Isaiah 53:5

But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — Isaiah addresses the community of Israel, naming a Servant who bears their collective guilt. The "we" of v.6 confirms the audience is the people themselves, not a third party.

The words — מְחֹלָל (mecho'lah, "pierced") is the Pual participle of חלל, the root used for violating the Sabbath (Exodus 31:14); here it is applied to a person. מְדֻכָּא (medukkah, "crushed") is the Pual participle of דכא, "to beat down, trample."

The thread — 1 Peter 2:24 quotes the "stripes" language directly in a Christological context; Matthew 20:28 frames the same substitution as a "ransom for many."

Why it lands — The verse places the reader in the "we" of v.6: the one who has gone astray and now sees the cost of that astray-ness landed on another. It asks the reader to reckon with what their transgressions cost someone else.

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

וְהוּא֙ve./Hu'and/ he מְחֹלָ֣לme.cho.Lal[was] pierced מִפְּשָׁעֵ֔נוּmi./pe.sha.'E./nufrom/ transgressions/ our מְדֻכָּ֖אme.du.Ka'[was] crushed מֵעֲוֹנֹתֵ֑ינוּme./'a.vo.no.Tei./nufrom/ iniquities/ our מוּסַ֤רmu.Sar[the] chastening of שְׁלוֹמֵ֙נוּ֙she.lo.Me./nupeace/ our עָלָ֔יו'a.La/v[was] on/ him וּבַחֲבֻרָת֖וֹu./va./cha.vu.ra.T/oand/ by/ wound[s]/ his נִרְפָּא־nir.pa'-it was healedלָֽנוּ׃La./nuto/ us

King James Version

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.

Cross-references

1 Peter 2:24 He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”
1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,
Matthew 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
2 Corinthians 5:21 God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
Romans 5:6 For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
Isaiah 53:10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush Him and to cause Him to suffer; and when His soul is made a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
Hebrews 10:14 because by a single offering He has made perfect for all time those who are being sanctified.
Romans 4:25 He was delivered over to death for our trespasses and was raised to life for our justification.
Hebrews 9:12 He did not enter by the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption.
Hebrews 10:10 And by that will, we have been sanctified through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.