Isaiah 53:2

He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no stately form or majesty to attract us, no beauty that we should desire Him.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Isaiah addresses a collective "we" that has received a message they did not expect (v. 1) and is now being shown the Servant's unremarkable origin before the fuller description of his rejection (v. 3).

The words — yonek (יוֹנֵק), "shoot," evokes a young plant with no established form; tziyyah (צִיָּה), "dry," specifies not merely dry but barren, unproductive ground.

The thread — The shoot-from-stump image echoes Isaiah 11:1, where a branch springs from Jesse's stump; the denial of form and beauty is sharpened in Isaiah 52:14, where appearance is disfigured beyond human measure; Philippians 2:6 inverts the same word morphe (form) to describe the divine state the Servant did not display.

Why it lands — The verse removes every attribute a reader might have used to recognize or desire the Servant, forcing the question of v. 1 back onto them: if there is no beauty to attract, what grounds the belief?

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וַיַּ֨עַלva/i.Ya.'aland/ he grew up כַּיּוֹנֵ֜קka/i.yo.Neklike <the>/ shoot לְפָנָ֗יוle./fa.Na/v<to>/ before/ him וְכַשֹּׁ֙רֶשׁ֙ve./kha./Sho.reshand/ like <the>/ root מֵאֶ֣רֶץme./'E.retzfrom/ ground צִיָּ֔הtzi.Yahdry לֹא־lo'-not תֹ֥אַרTo.'arformל֖וֹl/o[belonged] to/ himוְלֹ֣אve./Lo'and/ not הָדָ֑רha.Darsplendor וְנִרְאֵ֥הוּve./nir.'E./huand/ we will look at/ him וְלֹֽא־ve./lo'-and/ not מַרְאֶ֖הmar.'Ehappearance וְנֶחְמְדֵֽהוּ׃ve./nech.me.De./huand/ we will desire/ him

King James Version

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.

Cross-references

Philippians 2:6 Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
Isaiah 52:14 Just as many were appalled at Him—His appearance was disfigured beyond that of any man, and His form was marred beyond human likeness—
Isaiah 11:1 Then a shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.
John 1:10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.
Mark 6:3 Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t His sisters here with us as well?” And they took offense at Him.
Jeremiah 23:5 Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He will reign wisely as King and will administer justice and righteousness in the land.
Ezekiel 17:22 This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will take a shoot from the lofty top of the cedar, and I will set it out. I will pluck a tender sprig from its topmost shoots, and I will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.
John 19:14 It was the day of Preparation for the Passover, about the sixth hour. And Pilate said to the Jews, “Here is your King!”
Mark 9:12 He replied, “Elijah does indeed come first, and he restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected?
Romans 8:3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh,