Isaiah 53:4–6
"Surely he hath borne our griefs… with his stripes we are healed": Matthew and 1 Peter
"Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows… he was wounded for our transgressions… with his stripes we are healed… the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." Matthew 8:17 applies v. 4 to Jesus' healings, in wording close to the Hebrew ("sicknesses"); the library's Greek reads "he bears our sins." 1 Peter 2:24–25 applies vv. 5–6 to Jesus' death and to straying sheep.
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
- 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
- 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-c (4Q57), Qumran Cave 41st 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
- Matthew 8:17 (Greek New Testament; library: Statistical Restoration text)1st century AD; edition 2010sUncertain relationship to the verse (which wording it followed is the question)
- 1 Peter 2:24–25 (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
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.
Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 53:4–6. "Our sicknesses he carried… pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities… by his wounds" as in the Masoretic Text, with "his wounds" written as a plural and "and crushed" with a conjunction. Otherwise the differences are of spelling (fuller use of vowel letters) and small grammatical forms.
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 53:4–6. As the Masoretic Text in substance.
1st century AD (reported)
4QIsa-c (4Q57), 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 53:4–6. A fragmentary copy: only parts of these verses survive, and in the transcription much of the passage is restored by the editors. Preserves part of v. 6 in agreement with the Masoretic Text.
1st century AD; edition 2010s
Matthew 8:17 (Greek New Testament; library: Statistical Restoration text)
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).
ὅπως πληρωθῇ τὸ ῥηθὲν διὰ Ἠσαΐου τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος, “Αὐτὸς τὰς ἀσθενείας ἡμῶν ἔλαβεν καὶ τὰς νόσους ἐβάστασεν.”
so that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled: He took our infirmities and bore our diseases
Matthew, after Jesus heals many at evening in Capernaum. The evangelist's own quotation in the narrator's voice, not words attributed to Jesus. KJV: "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses."
1st century AD; edition 2010s
1 Peter 2:24–25 (Greek New Testament; library: Statistical Restoration text)
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).
ὃς τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν αὐτὸς ἀνήνεγκεν ἐν τῷ σώματι αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὸ ξύλον, ἵνα ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ἀπογενόμενοι, τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ ζήσωμεν· οὗ τῷ μώλωπι ἰάθητε. Ἦτε γὰρ ὡς πρόβατα πλανώμενοι, ἀλλʼ ἐπεστράφητε νῦν ἐπὶ τὸν ποιμένα καὶ ἐπίσκοπον τῶν ψυχῶν ὑμῶν.
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree… by whose wound you were healed. For you were straying like sheep…
Addressed to suffering household slaves (2:18–25). KJV: "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. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls."
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).
Vere languores nostros ipse tulit, et dolores nostros ipse portavit; et nos putavimus eum quasi leprosum, et percussum a Deo, et humiliatum. Ipse autem vulneratus est propter iniquitates nostras; attritus est propter scelera nostra: disciplina pacis nostræ super eum, et livore ejus sanati sumus. Omnes nos quasi oves erravimus, unusquisque in viam suam declinavit: et posuit Dominus in eo iniquitatem omnium nostrum.
Latin numbering: Isaiah 53:4–6. 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.
אָכֵ֤ן חֳלָיֵ֙נוּ֙ ה֣וּא נָשָׂ֔א וּמַכְאֹבֵ֖ינוּ סְבָלָ֑ם וַאֲנַ֣חְנוּ חֲשַׁבְנֻ֔הוּ נָג֛וּעַ מֻכֵּ֥ה אֱלֹהִ֖ים וּמְעֻנֶּֽה׃ וְהוּא֙ מְחֹלָ֣ל מִפְּשָׁעֵ֔נוּ מְדֻכָּ֖א מֵעֲוֺנֹתֵ֑ינוּ מוּסַ֤ר שְׁלוֹמֵ֙נוּ֙ עָלָ֔יו וּבַחֲבֻרָת֖וֹ נִרְפָּא־לָֽנוּ׃ כֻּלָּ֙נוּ֙ כַּצֹּ֣אן תָּעִ֔ינוּ אִ֥ישׁ לְדַרְכּ֖וֹ פָּנִ֑ינוּ וַֽיהוָה֙ הִפְגִּ֣יעַ בּ֔וֹ אֵ֖ת עֲוֺ֥ן כֻּלָּֽנוּ׃
Surely he carried our sicknesses and bore our pains… He was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; the discipline that made us whole was on him, and by his wounds there is healing for us (vv. 4–5)
Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 53:4–6.
1611
King James Bible
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 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.
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.
Il porte nos péchés, il souffre pour nous; et nous avons remarqué qu’il était dans la peine, dans la douleur, dans la torture. Mais il avait été blessé pour nos péchés, il était brisé pour nos crimes; le châtiment qui devait nous rendre la paix est tombé sur lui; nous avons été guéris par ses meurtrissures. Nous étions égarés comme des brebis, tout homme errait dans sa voie. Et le Seigneur l’a livré pour nos péchés;
Greek (digital file) numbering: Isaiah 53:4–6. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check only); a C check needs Ziegler's Göttingen Isaiah or Rahlfs–Hanhart. V. 4: "Il porte nos péchés."
What changed, and why
Classification: stable Hebrew text; the Greek spiritualizes v. 4; two New Testament uses that choose different senses (healing in Matthew, sin-bearing in 1 Peter).
Mecholal (v. 5): "pierced" or "wounded"; the same root as "wounded the dragon" (51:9).
The Vulgate reads v. 4 "we thought him as a leper" (quasi leprosum).
What the evidence shows
- Matthew 8:17 applies Isaiah 53:4 to healing.
- Matthew's wording is closer to the Hebrew than to the Greek.
- 1 Peter 2:24 quotes "by whose stripes ye were healed."
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.