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Journey of a Passage

Isaiah 53:1–3

"Who hath believed our report?… despised and rejected"

"Who hath believed our report?… He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." John 12:38 and Romans 10:16 quote v. 1 (Greek, with "Lord") to explain unbelief, John toward Jesus' signs, Paul toward the apostles' message. Verse 3's "man of pains, knowing sickness" became Christian devotion's "Man of Sorrows"; the Talmud named the messiah "the leper" from the next verse.

Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
  • Uncertain connection
Hebrew
  1. The oracle as first spoken or written8th–6th century BC (by section; debated)
  2. Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a), Qumran Cave 1c. 125 BC (palaeography; reported)Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
  3. 1QIsa-b (1Q8), Qumran Cave 11st century BC – 1st century AD (reported)Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
  4. 4QIsa-c (4Q57), Qumran Cave 41st century AD (reported)Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
  5. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
Greek
  1. Greek Isaiah (library: Giguet's French)Greek translation c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Isaiah
Latin
  1. Latin Vulgate (Clementine)Jerome c. AD 400, from Hebrew; edition 1592Translated from the Hebrew text Jerome used
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew
New Testament quotation
  1. John 12:38 (Greek New Testament; library: Statistical Restoration text)1st century AD; edition 2010sUncertain relationship to the verse (which wording it followed is the question)
  2. Romans 10:16 (Greek New Testament; library: Statistical Restoration text)1st century AD; edition 2010sUncertain relationship to the verse (which wording it followed is the question)

Every witness, in order

  1. 8th–6th century BC (by section; debated)

    The oracle as first spoken or written

    – No copy survives

    No original survives. The oldest copies of Isaiah are the Qumran scrolls: the Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a, about 125 BC, nearly complete), 1QIsa-b (1Q8) and some twenty other fragmentary manuscripts.

  2. c. 125 BC (palaeography; reported)

    Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a), Qumran Cave 1

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written

    How the site knows this: Described from a published transcription of the manuscript. Described in the site's own words from Martin Abegg's transcription (ETCBC/CACCHT Dead Sea Scrolls dataset v2.0.5); the transcription itself is not reproduced. Photographs and DJD XXXII not yet checked.

    Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 53:1–3. In v. 1 "to whom" with a different preposition; in v. 2 adds "to him" after "no majesty" and writes "we saw him… we desired him" with a different suffix; in v. 3 "and a man of pains" and "and we despised him" at the end. Otherwise the differences are of spelling (fuller use of vowel letters) and small grammatical forms.

  3. 1st century BC – 1st century AD (reported)

    1QIsa-b (1Q8), Qumran Cave 1

    ◐ Contains part of itDescends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written

    How the site knows this: Described from a published transcription of the manuscript. Described in the site's own words from Martin Abegg's transcription (ETCBC/CACCHT Dead Sea Scrolls dataset v2.0.5); the transcription itself is not reproduced. Photographs and DJD XXXII not yet checked.

    Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 53:1–3. As the Masoretic Text in substance; "pains" in a masculine plural form.

  4. 1st century AD (reported)

    4QIsa-c (4Q57), Qumran Cave 4

    ◐ Contains part of itDescends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written

    How the site knows this: Described from a published transcription of the manuscript. Described in the site's own words from Martin Abegg's transcription (ETCBC/CACCHT Dead Sea Scrolls dataset v2.0.5); the transcription itself is not reproduced. Photographs and DJD XXXII not yet checked.

    Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 53:1–3. A fragmentary copy: only parts of these verses survive, and in the transcription much of the passage is restored by the editors. What survives agrees with the Masoretic Text.

  5. 1st century AD; edition 2010s

    John 12:38 (Greek New Testament; library: Statistical Restoration text)

    ✓ Contains this passageUncertain relationship to the verse (which wording it followed is the question)

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: the Greek New Testament editions in the library (Textus Receptus, Byzantine Textform, Statistical Restoration).

    ἵνα ὁ λόγος Ἠσαΐου τοῦ προφήτου πληρωθῇ ὃν εἶπεν, “˚Κύριε, τίς ἐπίστευσεν τῇ ἀκοῇ ἡμῶν; Καὶ ὁ βραχίων ˚Κυρίου τίνι ἀπεκαλύφθη;”

    so that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled: Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

    The evangelist on unbelief despite Jesus' signs. KJV: "That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?"

  6. 1st century AD; edition 2010s

    Romans 10:16 (Greek New Testament; library: Statistical Restoration text)

    ✓ Contains this passageUncertain relationship to the verse (which wording it followed is the question)

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: the Greek New Testament editions in the library (Textus Receptus, Byzantine Textform, Statistical Restoration).

    Ἀλλʼ οὐ πάντες ὑπήκουσαν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ. Ἠσαΐας γὰρ λέγει, “˚Κύριε, τίς ἐπίστευσεν τῇ ἀκοῇ ἡμῶν;”

    But not all obeyed the gospel; for Isaiah says: Lord, who has believed our report?

    Paul on unbelief toward the apostolic message. KJV: "But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?"

  7. Jerome c. AD 400, from Hebrew; edition 1592

    Latin Vulgate (Clementine)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Hebrew text Jerome used

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    Quis credidit auditui nostro? et brachium Domini cui revelatum est? Et ascendet sicut virgultum coram eo, et sicut radix de terra sitienti. Non est species ei, neque decor, et vidimus eum, et non erat aspectus, et desideravimus eum: despectum, et novissimum virorum, virum dolorum, et scientem infirmitatem, et quasi absconditus vultus ejus et despectus, unde nec reputavimus eum.

    Latin numbering: Isaiah 53:1–3. Jerome translated Isaiah from Hebrew (c. AD 400).

  8. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    מִ֥י הֶאֱמִ֖ין לִשְׁמֻעָתֵ֑נוּ וּזְר֥וֹעַ יְהוָ֖ה עַל־מִ֥י נִגְלָֽתָה׃ וַיַּ֨עַל כַּיּוֹנֵ֜ק לְפָנָ֗יו וְכַשֹּׁ֙רֶשׁ֙ מֵאֶ֣רֶץ צִיָּ֔ה לֹא־תֹ֥אַר ל֖וֹ וְלֹ֣א הָדָ֑ר וְנִרְאֵ֥הוּ וְלֹֽא־מַרְאֶ֖ה וְנֶחְמְדֵֽהוּ׃ נִבְזֶה֙ וַחֲדַ֣ל אִישִׁ֔ים אִ֥ישׁ מַכְאֹב֖וֹת וִיד֣וּעַ חֹ֑לִי וּכְמַסְתֵּ֤ר פָּנִים֙ מִמֶּ֔נּוּ נִבְזֶ֖ה וְלֹ֥א חֲשַׁבְנֻֽהוּ׃

    Despised and forsaken by people, a man of pains and knowing sickness; like one from whom people hide their faces, despised, and we did not value him (v. 3)

    Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 53:1–3.

  9. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root 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. 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.

  10. Greek translation c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

    Greek Isaiah (library: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Isaiah

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    Mais, Seigneur, qui à cru à notre parole? À qui le bras du Seigneur a-t-il été révélé? Nous l’avons annoncé, comme un petit enfant devant le Seigneur, comme une racine dans une terre altérée; il n’est point en lui de beauté ni de gloire; nous l’avons vu, et il n’avait ni éclat ni beauté. Mais son aspect était méprisable, au-dessous de celui des fils des hommes. C’était un homme couvert de plaies, et sachant ce que c’est que la souffrance; car son visage était repoussant, sans honneur, et compté pour rien.

    Greek (digital file) numbering: Isaiah 53:1–3. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check only); a C check needs Ziegler's Göttingen Isaiah or Rahlfs–Hanhart.

What changed, and why

Classification: stable text with small scroll differences; later quotation (unbelief, not suffering) in John and Paul.

Makh'ovot: pains; choli: sickness. The servant is described as sick or afflicted, which is why some ancient readers spoke of a leper.

The Great Isaiah Scroll ends v. 3 "and we despised him" (described from a transcription).

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedJohn 12:38 and Romans 10:16 quote Isaiah 53:1.
  • Independently documentedThey use the verse about unbelief, not suffering.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Isaiah 53: A Man of Sorrows →The song that began at 52:13 continues in the voice of an astonished "we": "Who hath believed our report?" The servant grew up like a root in dry ground, without beauty; "despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (53:1–3). "Surely he hath borne our griefs": we thought him struck by God, but "he was wounded for our transgressions… and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray… and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (vv. 4–6). Oppressed, he did not open his mouth, "as a lamb to the slaughter"; taken away by oppression and judgment, cut off from the land of the living, given a grave with the wicked and with a rich man, though he had done no violence (vv. 7–9). God willed his crushing; if his life is made a guilt offering, he will see offspring and prolong his days (v. 10). After his suffering he will see (light) and be satisfied; the righteous servant will make many righteous and bear their iniquities; because he poured out his life to death and was numbered with the transgressors, bore the sin of many and interceded for them, he receives a portion with the great (vv. 11–12).
    • Investigation: The Fourth Servant Song, Phrase by Phrase →The fifteen verses of Isaiah 52:13–53:12 are among the most studied in the Bible. This investigation takes each significant phrase in turn: what the Hebrew says and where it is uncertain, what the Qumran copies and the Greek read, and how ancient Jewish and early Christian readers used it. It gives special attention to the phrases Max asked to be examined: rejected, wounded, bearing suffering, silent before accusers, cut off, assigned a grave, making many righteous, and bearing the sins of many.
    • Investigation: Isaiah 53 in the New Testament →The New Testament quotes Isaiah 52:13–53:12 explicitly about seven times and alludes to it more often. Each writer uses it for a different purpose: Matthew for Jesus' healings, Luke for his being counted among lawbreakers, John and Paul for unbelief, Acts for a scene of interpretation on the road to Gaza, 1 Peter for suffering slaves who follow Jesus' example. This investigation takes each use separately, compares its wording with the Hebrew and the Greek, and does not merge them into one doctrine.