One Unity Resource Bible Isaiah / Yesha'yahu 53

1 *Who has believed our message? †

To whom has the arm of Adonai been revealed? ‡

2 §For he grew up before him as a tender plant,

and as a root out of dry ground.

* He has no good looks or majesty.

When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

3 †He was despised,

‡ and rejected by men;

a man of suffering, §

* and acquainted with disease.

He was despised † as one from whom men hide their face;

and we didn’t respect him.

4 ‡Surely he has borne our sickness, §

and carried our suffering;

* yet we considered him plagued,

† struck by God, and afflicted.

5 ‡But he was pierced for our transgressions.

§ He was crushed for our iniquities.

* The punishment that brought our peace was on him;

† and by his stripes and wounds we are healed and made whole. ‡

6 §All we like sheep have gone astray.

Everyone has turned to * his own way;

† and Adonai has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 ‡He was oppressed,

yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth.

§ As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, *

and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he didn’t open his mouth. †

8 ‡After forcible arrest and § sentencing, he was taken away;

and none of his generation protested

* his being cut off out of the land of the living †

for the crimes of my people, who deserved the punishment themselves.

9 ‡They made his 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. ‡

10 §Yet it pleased Adonai to bruise him.

He has caused him to suffer.

* To see if he would † present himself as a guilt offering.

If he does, he will see his offspring,

‡ and he will prolong his days,

and Adonai ’s pleasure will prosper in his hand.

11 §After this ordeal, he will see satisfaction

“By his knowing [pain and sacrifice].

* My righteous † servant will justify many;

for it is their sins that he suffers.

12 ‡Therefore will I give him a portion with the great,

§ and he will divide the spoils with the strong;

because * he exposed himself to death,

† and was counted with the transgressors; ‡

§ while actually bearing the sin of many, *

† and interceding for the offenders.

*53:1 MP: The Messiah’s own people do not believe he is the Messiah. (John 12:37-38)

†53:1 Quoted in Rom 10:16

‡53:1 Quoted in John 12:38

§53:2 MP: Messiah will grow up in “dry ground,” an idiom for “a poor family”. Luke 2:7 identifies the poorest offering after childbirth being used (Lev 12:6-8). (See also Is 11:1 – Jesse’s tree was cut off at the trunk— not thriving family). (Consider illusion in Is 11:1). (Luke 2:7, 2:22, 2:24)

*53:2 MP: Messiah appears like an ordinary man. His betrayer identified Messiah in the garden by kissing him, because Messiah was not comely or handsome in appearance. (Matt 26:48-49; Phil 2:7)

†53:3 MP: Messiah is despised. (Luke 4:28-29)

‡53:3 MP: Messiah is rejected by his own Jewish people, “we did not esteem him”. Yet (Is 49:6 and 60:1-3) says the Messiah’s light draws the Gentiles to Him. (Matt 12:24; Luke 23:10-19; John 1:11, 12:32; Acts 13:47-48)

§53:3 Quoted in Luke 24:46

*53:3 MP: Messiah sympathizes with great sorrow and grief. (Luke 19:41-44; John 11:33-36; Heb 4:15)

†53:3 MP: Men would hide their faces from Messiah. (Mark 14:50, 14:69-71)

‡53:4 MP: Messiah bears (removes, heals) our “diseases, sickness, sorrows”. (Matt 8:16-17, 9:35)

§53:4 Quoted in Matt 8:17; 1 Pet 2:24

*53:4 MP: Messiah perceived to be cursed by God. (See also Ps 22:1, 118:17-18). (Matt 27:41-44; John 19:7)

†53:4 MPr: The Messiah bears the name of “Leprous” or “Leper Scholar” as it says, “smitten by God” (Is 53:4). (Talmud Sanhedrin 98B on Isaiah 53). (Luke 5:12-14; Mark 1:40-44, 2:15-17)

‡53:5 MP: Messiah is “pierced / wounded for our transgressions”. Note: There is no Bible punishment or law for death that specifically involves piercing; stoning or banishment is more common. (Matt 20:28; John 19:34; Rom 4:25)

§53:5 MP: Messiah bears and carries the sins of others. (1 Peter 2:24)

*53:5 Messiah’s chastening brings us peace (with God). Implied by the context, this peace is in relationship with our Creator not other humans. (Rom 4:25; 5:15-18; Col 1:20)

†53:5 MP: “By his stripes we are healed / made whole.” Messiah’s atonement brings wholeness and healing to those in association with him. (This healing could be physical, spiritual or both.) (Matt 8:16-17; John 17:17-19; 1 Peter 2:24)

‡53:5 Quoted in 1 Peter 2:24

§53:6 MP: We have strayed like sheep away from our atonement. (1 Peter 2:25)

*53:6 Quoted in 1 Peter 2:25

†53:6 MP: Messiah bears the sins for all mankind, like the scapegoat removed from the camp on Yom Kippur [Day of Atonement] (Lev 16:10). (Rom 5:17-18 (Rom 5:6-10, 5:15-21); Heb 9:28) (Also referenced in: 1 Cor 15:3; 2 Cor 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 2:2, 3:5, 4:10)

