The Meaning of Isaiah 53:3 Explained

Isaiah 53:3

KJV: He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

YLT: He is despised, and left of men, A man of pains, and acquainted with sickness, And as one hiding the face from us, He is despised, and we esteemed him not.

Darby: He is despised and left alone of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, and like one from whom men hide their faces; despised, and we esteemed him not.

ASV: He was despised, and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and as one from whom men hide their face he was despised; and we esteemed him not.

Discover Isaiah 53:3

CONTEXT: What is the Context of Isaiah 53:3?

MEANING: What does Isaiah 53:3 Mean?

WORDS: What do the individual words in Isaiah 53:3 mean?

RELATIONS: What do the major concepts mean in Isaiah 53:3?

KJV Reverse Interlinear

He is despised  and rejected  of men;  a man  of sorrows,  and acquainted  with grief:  and we hid as it were  [our] faces  from him; he was despised,  and we esteemed  him not. 

What does Isaiah 53:3 Mean?

Verse Meaning

The English word "despised" carries strong emotional overtones, but its Hebrew source means to be considered worthless and unworthy of attention. The Servant would not be the object of scorn, Isaiah meant, though He was that ( Mark 10:33-34; Luke 18:31-33), as much as He would be hastily dismissed. One writer believed the primary meaning is that the Servant would provoke abhorrence.
"No person in the history of the Jews has provoked such deep-seated abhorrence as He who came only to bless them, and who even on the cross prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." ... And all through the centuries no name has provoked such intense abhorrence among the Jews as the name of Jesus." [1]
People would reject Him because they would not see Him as having any significance for them ( Isaiah 6:10; John 1:10-11; John 12:37-41). They would not give Him a second look.
"The chief men of His nation who towered above the multitude, the great men of this world, withdrew their hands from Him, drew back from Him: He had none of the men of any distinction at His side." [2]
People would also avoid the Servant because He would appear to them as one who had His own problems. Since He knew pain and grief, others would conclude that He was not in a position to help them. He would appear to them as a loser, and who goes to a loser for help or looks to one for leadership? This description does not mean that the Servant would always be sickly and morose (cf. Isaiah 1:5-6). It means that the way He presented Himself would not lead people to look to Him for strength.
"When all that the human eye saw and the human mind apprehended was added up the result was zero." [3]
"Thus the revelation of the arm of the Lord that will deliver the Lord"s people is met with shock, astonishment, distaste, dismissal, and avoidance. Such a one as this can hardly be the one who can set us free from that most pervasive of all human bondages: sin, and all its consequences. To a world blinded by selfishness and power, he does not even merit a second thought." [4]
People typically disregard those who suffer as they serve the Lord, as they continue to despise and reject the Servant.

Context Summary

Isaiah 53:1-12 - The Rejected And Suffering Redeemer
The common lot of man may be summed up in three words: suffering, sin, and death. Our Lord, the Divine Servant, presents a notable exception to the rest of the race-not in His sufferings, Isaiah 53:3; not in His death, for He died many deaths in one, Isaiah 53:9, r.v. margin, but in His perfect innocence and goodness. His sufferings were due to sins not His own, Romans 5:8. We must make His soul our guilt offering, Isaiah 53:10, r.v. margin. It is the same word as is used in Leviticus 5:1-16. There is no need to summon the aid of another. Do it for yourself!
Jesus shall one day be satisfied. In the glory that shall accrue to the Father; in the redemption of untold myriads; in the character of the redeemed; in the destruction of the results of the Fall, we shall hear His sigh of content and see the triumph on His face. We shall witness His transference of the kingdom to the Father, 1 Corinthians 15:24. We shall behold the satisfactory termination of the mystery of evil. If He is satisfied, we shall be! [source]

Chapter Summary: Isaiah 53

1  The prophet, complaining of incredulity, excuses the scandal of the cross
4  By the benefit of his passion
10  And the good success thereof

What do the individual words in Isaiah 53:3 mean?

He is despised and rejected by men a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and as it were we hid [our] faces from Him He was despised and not we did esteem Him
נִבְזֶה֙ וַחֲדַ֣ל אִישִׁ֔ים אִ֥ישׁ מַכְאֹב֖וֹת וִיד֣וּעַ חֹ֑לִי וּכְמַסְתֵּ֤ר פָּנִים֙ מִמֶּ֔נּוּ נִבְזֶ֖ה וְלֹ֥א חֲשַׁבְנֻֽהוּ

נִבְזֶה֙  He  is  despised 
Parse: Verb, Nifal, Participle, masculine singular
Root: בָּזָה 
Sense: to despise, hold in contempt, disdain.
וַחֲדַ֣ל  and  rejected  by 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Adjective, masculine singular construct
Root: חָדֵל  
Sense: rejected, forbearing, transient, fleeting, lacking.
אִישִׁ֔ים  men 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: אִישׁ 
Sense: man.
אִ֥ישׁ  a  Man 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: אִישׁ 
Sense: man.
מַכְאֹב֖וֹת  of  sorrows 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: מַכְאֹב  
Sense: pain, sorrow.
וִיד֣וּעַ  and  acquainted 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, QalPassParticiple, masculine singular construct
Root: דָּעָה 
Sense: to know.
חֹ֑לִי  with  grief 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: חֳלִי  
Sense: sickness.
וּכְמַסְתֵּ֤ר  and  as  it  were  we  hid 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition-k, Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: מַסְתֵּר  
Sense: (Hiphil) hiding, act of hiding, one who causes people to hide.
פָּנִים֙  [our]  faces 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: לִפְנֵי 
Sense: face.
מִמֶּ֔נּוּ  from  Him 
Parse: Preposition, third person masculine singular
Root: מִן 
Sense: from, out of, on account of, off, on the side of, since, above, than, so that not, more than.
נִבְזֶ֖ה  He  was  despised 
Parse: Verb, Nifal, Participle, masculine singular
Root: בָּזָה 
Sense: to despise, hold in contempt, disdain.
וְלֹ֥א  and  not 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Adverb, Negative particle
Root: הֲלֹא 
Sense: not, no.
חֲשַׁבְנֻֽהוּ  we  did  esteem  Him 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, first person common plural, third person masculine singular
Root: חָשַׁב 
Sense: to think, plan, esteem, calculate, invent, make a judgment, imagine, count.

What are the major concepts related to Isaiah 53:3?

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