🕊️WEB · Isaiah 53:5
What does Isaiah 53:5 mean?
"But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed."
— Isaiah 53:5 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no good looks or majesty. When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised, and rejected by men; a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t respect him.
Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he didn’t open his mouth.
He was taken away by oppression and judgment; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living and stricken for the disobedience of my people?
Explanation
Isaiah 53:5 describes a suffering figure who bears the pain and punishment that rightly belonged to others. In plain language, the verse says that this person was wounded and crushed not for his own wrongdoing, but because of the sins of someone else — and that his suffering accomplished two things: it secured peace for those he suffered for, and it brought them healing. The language is vivid and physical — piercing, crushing, wounds — emphasizing that this was not abstract or symbolic suffering but real, violent affliction.
This verse sits within what scholars call the fourth "Servant Song" in the book of Isaiah (Isaiah 52:13–53:12), written by the prophet Isaiah in the 8th century BC, likely addressed to the people of Judah, who would later experience exile and need hope of restoration. The passage describes a mysterious "servant of the Lord" who is despised, rejected, and afflicted, yet whose suffering serves a redemptive purpose for others. In its original setting, this figure has been understood variously — as a representation of faithful Israel, as a righteous remnant, or as an anticipated individual deliverer. The poetic structure of the passage builds a picture of vicarious suffering: one who suffers in the place of many.
Theologically, this verse is central to the Christian understanding of atonement. Christians throughout history have read this passage as a prophetic foreshadowing of Jesus Christ, who they believe fulfilled this role by bearing the punishment for human sin through his death. The key theological idea is substitution — that punishment
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