Isaiah 53: Who Is the Servant?

Isaiah 52:13–53:12 describes a servant of God who is despised, suffers, and is finally honored. For Christians, it's a clear portrait of Jesus: “He was wounded for our transgressions” (Isaiah 53:5). The New Testament applies it to him (Acts 8:32–35).

Judaism reads it differently. To see why, start where every careful reader starts: the chapters before it.

Before chapter 53, Isaiah names the servant again and again, and the name is Israel. He even describes this servant as one “whom the nation abhors,” before whom kings will rise (Isaiah 49:7).

Isaiah 52:15 says that “kings shall shut their mouths” at the servant. In the Jewish reading, chapter 53 is those astonished kings speaking: “Who has believed our report?” The nations realize they misjudged Israel, the people they despised.

Jewish readers also point to the details. The servant will “see his seed” and “prolong his days” (53:10). In Hebrew, zera (seed) normally means physical children, and the servant lives a long life after his suffering.

This Jewish reading is ancient. Around 248 CE, the Christian scholar Origen recorded that Jews of his day said the passage described the whole people of Israel. Later commentators such as Rashi, Ibn Ezra, and Radak agreed. Some ancient Jewish writings linked parts of the chapter to the Messiah, but none described a divine Messiah dying for the world's sins.