Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
Parallel translations
- WEB Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.
- BSB Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted.
- NKJV Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.
- NASB ¶However, it was our sicknesses that He Himself bore, And our pains that He carried; Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted, Struck down by God, and humiliated.
- NLT Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own 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
The Servant bore our sicknesses and sorrows, though onlookers wrongly assumed God was punishing him for his own sin. It matters because his suffering was substitutionary, carried on our behalf.
Overview
Here begins the heart of the chapter: the Servant takes up what was ours. Observers misjudged his affliction as divine judgment on him, not grasping that he suffered for them. Matthew (8:17) sees this fulfilled in Christ's healing ministry and ultimately in the cross, where Jesus bore the full weight of human brokenness and sin.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- 1 Pet 2:24Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
- Matt 8:17That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
- Gal 3:13Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
- 1 Jn 2:2And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
- 1 Pet 3:18For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
- Isa 53:5–6But 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.
- Heb 9:28So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
- Isa 53:11–12He 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.
- John 19:7The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.
- Ps 69:26For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded.
- Matt 26:37And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 53:4 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.