Isaiah 53:1

Context

This verse opens the second section of the "Fourth Servant Song" (the Song of the Suffering Servant), which runs from Isaiah 52:13 to 53:12. In the preceding passage, 52:13–15, God declares that His servant will be exalted and that the kings of the nations who see him will be astonished and shut their mouths.

At 53:1 the speaker shifts to "we." This "we" confesses the realization that the despised servant actually suffered because of their own transgressions. The verse is the lament that opens that confession: "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?" It conveys that the report was so unexpected as to be hard to believe, and that "the arm of the LORD," which signifies God's saving power (compare Isaiah 52:10), appeared in a form that people could scarcely recognize.

Interpretation

• New Testament and Christian tradition: John 12:38 cites this verse as fulfilled when people did not believe in Jesus even though He had performed many signs. Romans 10:16 uses it to explain why not all have obeyed the gospel. Following these texts, the church has identified the servant as Jesus Christ and read the verse as a prophecy foreseeing unbelief in the Messiah. Most Korean Protestant denominations broadly share this reading.
• Paul's emphasis on "hearing": The Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament) renders the verse's opening expression as "what was heard" (akoē). Paul takes up this word in Romans 10:17, "So then faith cometh by hearing," and uses it as the basis for explaining the relationship between the proclamation of the gospel and faith.
• Jewish tradition: The medieval Jewish commentator Rashi and others are known to have understood the servant as the suffering people of Israel and the "we" as the nations, astonished at witnessing Israel's restoration.
• Historical-critical scholarship: Scholars who date Isaiah 40–55 to around the time of the Babylonian exile take the "we" to be the exilic community or the nations. Opinions also differ on the identity of the servant, who has been understood as an individual, the nation, a prophet, or others.

Debates and Issues

• Translation: The Hebrew word in the opening expression can mean either "the report proclaimed" or "the report heard." Interpreters therefore differ over whether the speaker is the one who delivered the report or the one who received it. The Korean Revised Version and the New Korean Revised Version render it "what we have proclaimed," while other translations render it "what we have heard."
• New Testament quotation: Because John and Romans quote the verse according to the Septuagint, the vocative "Lord" appears at its beginning.
• Authorship: Conservative evangelicals generally regard the entire Book of Isaiah as the work of the prophet Isaiah alone, whereas historical-critical scholars regard it as a composition spanning several periods.
• Identity of the servant: The disagreement between Christian and Jewish interpreters over who the servant is has long been a point of contention.

In the Korean Church

Isaiah 53 is frequently read aloud during Holy Week and in sermons on the Passion of Jesus, and 53:1 is read with it as the chapter's opening verse. Paired with Romans 10, the verse is also cited in evangelistic and missionary sermons addressing the reality that people do not believe even when the gospel is proclaimed.

Related Passages

• Isaiah 52:10
• Isaiah 53:4–6
• John 12:37–38
• Romans 10:14–17