in text · 1 reference — (Ambrose)

Parallel passages

Acts 2 — Pentecost and the first preaching.

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