Isaiah 53:7–8
"As a lamb to the slaughter": the passage the Ethiopian official was reading
"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter… for the transgression of my people was he stricken." Acts 8:32–33 quotes the Greek word for word, including "in his humiliation his judgment was taken away," which differs from the Hebrew. The Great Isaiah Scroll and 1QIsa-b read "his people" in v. 8; 4QIsa-d and the Masoretic Text "my people."
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-d (4Q58), Qumran Cave 41st 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
- Acts 8:32–33 (Greek New Testament; library: Statistical Restoration text)1st century AD; edition 2010sUncertain relationship to the verse (which wording it followed is the question)
- Acts 8:34–35 (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 53:7–8. In v. 7 "like a lamb led to slaughter" with a different form of "slaughter" and without "and" before "like a ewe"; in v. 8 "for the transgression of his people" (with a damaged letter) where the Masoretic Text has "my people." 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 53:7–8. In v. 8 reads "he was taken" with a suffix ("they took him") and "his people" (damaged letter), like 1QIsa-a.
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 53:7–8. A fragmentary copy: only parts of these verses survive, and in the transcription much of the passage is restored by the editors. In v. 8 reads "my people," like the Masoretic Text.
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 53:7–8. 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.
1st century AD; edition 2010s
Acts 8:32–33 (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).
Ἡ δὲ περιοχὴ τῆς Γραφῆς ἣν ἀνεγίνωσκεν ἦν αὕτη: “Ὡς πρόβατον ἐπὶ σφαγὴν ἤχθη, καὶ ὡς ἀμνὸς ἐναντίον τοῦ κείραντος αὐτὸν ἄφωνος, οὕτως οὐκ ἀνοίγει τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ. Ἐν τῇ ταπεινώσει, ἡ κρίσις αὐτοῦ ἤρθη, τὴν γενεὰν αὐτοῦ τίς διηγήσεται; Ὅτι αἴρεται ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ἡ ζωὴ αὐτοῦ.”
He was led like a sheep to slaughter… In his humiliation his judgment was taken away; who will describe his generation? For his life is taken from the earth
The passage the Ethiopian official was reading (Luke quotes the Greek). KJV: "The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth."
1st century AD; edition 2010s
Acts 8:34–35 (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).
Ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ εὐνοῦχος τῷ Φιλίππῳ εἶπεν, “Δέομαί σου περὶ τίνος ὁ προφήτης λέγει τοῦτο; Περὶ ἑαυτοῦ ἢ περὶ ἑτέρου τινός;” Ἀνοίξας δὲ ὁ Φίλιππος τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀρξάμενος ἀπὸ τῆς Γραφῆς ταύτης, εὐηγγελίσατο αὐτῷ τὸν ˚Ἰησοῦν.
The eunuch said to Philip: I ask you, about whom does the prophet say this? About himself or about someone else?… and beginning with this scripture he proclaimed to him Jesus
The question and Philip's answer. KJV: "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."
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).
Oblatus est quia ipse voluit, et non aperuit os suum; sicut ovis ad occisionem ducetur, et quasi agnus coram tondente se obmutescet, et non aperiet os suum. De angustia, et de judicio sublatus est. Generationem ejus quis enarrabit? quia abscissus est de terra viventium: propter scelus populi mei percussi eum.
Latin numbering: Isaiah 53:7–8. 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.
נִגַּ֨שׂ וְה֣וּא נַעֲנֶה֮ וְלֹ֣א יִפְתַּח־פִּיו֒ כַּשֶּׂה֙ לַטֶּ֣בַח יוּבָ֔ל וּכְרָחֵ֕ל לִפְנֵ֥י גֹזְזֶ֖יהָ נֶאֱלָ֑מָה וְלֹ֥א יִפְתַּ֖ח פִּֽיו׃ מֵעֹ֤צֶר וּמִמִּשְׁפָּט֙ לֻקָּ֔ח וְאֶת־דּוֹר֖וֹ מִ֣י יְשׂוֹחֵ֑חַ כִּ֤י נִגְזַר֙ מֵאֶ֣רֶץ חַיִּ֔ים מִפֶּ֥שַׁע עַמִּ֖י נֶ֥גַע לָֽמוֹ׃
He was oppressed and he humbled himself, and did not open his mouth; like a lamb led to slaughter, like a ewe silent before its shearers… By oppression and judgment he was taken away… cut off from the land of the living, for the transgression of my people the blow was his (vv. 7–8)
Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 53:7–8.
1611
King James Bible
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
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.
Et lui, si fort qu’on l’ait maltraité, il n’ouvre pas la bouche. Il a été conduit sous le couteau comme une brebis; et comme l’agneau muet devant le tondeur, ainsi il n’ouvre pas la bouche. Tout jugement lui à été enlevé en son humiliation. Qui racontera sa génération? car sa vie est effacée de la terre; il a été conduit à la mort à cause des péchés de mon peuple.
Greek (digital file) numbering: Isaiah 53:7–8. 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: a manuscript variant in v. 8 (his/my people); the Greek differs from the Hebrew in v. 8; Acts follows the Greek.
V. 8 is the most uncertain verse in the Hebrew of the song ("by oppression and judgment he was taken; who considered his generation?").
The Gospels report Jesus' silence before his accusers (Mark 14:61; 15:5) without citing Isaiah; 1 Peter 2:23 connects them.
What the evidence shows
- Acts 8:32–33 quotes the Greek of Isaiah 53:7–8.
- 1QIsa-a and 1QIsa-b read "his people" in 53:8. Described from transcriptions; a damaged letter.
- The Gospels cite Isaiah 53:7 at Jesus' silence. They do not; 1 Peter makes the link.
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.