1 <html>‘Who would have believed our report?<br> And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?</html>
2 <html>He came out of nowhere – like a tender sapling,<br> Like a root out of dry ground;<br> He has no form nor comeliness, that we should look upon him,<br> there is no beauty that we should desire him.</html>
3 <html>He was despised, and forsaken of men, A man of pain, and acquainted with grief[a],<br> And as one from whom men hide their face:<br> He was despised, and we esteemed him not.</html>
4 <html>Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows;<br> yet we esteemed him stricken,<br> smitten of God, and afflicted.</html>
5 <html>But he was wounded as for our transgressions,<br> He was bruised as for our iniquities:<br> The chastisement of our peace was upon him,<br> And with his stripes we were healed.</html>
6 <html>All we like sheep have gone astray,<br> We have turned every one to his own way;<br> And the LORD hath laid on him<br> the iniquity of us all.</html>
7 <html>He was oppressed, though he humbled himself<br> And he opened not his mouth,<br> he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter,<br> and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb,<br> he opened not his mouth.</html>
8 <html>By oppression and judgment he was taken away,<br> and his generation who could know?<br> For he was cut off out of the land of the living,<br> for the transgressions of my people they were stricken.</html>
9 <html>And they made his grave with the wicked,<br> And with the rich his tomb;<br> Although he had done no violence,<br> Neither was any deceit in his mouth.’</html>
10 <html>Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him;<br> To see if his soul would offer itself in restitution;<br> That he might see his seed, prolong his days,<br> And that the purpose of the LORD might prosper by his hand:</html>
11 <html>He shall see the travail of his soul;<br> and by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many,<br> and he shall bear their iniquities.</html>
12 <html>Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great,<br> And he shall divide the spoil with the mighty;<br> Because he bared his soul unto the death,<br> And was numbered with the transgressors;<br> And he bore the sin of many,<br> And made intercession for the transgressors.</html>
[3] KJV grief, JPS1917 disease
[5] Here and in other verses a great deal of 'assignment of reason' seems to appear; a better translation would be something like 'and he bore,' vs. the 'yet he bore,' or 'therefore he bore,' found in the KJV. See: JPS1917 and others.
[8] KJV mistranslated “lamo” (pl) as singular; see Commentary.
Tovia Singer explains (in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HBUweOTKgo as well as his book) some of the classical explanations. One is that since the Jewish people were created to be a priestly nation, a the light to the world, they are cuplable for the sins of the nations – when the nations fall into sin, it is as a result of a Jewish failure to show them the light, and therefore the Jewish people must be punished. Then, when the Jewish people return to their mission, they can heal the nations by showing them the light.
Another concept, mainly what I found from his book “Let's get biblical” as I recall, is that when someone observes a holy person suffering they are called to repentance. I.E. when someone is martyred (such as Rabbi Akiva), great numbers of people are called into teshuva (repentance and return to the Lord).
The problem with the Christian interpretation is that it is not logically consistent. First, let us set aside all of the contexual evidence, such as the directly and indirectly stated proofs from Isaiah (numbering more than one dozen) that the suffering servant is Isaiah. Let us merely look at the verse in question by itself and we will immediately see the Christian error; they focus on the “he” and not the “we”. For while it is true that if we assume this refers to Jesus, it does fit the bill of a suffering messiah who brings vicarious atonement; the problem is that “we” do not fit the bill:
Without question, the “our” in “our griefs” is the same group of people referred to with “we” in “we esteemed him stricken”.
What Christian views Jesus as stricken and smitten and afflicted? This is not a mere recognition or acknowledgement of “the passion of the Christ”, regardless of whether or not any individual Christian chooses to believe that way in spite of the text. It is a statement that the very people for whom the servant suffered despised him, in spite of his service to them! This means the verse cannot possibly be about Jesus, cannot possibly be about a suffering Christian messiah who brings vicarious atonement through his death; for if this was true it would require Christians to believe that Jesus was cursed and afflicted by God.
