The Orthodox Jewish Bible YESHAYAH 53

1 Who hath believed our report?

And to whom is the Zero'a Hashem* revealed?

2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant,

and as a Shoresh (Root, Shoresh Yishai, Moshiach Ben Dovid)† 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.

3 He is despised and chadal ishim (rejected by men);

a man of sorrows, and acquainted with suffering;

and we hid as it were our faces from him;

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he hath borne our sufferings,

and nasah (carried)§ our sorrows;

yet we did esteem him stricken,*

smitten of G-d,† and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced‡ for our transgressions,

he was bruised mei'avonoteinu (for our iniquities);

the musar (chastisement) that brought us shalom§ was upon him [Moshiach];

and at the cost of his [Moshiachʼs] chaburah (stripes, lacerations) we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned every one to his own derech*(way);

and Hashem hath laid on him†

the avon (iniquity, the guilt that separates from G-d) of us all.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth;

he is brought as a seh‡(lamb) to the slaughter,

and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb,

so he openeth not his mouth.

8 He was taken from prison and from judgment;

and who of his generation declared?

For he was cut off§ out of Eretz Chayyim*

mipesha ami (for the transgression of my people [Yisroel]),

nega†(plague) lamo ([fell] on him).‡

9 And he made his kever (grave) with the resha'im,

and with the oisher§(rich man) bemotayv (in his deaths, intensive plural should be translated singular, death);

because he had done no chamas (violence),

neither was any mirmah (deceit) in his mouth.*

10 Yet it pleased Hashem to bruise him;

He hath put him to suffering;

when Thou shalt make his nefesh an asham offering for sin,

he (Moshiach) shall see zera,†

He shall prolong his yamim (days)

and the chefetz Hashem(pleasure, will of Hashem) shall prosper in his‡ hand.

11 He§ shall see of the travail of his* nefesh, and shall be satisfied;

by knowledge of him†

shall Tzadik Avdi (My Righteous Servant)‡ justify many;§

for he* shall bear their avon (iniquities).

12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great,

and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;

because he hath poured out his nefesh unto mavet (death);

and he was numbered with the transgressors;

and he nasah†(bore) [like the Yom Kippur scapegoat] the sin of many,

and made intercession‡ for the transgressors.§

*53:1 Isa 52:10

†53:2 Isa 11:1,10, Sanhedrin93b

‡53:2 Hag 2:7

§53:4 Lv 16:22; Isa 53:12

*53:4 i.e., like a leper is stricken

†53:4 See Dt 21:23

‡53:5 Isa 51:9; Zech 12:10 Sukkah 52a, Ps 22:17 Targum Hashivim

§53:5 Isa 54:10

*53:6 see Prov 16:25

†53:6 Moshiach

‡53:7 see Ex 12:3

§53:8 Dan 9:26; Lv 17:10

*53:8 this refers to the mot of Moshiach Ben Dovid, see v.12

†53:8 cf. Ps 91:10

‡53:8 i.e., Moshiach; in light of Ps 11:7 and Job 22:2 we are warranted in saying the suffix is a singular, “him,” not “them”. Cf Gn 9:26-27; Dt 33:2; Isa 44:15; also compare 1Chr 21:17

§53:9 see Mt 27:57-60

*53:9 We stray as sheep; we return in Moshiach as children (zera); the Techiyas HaMoshiach (Resurrection of Moshiach) predicted in v. 10 Dead Sea Scrolls Isaiah Scroll says Moshiach “will see the light [of life];” see also the Targum HaShivim

†53:10 See Psalm 16 and Yn 1:12

‡53:10 Moshiachʼs

§53:11 Hashem

*53:11 Moshiachʼs

†53:11 Moshiach

‡53:11 Moshiach, Zech 3:8, Jer 23:5; Zech 6:11-12, Ezra 3:8 Yehoshua, Yeshua shmo

§53:11 Ro 5:1

*53:11 Moshiach

†53:12 Lv 16:22

‡53:12 did the work of a mafgi'a, intercessor

§53:12 See Lk 23:34