As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, For He will bear their wrongdoings.
Parallel translations
- WEB After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light and be satisfied. My righteous servant will justify many by the knowledge of himself; and he will bear their iniquities.
- KJV He 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.
- BSB 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.
- NKJV He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities.
- NLT When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
After his anguish the Servant will see light and be satisfied, justifying many by bearing their iniquities. It matters because it is a direct promise of justification through the Servant's atoning knowledge.
Overview
The Servant emerges from death ('see the light') vindicated and satisfied with the fruit of his suffering. As the 'righteous one,' he 'justifies many,' declaring sinners righteous by taking their guilt upon himself. This anticipates the New Testament doctrine that believers are justified through Christ, the righteous Servant who bore their sins.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 33
- Rom 5:18–19So then as through one trespass, all men were condemned; even so through one act of righteousness, all men were justified to life.
- 1 Pet 2:24who his own self bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed.
- Rev 5:9–10They sang a new song, saying, “You are worthy to take the book, and to open its seals: for you were killed, and bought us for God with your blood, out of every tribe, language, people, and nation,
- Isa 53:4–6Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.
- 1 Pet 3:18Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;
- John 12:27–32“Now my soul is troubled. What shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this time?’ But for this cause I came to this time.
- Rom 4:24but for our sake also, to whom it will be accounted, who believe in him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead,
- Isa 53:12Therefore will I give him a portion with the great, and he will divide the plunder with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was counted with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
- John 17:3This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
- Heb 12:2looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
- John 10:14–18I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I’m known by my own;
- Phil 3:8–10Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ
- Matt 20:28even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
- Heb 9:28so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, without sin, to those who are eagerly waiting for him for salvation.
- John 16:21A woman, when she gives birth, has sorrow, because her time has come. But when she has delivered the child, she doesn’t remember the anguish any more, for the joy that a human being is born into the world.
- Isa 45:25All the offspring of Israel will be justified in Yahweh, and will rejoice!
- Isa 42:1“Behold, my servant, whom I uphold; my chosen, in whom my soul delights — I have put my Spirit on him. He will bring justice to the nations.
- Isa 53:8He was taken away by oppression and judgment; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living and stricken for the disobedience of my people?
- 1 Cor 6:11Such were some of you, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.
- Titus 3:6–7whom he poured out on us richly, through Jesus Christ our Savior;
- 1 Jn 2:1My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have a Counselor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.
- 2 Jn 1:3Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
- Rom 5:9Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him.
- 2 Cor 4:6seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
- 2 Jn 1:1The elder, to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth; and not I only, but also all those who know the truth;
- 2 Pet 3:18But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
- Rev 7:9–17After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could count, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.
- Rom 3:22–24even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all those who believe. For there is no distinction,
- Gal 4:19My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ is formed in you —
- John 12:24Most certainly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.
- Isa 49:3He said to me, “You are my servant; Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
- Luke 22:44Being in agony he prayed more earnestly. His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.
- 2 Pet 1:2–3Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 53:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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