Answer: In Isaiah 53:8, the Gentile spokesperson continues to acknowledge the fault of the nations for the trials and tribulations suffered by the servant, Israel, during his passage through history (cf. Isaiah 52:1, 15-53:1-2). Thus, he states: “As a result of the transgression of my people [the Gentile nations] he [Israel] has been afflicted.” The literal translation of' this verse is: “From the transgression of' my people there has been affliction to him [or “to them”].” The poetic form of lahem, lamo, “to them,” is used in this verse in reference to a collective noun (cf. Genesis 9:26). Lamo is rendered “to him” as it refers to the collective noun, “suffering servant of the Lord,” that is, the Jewish people. In such an instance, lamo can be translated in the singular although it must always be understood to be in the plural in relation to what numerically constitutes the entity given the appellative “suffering servant of the Lord.”
The proper rendering of lamo is sometimes unclear. For example, there appears to be a Question on how to render lamo in the verse, “Then a man uses it [a tree] for fuel: and he takes it, and warms himself; he kindles it and bakes bread; he makes a god, and worships it; he makes it a carved image, and falls down lamo [“to them,” alternately suggested “to it,”]” (Isaiah 44:15). Since the noun, “god,” is in the singular it would seem to show that lamo can mean “to it” as an actual singular and not just when used as a collective noun. This is not the case. Although the prophet's words are in the singular he uses the poetic form lamo, “to them,” to show that the content of his message is to be understood as being in the plural. The translator of the Hebrew, into the Greek Septuagint, understood this and rendered the verse accordingly: “That it might be for men to burn: and having taken part of it he warms himself; and they burn part of it; and bake loaves thereon; and the rest they make for themselves gods, and they worship them.”
The plural nature of the poetic form lamo is supported by the fifty four places it is used in the Hebrew Scriptures. That the plural lamo, in verse 8, refers to the suffering servant of the Lord as a collective noun excludes any possibility that it pertains to an individual. As a result, it cannot refer to Jesus. The suffering servant of the Lord is a collective noun and, as such, does not refer to a specific Israelite.–Gerald Sigal
Rava said in the name of Rav Sachorah who said it in the name of Rav Huna: Whomever the Holy One, blessed is He, desires, He crushes with afflictions as it is stated “And the one whom Hashem desires He crushed with sickness (Isaiah 53:10). Now, one might have thought that this applies even if he does not accept [the afflictions] with love. Scripture therefore states in the continuation of the verse “if his soul acknowledges his guilt” (ibid.)… And if he accepts [the afflictions with love] what is his reward? He will see offspring and live long days. Moreover, he will retain his studies, as it is stated “and the desire of Hashem will succeed in his hand” (ibid.).Talmud Berachos 5a
[12] The ancient Midrash Rabba on Numbers 23 likewise attests that Isaiah 53 refers to the nation of Israel:
<html><b>Who would have believed our report</b> So will the nations say to one another, Were we to hear from others what we see, it would be unbelievable. <b>the arm of the Lord</b> like this, with greatness and glory, to whom was it revealed until now?</html>
<html><b>And he came up like a sapling before it</b> This people, before this greatness came to it, was a very humble people, and it came up by itself like a sapling of the saplings of the trees. <b>and like a root</b> he came up from dry land. <b>neither form</b> had he in the beginning, nor comeliness. <b>and we saw him that he had no appearance. Now shall we desire him?</b> And when we saw him from the beginning without an appearance, how could we desire him? <b>Now shall we desire him?</b> This is a question.</html>
<html><b>Despised and rejected by men</b> was he. So is the custom of this prophet: he mentions all Israel as one man, e.g., (44:2), “Fear not, My servant Jacob”; (44:1) “And now, hearken, Jacob, My servant.” Here too (52:13), “Behold My servant shall prosper,” he said concerning the house of Jacob. יַשְׂכִּיל is an expression of prosperity. Comp. (I Sam. 18:14) “And David was successful (מַשְׂכִּיל) in all his ways.” <b>and as one who hides his face from us</b> Because of their intense shame and humility, they were as one who hides his face from us, with their faces bound up in concealment, in order that we not see them, like a plagued man who hides his face and is afraid to look.</html>
<html><b>Indeed, he bore our illnesses</b> Heb. אָכֵן, an expression of ‘but’ in all places. But now we see that this came to him not because of his low state, but that he was chastised with pains so that all the nations be atoned for with Israel’s suffering. The illness that should rightfully have come upon us, he bore. <b>yet we accounted him</b> We thought that he was hated by the Omnipresent, but he was not so, but he was pained because of our transgressions and crushed because of our iniquities.</html>
<html><b>the chastisement of our welfare was upon him</b> The chastisement due to the welfare that we enjoyed, came upon him, for he was chastised so that there be peace for the entire world.</html>
<html><b>We all went astray like sheep</b> Now it is revealed that all the heathens (nations [mss.]) had erred. <b>accepted his prayers</b> He accepted his prayers and was appeased concerning the iniquity of all of us, that He did not destroy His world. <b>accepted…prayers</b> Heb. הִפְגִּיעַ, espriad in O.F., an expression of supplication.</html>
<html><b>He was oppressed, and he was afflicted</b> Behold he was oppressed by taskmasters and people who exert pressure. <b>and he was afflicted</b> with verbal taunts, sorparlec in O.F. <b>yet he would not open his mouth</b> He would suffer and remain silent like the lamb that is brought to the slaughter, and like the ewe that is mute before her shearers. <b>and he would not open his mouth</b> This refers to the lamb brought to the slaughter.</html>
<html><b>From imprisonment and from judgment he is taken</b> The prophet reports and says that the heathens (nations [mss., K’li Paz]) will say this at the end of days, when they see that he was taken from the imprisonment that he was imprisoned in their hands and from the judgment of torments that he suffered until now. <b>and his generation</b> The years that passed over him. <b>who shall tell?</b> The tribulations that befell him, for from the beginning, he was cut off and exiled from the land of the living that is the land of Israel for because of the transgression of my people, this plague came to the righteous among them.</html>
<html><b>And he gave his grave to the wicked</b> He subjected himself to be buried according to anything the wicked of the heathens (nations [mss., K’li Paz]) would decree upon him, for they would penalize him with death and the burial of donkeys in the intestines of the dogs. <b>to the wicked</b> According to the will of the wicked, he was willing to be buried, and he would not deny the living God. <b>and to the wealthy with his kinds of death</b> and to the will of the ruler he subjected himself to all kinds of death that he decreed upon him, because he did not wish to agree to (denial) [of the Torah] to commit evil and to rob like all the heathens (nations [mss., K’li Paz]) among whom he lived. <b>and there was no deceit in his mouth</b> to accept idolatry (to accept a pagan deity as God [Parshandatha]).</html>
<html><b>And the Lord wished to crush him, He made him ill</b> The Holy One, blessed be He, wished to crush him and to cause him to repent; therefore, he made him ill. <b>If his soul makes itself restitution, etc.</b> Said the Holy One, blessed be He, “I will see, if his soul will be given and delivered with My holiness to return it to Me as restitution for all that he betrayed Me, I will pay him his recompense, and he will see children, etc.” This word אָשָׁם is an expression of ransom that one gives to the one against when he sinned, amende in O.F., to free from faults, similar to the matter mentioned in the episode of the Philistines (I Sam. 6:3), “Do not send it away empty, but you shall send back with it a guilt offering (אָשָׁם).”</html>
<html><b>From the toil of his soul</b> he would eat and be satisfied, and he would not rob and plunder. <b>with his knowledge…would vindicate the just</b> My servant would judge justly all those who came to litigate before him. <b>and their iniquities he would bear</b> He would bear, in the manner of all the righteous, as it is said (Num. 18:1): “You and your sons shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary.”</html>
<html><b>Therefore</b> Because he did this, I will allot him an inheritance and a lot in public with the Patriarchs. <b>he poured out his soul to death</b> Heb. הֶעֱרָה. An expression like (Gen. 24:20), “And she emptied (וַתְּעַר) her pitcher.” <b>and with transgressors he was counted</b> He suffered torments as if he had sinned and transgressed, and this is because of others; he bore the sin of the many. <b>and interceded for the transgressors</b> through his sufferings, for good came to the world through him.</html>