Investigation: Isaiah 53 in the New Testament

"Then Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me?… The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter… In his humiliation his judgment was taken away… And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus" (Acts 8:30–35).

The official was a court treasurer of the Kandake (queen) of Kush, returning from worship in Jerusalem and reading aloud in his chariot from a scroll of Isaiah in Greek (Luke quotes the Greek text). He was a eunuch, someone Deuteronomy 23:1 excluded from the assembly and Isaiah 56:3–5 welcomed. Luke preserves his question as well as Philip's answer.

Matthew 8:17: healing

Matthew applies 53:4 not to Jesus' death but to his healing ministry: "Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." His wording follows the Hebrew (choli, "sickness"; makh'ov, "pain") more closely than the Greek, which spiritualizes the verse ("bears our sins"). Matthew's use is one of the clearest cases where an evangelist works from a Hebrew-like text. It shows that early Christians applied the song to more than the crucifixion.

Luke 22:37: counted with the lawless

In Luke's account of the Last Supper, Jesus says: "this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end." This is the only explicit quotation of Isaiah 53 attributed to Jesus in the Gospels. Its point is narrow: he will be treated as a criminal. Whether it reflects Jesus' own words or Luke's interpretation is debated among historians. Luke then narrates his crucifixion between two criminals (23:32–33).

Two kinds of evidence: Luke 22:37 and Matthew 8:17

These two quotations are often listed together, but they are different kinds of evidence. Luke 22:37 is an explicit quotation that Luke places in Jesus' own mouth: Jesus is reported to say that this scripture must be fulfilled in him. It is evidence for how Luke presents Jesus understanding his coming death, and historians debate whether it goes back to Jesus himself. Matthew 8:17 is the evangelist's quotation, spoken in the narrator's voice ("that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet"). It is evidence of how Matthew interpreted Jesus' healing activity; it is not a claim that Jesus quoted Isaiah. The site keeps the same distinction throughout: words the Gospels attribute to Jesus, words of the narrator, and connections later Christians drew with his life.

Mark 15:28: a verse added by scribes

The KJV's Mark 15:28 ("And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors") is not in the oldest Greek manuscripts of Mark (Sinaiticus, Vaticanus and others) and is omitted by modern critical editions, including the library's Greek New Testament, where the verse is empty. It appears to have been added later, from Luke 22:37. This is a New Testament textual variant about an Old Testament quotation: a reminder that the Isaiah–Jesus connection itself has a transmission history.

Acts 8: a scene of interpretation

Luke tells that the official read 53:7–8 in Greek and asked whether the prophet spoke of himself or of someone else; Philip "began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus" (8:35). Luke quotes the Greek exactly, including "in his humiliation his judgment was taken away," which differs from the Hebrew. Luke does not quote the verses about bearing sins, and he does not say what Philip said about them. The scene shows early Christian interpretation as a conversation about an open question, answered with Jesus. It also shows a Kushite eunuch, someone at the margins of Israel's assembly, as one of the first converts (compare Isaiah 56:3–5).

1 Peter 2:21–25: an example for slaves

1 Peter addresses household slaves suffering unjust treatment (2:18–20) and points to Christ: "who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: who, when he was reviled, reviled not again… who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree… by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray." It weaves 53:9, 5, 6 and 12 into a single portrait. The letter combines Christ as example (non-retaliation) and Christ as sin-bearer. Its pastoral setting, slaves told to endure, raises ethical questions that the site notes and does not erase.

John 12:38 and Romans 10:16: unbelief

Both quote 53:1 ("Lord, who hath believed our report?") to explain why many did not believe: John of Jesus' signs, Paul of the apostles' preaching. John adds 6:10 and says Isaiah "saw his glory, and spake of him" (12:41). In both, the song's first line is about the reception of a message, not about suffering.