‡53:7 MP: Messiah is oppressed and afflicted but does not speak out in his own defense. (Matt 27:11-14)

§53:7 MP: Messiah, in likeness of a sacrificial lamb, is silent before his accusers. (See also Ps 35:11). (Matt 27:12-14; John 1:29; 1 Peter 1:18-19, 2:23)

*53:7 Quoted in Rev 5:6

†53:7 Quoted in 1 Peter 2:23

‡53:8 MP: Messiah is confined and oppressed without opposition. (Mark 14:53-65; Acts 8:27-35)

§53:8 MP: Messiah is confined and judged. (John 18:12-13, 18:19-24)

*53:8 MP: Messiah is killed / “cut off” as just punishment in place of the people’s transgressions. (Acts 8:33; 2 Cor 5:21; 1 Peter 1:18-19)

†53:8 Quoted in Acts 8:32-33

‡53:9 MP: By being killed along with other criminals, Messiah is assigned a grave with the wicked. (Matt 27:38)

§53:9 MP: Buried in a rich man’s grave. Evidence: Raymond Brown comments on Roman attitudes to the bodies of the crucified. The Digest of Justinian 48:24 (200 CE) gives two Roman political legal people’s decisions about criminals executed. Ulpian: “The bodies of those who suffer capital punishment are not to be refused to their relatives.” Julius Paulus adds: “Nor to any who seek them for burial.” Ulpian states this might be refused if the criminal was executed for treason. Therefore Yeshua was not convicted of Roman treason, but likely killed for a political motive. (The Burial of Yeshua Mark 15:42-47 by Raymond Brown (1988)). (Matt 27:57-60)

*53:9 MP: Messiah is innocent, having done no violence or deceit, persoanlly or politically. (Luke 23:13-15; 1 Peter 2:21-23)

†53:9 MP: Messiah’s character is without blame, even when provoked. (Luke 23:14; 1 Peter 2:23)

‡53:9 Quoted in 1 Pet 2:22

§53:10 MP: God will afflict the Messiah, in association with bearing sin. (John 12:7-33; Gal 1:4; 1 Peter 2:24)

*53:10 MP: Messiah offers himself as a sin offering. (Matt 20:28; Eph 5:2)

†53:10 MP: God’s desire is fulfilled in Messiah being a sin offering. This end goal is God’s purpose. In context, God pleasure is linked to a sin offering being provided. An atonement, a redemption, and a covering for sin was accomplished through that offering for all people who are associated (see Is 53:5-6, 53:11) bringing God pleasure. Being associated with the sin offering is seen in (Lev 4:4, 4:15, 4:24, 4:29, 4:33). (John 17:1-5; Rom 4:25; Eph 1:16-23; Heb 10:9-10; 1 John 2:2)

‡53:10 MP: Messiah is resurrected from death and has life beyond the grave. “He will prolong / lengthen his days”. (Luke 24:6-7, 24:46; Acts 2:24)

§53:11 MP: God is fully satisfied with the suffering of the Messiah. By accepting this, it infers the sin offering is accepted. Acceptance of the sin offering is seen in (Lev 4:20). Read in context of (Lev 4:2-7). (John 10:17-18; Gal 1:4; 1 Peter 2:24)

*53:11 MP: Messiah has intimate knowledge of the anguish and suffering of the sin that his atonement is covering. (Heb 2:17-18; 4:15, 9:28)

†53:11 MP: Messiah is God’s servant. (John 6:38; Romans 6:19)

‡53:12 MP: Because of making his atonement offering, Messiah is greatly exalted by God and reaps rewards. (Matt 28:18; Eph 1:20-22; Heb 1:3)

§53:12 MP: “He will divide the spoils.” By being an atonement for many, Messiah is the Redeemer and therefore enjoys the benefits / spoils of this conquest; redeeming people from their former master who rules thru sin to the new Master who is Yahweh. (Luke 11:21-23; John 15:15, Rom 6:11-18, 8:1-4, 8:14-17; Gal 4:3-8; Eph 4:8-9)

*53:12 MP: Obedient even unto death. (Matt 16:21-23; Phil 2:8)

†53:12 MP: Messiah is grouped with criminals at his death. (Mark 15:27-28; Luke 22:37)

‡53:12 Quoted in Mark 15:28

§53:12 MP: Messiah is the atonement that covers the sins of those who transgress God’s Torah [Teaching]. (Romans 2:23-26; Col 2:14; 1 John 2:2)

*53:12 Quoted in 1 Cor 15:3; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 2:24

†53:12 MP: Messiah will pray / intercede unto God on behalf of the transgressors. See parallel with Priestly breastplate bearing the tribes names before God (Ex 28:28) and Priest as intercessor (Ex 28:36-38). (Luke 22:32, 23:34; Heb 7:25; 1 John 2:1-2)