In the Old Testament sheep going astray is a common metaphor for people disobeying God’s laws (see, for example, Psa 119.176; Jer 50.6). The speakers here make use of that metaphor to describe their own disobedience. The other important literary feature of this verse is that it opens and closes with the Hebrew word rendered All of us.
All we like sheep have gone astray could be read to mean that those who were like sheep went astray, while those who were unlike sheep did not. Good News Translation renders this line better with “All of us were like sheep that were lost,” which means all of them went astray as sheep do. The Hebrew term for sheep refers to a flock of both sheep and goats (see the comments on 7.21). The Hebrew verb rendered have gone astray means “to wander off and get lost.” RSV/NRSV and New International Version use perfect tense for this verb, but most versions use past tense. Either tense is acceptable here.
We have turned every one to his own way is parallel to the previous line. It completes the comparison with wayward sheep. The people confess that they have erred by going their own way. Turned expresses the Hebrew literally, but several versions use the verb “go” (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). The noun way refers to a person’s way of life. For this line Bible en français courant has “it was each one for himself/herself.” Another possible model is “we have all wandered off on our own ways.”
And the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all emphasizes that the servant suffered the consequences of the sins of those who rejected him (compare verse 5a). He did not become sinful like them, but he suffered the punishment for their sins. And renders the common Hebrew conjunction. Several versions render it “But” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, Revised English Bible), since it introduces a contrast here. In this context iniquity refers to the “punishment” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version) that the people deserved for their sins (compare verse 11). Instead of iniquity, several versions prefer the word “guilt” (Revised English Bible, New American Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), but it is better to use “punishment.” Bible en français courant provides a helpful model for this line with “But the Lord has made him suffer the consequences of the sins of us all.”
Translation examples for this verse are:
• All of us have gone astray, just like sheep;
we have turned aside and gone our own way.
But the LORD has placed on him the punishment
we all should have received.
• Like sheep, we all strayed;
we wandered off and went our own way.
Yet Yahweh has punished him
with what was due to all of us.
• All of us were like sheep and goats,
a flock that scattered,
each of us going the way we pleased.
And the guilt that was our own,
the LORD placed it on him.
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 .