Isaiah 53 · Verse 4

Isaiah 53:4

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

Isaiah 53:4, King James Version

Isaiah 53:4 in other translations

BSB	Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted.
WEB	Surely he has borne our sickness and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.
ASV	Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
YLT	Surely our sicknesses he hath borne, And our pains--he hath carried them, And we--we have esteemed him plagued, Smitten of God, and afflicted.
DARBY	Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; and we, we did regard him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
BBE	But it was our pain he took, and our diseases were put on him: while to us he seemed as one diseased, on whom God's punishment had come.
Webster	Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

What does Isaiah 53:4 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

4. Surely ... our griefs--literally, "But yet He hath taken (or borne) our sicknesses," that is, they who despised Him because of His human infirmities ought rather to have esteemed Him on account of them; for thereby "Himself took OUR infirmities" (bodily diseases). So Mt 8:17 quotes it. In the Hebrew for "borne," or took, there is probably the double notion, He took on Himself vicariously (so Is 53:5, 6, 8, 12), and so He took away; His perfect humanity whereby He was bodily afflicted for us, and in all our afflictions (Is 63:9; He 4:15) was the ground on which He cured the sick; so that Matthew's quotation is not a mere accommodation. See Note 42 of Archbishop Magee, Atonement. The Hebrew there may mean to overwhelm with darkness; Messiah's time of darkness was temporary (Mt 27:45), answering to the bruising of His heel; Satan's is to be eternal, answering to the bruising of his head (compare Is 50:10). carried ... sorrows--The notion of substitution strictly. "Carried," namely, as a burden. "Sorrows," that is, pains of the mind; as "griefs" refer to pains of the body (Psa 32:10; 38:17). Mt 8:17 might seem to oppose this: "And bare our sicknesses." But he uses "sicknesses" figuratively for sins, the cause of them. Christ took on Himself all man's "infirmities;" so as to remove them; the bodily by direct miracle, grounded on His participation in human infirmities; those of the soul by His vicarious suffering, which did away with the source of both. Sin and sickness are ethically connected as cause and effect (Is 33:24; Psa 103:3; Mt 9:2; Joh 5:14; Jas 5:15). we did esteem him stricken--judicially [Lowth], namely, for His sins; whereas it was for ours. "We thought Him to be a leper" [Jerome, Vulgate], leprosy being the direct divine judgment for guilt (Le 13:1-59; Nu 12:10, 15; 2Ch 26:18-21). smitten--by divine judgments. afflicted--for His sins; this was the point in which they so erred (Lu 23:34; Ac 3:17; 1Co 2:8). He was, it is true, "afflicted," but not for His sins.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 4 Surely he Bath borne our griefs "Surely our infirmities he hath borne" - Seven MSS. (two ancient) and three editions have חליינו cholayeynu in the plural number. And carried our sorrows "And our sorrows, he hath carried them" - Seventeen MSS. (two ancient) of Dr. Kennicott's, two of De Rossi's, and two editions have the word הוא hu, he, before סבלם sebalam, "carrieth them, "in the text; four other MSS. have it in the margin. This adds force to the sense, and elegance to the construction.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Isaiah 53:4-9

In these verses is an account of the sufferings of Christ; also of the design of his sufferings. It was for our sins, and in our stead, that our Lord Jesus suffered. We have all sinned, and have come short of the glory of God. Sinners have their beloved sin, their own evil way, of which they are fond. Our sins deserve all griefs and sorrows, even the most severe. We are saved from the ruin, to which by sin we become liable, by laying our sins on Christ. This atonement was to be made for our sins. And this is the only way of salvation. Our sins were the thorns in Christ's head, the nails in his hands and feet, the spear in his side. He was delivered to death for our offences. By his sufferings he purchased for us the Spirit and grace of God, to mortify our corruptions, which are the distempers of our souls. We may well endure our lighter sufferings, if He has taught us to esteem all things but loss for him, and to love him who has first loved us.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Isaiah 53:4 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

אָכֵ֤ן'a.KhenneverthelessH403

חֳלָיֵ֙נוּ֙cho.la.Ye.nusicknesses ourH2483

ה֣וּאhu'heH1931

נָשָׂ֔אna.Sa'he boreH5375

וּמַכְאֹבֵ֖ינוּu.makh.'o.Vei.nuand pains ourH4341

סְבָלָ֑םse.va.Lamhe carried themH5445

וַאֲנַ֣חְנוּva.'a.Nach.nuand weH587

חֲשַׁבְנֻ֔הוּcha.shav.Nu.huwe considered himH2803

נָג֛וּעַna.Gu.a'strickenH5060

מֻכֵּ֥הmu.Kehstruck ofH5221

אֱלֹהִ֖ים'E.lo.HimGodH430

וּמְעֻנֶּֽה\׃u.me.'u.Nehand afflictedH6031

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Isaiah 53:4

1 Peter 2:24
Who 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.
Matthew 8:17
That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
Galatians 3:13
Christ 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 John 2:2
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 Peter 3:18
For 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:
Isaiah 53:5-6
But 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. All 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.
Hebrews 9:28
So 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.
Isaiah 53:11-12
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. 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 soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
John 19:7
The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.
Psalms 69:26
For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

he hath.
5,6,11,12; Mt 8:17; Ga 3:13; Heb 9:28; 1Pe 2:24; 3:18; 1Jo 2:2
yet.
Mt 26:37; Joh 19:7

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Isaiah 53:3
He 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.
Isaiah 53:4
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
Isaiah 53:5
But 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.

Read all of Isaiah 53

Isaiah 53:4 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Ciertamente llevó él nuestras enfermedades, y sufrió nuestros dolores; y nosotros le tuvimos por azotado, por herido de Dios y abatido.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Certainement, lui, a porté nos langueurs, et s’est chargé de nos douleurs; et nous, nous l’avons estimé battu, frappé de Dieu, et affligé;
German Elberfelder 1871	Fürwahr, er hat unsere Leiden getragen, und unsere Schmerzen hat er auf sich geladen. Und wir, wir hielten ihn für bestraft, von Gott geschlagen und niedergebeugt;
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Vere languores nostros ipse tulit, et dolores nostros ipse portavit; et nos putavimus eum quasi leprosum, et percussum a Deo, et humiliatum.