Isaiah 53:11
"He shall see light": the word missing from the Masoretic Text
"He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied" (KJV, from the Masoretic Text, which has no object for "see"). The Great Isaiah Scroll and 1QIsa-b read "he shall see light," 4QIsa-d probably does (the word is partly restored), and the Greek has "to show him light." The Vulgate agrees with the Masoretic Text. Daniel 12:3 echoes the next line: the wise "make many righteous" and shine. A likely ancient reading; not certainty about the earliest text.
Manuscript variant: witnesses differ in wording
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
- The oracle as first spoken or written8th–6th century BC (by section; debated)
- Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a), Qumran Cave 1c. 125 BC (palaeography; reported)Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
- 4QIsa-b (4Q56), Qumran Cave 41st century BC (reported)Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
- 1QIsa-b (1Q8), Qumran Cave 11st century BC – 1st century AD (reported)Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
- 4QIsa-d (4Q58), Qumran Cave 41st century BC – 1st century AD (reported)Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
- Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
- Daniel 12:3 (Masoretic Text, a later echo)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
Every witness, in order
8th–6th century BC (by section; debated)
The oracle as first spoken or written
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.
c. 125 BC (palaeography; reported)
Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a), Qumran Cave 1
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.
After the anguish of his soul he will see light and be satisfied; and by his knowledge the righteous one, his servant, will make the many righteous…
Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 53:11. Reads "he will see light (or) and be satisfied" where the Masoretic Text has "he will see, he will be satisfied"; also "and by his knowledge" and "his servant" for "my servant."
1st century BC (reported)
4QIsa-b (4Q56), Qumran Cave 4
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 53:11. A fragmentary copy: only parts of these verses survive, and in the transcription much of the passage is restored by the editors. Preserves only the end of the verse.
1st century BC – 1st century AD (reported)
1QIsa-b (1Q8), Qumran Cave 1
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 53:11. Reads "he will see light"; much of the rest of the verse is restored by the editors.
1st century BC – 1st century AD (reported)
4QIsa-d (4Q58), Qumran Cave 4
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 53:11. A fragmentary copy: only parts of these verses survive, and in the transcription much of the passage is restored by the editors. Has the first, damaged letter of the word and part of the next, with the end of the word restored by the editors, so it probably but not certainly reads "light."
Jerome c. AD 400, from Hebrew; edition 1592
Latin Vulgate (Clementine)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).
Pro eo quod laboravit anima ejus, videbit et saturabitur. In scientia sua justificabit ipse justus servus meus multos, et iniquitates eorum ipse portabit.
Latin numbering: Isaiah 53:11. Jerome translated Isaiah from Hebrew (c. AD 400).
AD 1008
Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.
מֵעֲמַ֤ל נַפְשׁוֹ֙ יִרְאֶ֣ה יִשְׂבָּ֔ע בְּדַעְתּ֗וֹ יַצְדִּ֥יק צַדִּ֛יק עַבְדִּ֖י לָֽרַבִּ֑ים וַעֲוֺנֹתָ֖ם ה֥וּא יִסְבֹּֽל׃
After the anguish of his soul he will see, he will be satisfied; by his knowledge the righteous one, my servant, will make the many righteous, and he will bear their iniquities
Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 53:11.
AD 1008
Daniel 12:3 (Masoretic Text, a later echo)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.
וְהַ֨מַּשְׂכִּלִ֔ים יַזְהִ֖רוּ כְּזֹ֣הַר הָרָקִ֑יעַ וּמַצְדִּיקֵי֙ הָֽרַבִּ֔ים כַּכּוֹכָבִ֖ים לְעוֹלָ֥ם וָעֶֽד׃
Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who make the many righteous like the stars forever
An early Jewish reuse of 52:13 and 53:11 for the faithful teachers (2nd century BC).
1611
King James Bible
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).
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.
Greek translation c. 2nd century BC; French 1872
Greek Isaiah (library: Giguet's French)
How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.
D’effacer une part des douleurs de son âme, de lui montrer la lumière, de la former à l’intelligence, de justifier le Juste qui s’est sacrifié pour un grand nombre, et qui à porté leurs péchés.
Greek (digital file) numbering: Isaiah 53:11. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check only); a C check needs Ziegler's Göttingen Isaiah or Rahlfs–Hanhart. Giguet's numbering joins the end of v. 10 to v. 11.
What changed, and why
Classification: a manuscript variant attested independently in Hebrew (Qumran) and in translation (Old Greek).
"To see light" means to live (Job 33:28, 30; Psalm 36:9). With or without the word, the line speaks of life after the servant's death.
1QIsa-a also reads "his servant" for "my servant" and "and by his knowledge."
What the evidence shows
- 1QIsa-a and 1QIsa-b read "light." Described from transcriptions.
- 4QIsa-d reads "light." Partly restored.
- The Greek reads "light." Giguet; C check.
- "Light" was in the earliest text. Likely ancient reading; not certain.
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 Missing Light, Isaiah 53:11 →"He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied" (KJV, from the Masoretic Text). Three Qumran copies (1QIsa-a, 1QIsa-b and 4QIsa-d) and the Greek read "he shall see light" (or). The extra word makes the line read naturally: after his suffering he will see light. This investigation compares the witnesses, shows what each actually contains, and explains why most scholars now consider "light" the likely older reading, while also explaining why that is not certainty about the earliest text.
- 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.