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The suffering servant

Isaiah 53 describes a servant who is pierced for our transgressions and bears the sin of many. The apostles read this passage as a portrait of the crucified Jesus.

Explicit fulfillmentHigh confidence

The New Testament explicitly frames this as fulfillment.

Old TestamentIsaiah 52:13-53:12Open this record
Explicit fulfillment
EventThe crucifixion of JesusOpen this record

Read the earlier witness

13Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. 14As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— 15so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand. 1Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. 8By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? 9And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. 10Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 11Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Isaiah 52:13-53:12 English Standard Version (ESV)Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated into any other language.New International Version text is not available here yet. Showing the English Standard Version (ESV).

Read the later witness

Why FaithGraph draws this line

The crucifixion of Jesus explicitly fulfills Isaiah 52:13-53:12.

The New Testament explicitly applies Isaiah's suffering servant to the passion of Jesus. On the night of His arrest Jesus says that the words "He was numbered with the transgressors" must be fulfilled in Him; Philip explains the passage to the Ethiopian official as being about Jesus; Matthew cites it as fulfilled in His healing ministry; and 1 Peter describes the cross in its language.

Evidence

The explanation above is FaithGraph editorial content, not Scripture.

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