Bible Strands
Isaiah 53:8
By oppression and judgment He was taken away, and who can recount His descendants? For He was cut off from the land of the living; He was stricken for the transgression of My people.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet delivers this oracle concerning the suffering servant, following the description of his silent submission and preceding the account of his unjust burial.
The words — לֻקָּ֔ח (lu.Kach) translates literally as "he was taken away," paired with מֵ/עֹ֤צֶר (me./'O.tzer) meaning "from oppression," framing the servant's removal as an enforced extraction rather than a voluntary departure.
The thread — The removal from earthly life and the rhetorical question about his lineage appear in Acts 8:33, while the theme of substitutionary suffering for others is echoed in 1 Peter 3:18 and the trial narrative of Matthew 26:65.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that the servant's death was a judicial cutting off enacted for another's guilt, requiring the reader to acknowledge the reality of substitution before addressing the unanswered question of his descendants.
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
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Acts 8:33 In His humiliation He was deprived of justice. Who can recount His descendants? For His life was removed from the earth.”
- 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 26:65 At this, the high priest tore his clothes and declared, “He has blasphemed! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy.
- John 19:7 “We have a law,” answered the Jews, “and according to that law He must die, because He declared Himself to be the Son of God.”
- Psalms 22:12 Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
- John 11:49 But one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all!
- Isaiah 53:12 Therefore I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He has poured out His life unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors. Yet He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.
- 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.
- Daniel 9:26 Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. Then the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations have been decreed.
- Romans 1:4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.