Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: The Hebrew adverb rendered Surely introduces an emphatic contrast, so it may be rendered “But surely” or “Yet indeed” (see the introductory comments on this subsection [53.4-6]). There are two possible interpretations for these two lines. According to the first one, the speakers acknowledge that God’s servant suffered on behalf of them and their community even though they had rejected him. This is the traditional Christian interpretation, which sees the servant’s suffering as a vicarious one. Good News Translation expresses it clearly with “But he endured the suffering that should have been ours, the pain that we should have borne,” and so does Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch with “In truth, however, he took upon himself the diseases that were meant for us, and he suffered the pains that we deserved.” According to the second interpretation, in the context of the Old Testament these lines simply mean that the servant suffered by sharing the suffering of others, suffering that he didn’t deserve. He shared in the suffering of the community, because he was part of it (see the comments on the next verse). We prefer this interpretation since it better represents the context here. The verbs borne and carried picture the servant as one who carried a heavy load. That load was the suffering and sickness that he carried for his people or shared with them. Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch express this nonfiguratively. For griefs and sorrows, see the comments on Isa 53.3.

Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted: There are three Hebrew passive participles here (rendered stricken, smitten, and afflicted) and two in the next verse (rendered “wounded” and “bruised”) that draw attention to the identity of the person who caused the servant’s suffering. The people who rejected the servant confess that at first they believed that God was the agent of his suffering. They thought God punished him for his own sin. In Old Testament culture this is the traditional view (see, for example, Job 4). However, the servant’s suffering was due to the rebellion of those who rejected him, not his own personal sin.

In this context esteemed may be rendered “considered” (New International Version), “thought” (Good News Translation, Revised English Bible), or “regarded” (compare verse 3). The verbs stricken, smitten and afflicted refer to physical punishment. They could be metaphors for mental or spiritual punishment, but in the present context a literal sense is better. These verbs are near synonyms, which is evident in modern versions; for example, Bible en français courant has “punished,” “beat,” and “humiliated”; New Revised Standard Version uses “stricken,” “struck,” and “afflicted”; and New International Version translates “stricken,” “smitten,” and “afflicted.” Good News Translation combines them by rendering the last two lines of this verse as “All the while we thought that his suffering was punishment sent by God.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch use two verbs, but expresses them in the active voice: “We thought: God punished and beat him.” This model may be helpful for languages that do not favor passive verbs (see also the second example below). The Septuagint does not mention that the punishment was from God. One commentator suggests that God in the phrase smitten by God (literally “smitten of God”) probably expresses degree, so it is better rendered “terribly smitten.” However, all the versions consulted refer to God here (see also verse 10).

In some languages it may be more logical to place the last half of this verse before the first half by saying “Although we believed he was smitten … yet truly he bore our sickness…” (see also the second example below). This rearrangement brings the first half of the verse closer to the beginning of verse 5, where very similar thoughts are expressed.

Translation examples for this verse are:

• Yet it was our sickness that he bore,
our pain he suffered;
but we believed he was afflicted,
beaten, and struck by God.

• Although we thought God was the one
who afflicted, beat, and struck him,
yet in fact it was our sickness that he carried,
and our pain that he endured.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .