Verse explainer

What does Isaiah 53:5 really mean?

A prophecy written 700 years before the crucifixion — and its four parallel lines each describe a different facet of substitutionary suffering, not a promise of physical health.

KJV

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

BSB

But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

The plain meaning

Isaiah 53:5 sits inside the fourth "Servant Song" (52:13–53:12), where the prophet describes a figure whose suffering is not his own punishment but a bearing of others' guilt. Four lines, four ideas: wounding for transgression, crushing for iniquity, chastisement that produces peace, and stripes that heal. The Hebrew poetic form pairs each wound with a result — the Servant absorbs what the people owed. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown note that 'wounded' literally means 'pierced,' a physical wound, and that 'chastisement' carries the sense of corrective discipline laid on a substitute so the guilty party is reconciled to the Father (Rom 5:1). The final word — 'healed' — sits in a context of spiritual restoration from the disease of sin, not a clinic promise. Ancient Jewish interpreters, cited by John Gill, also read the Servant's suffering as vicarious, borne on behalf of the community. The verse demands to be read within the whole poem, where v. 6 clarifies: 'the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.'

The common misreading

"By his stripes we are healed" is a promise that Christians will be physically healed if they have enough faith. This is probably the most consequential misreading of the verse, and it has caused real harm — people have delayed medical care or blamed themselves for illness because a healing 'didn't work.' The misreading lifts one line out of a carefully constructed poem about substitutionary suffering and flattens it into a health guarantee. But the surrounding context is entirely about sin, guilt, iniquity, and reconciliation with God. The word 'healed' (Hebrew rapha) appears in contexts of spiritual restoration throughout the Old Testament — Psalm 41:4 ('heal my soul, for I have sinned') is the clearest parallel JFB cites. First Peter 2:24 quotes this verse in the New Testament and frames it explicitly as healing from sin: 'that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness.' Peter is not talking about fevers. The four parallel lines of Isaiah 53:5 are all spiritual in scope — transgressions, iniquities, peace with God, healing from sin's disease. To extract the last line and apply it to the body while ignoring the other three is to read against the grain of the whole poem. Physical suffering is taken seriously elsewhere in Scripture; this verse simply is not the place it is promised away.

What the commentators say

John Gill18th c. · PD

Gill reads 'bruised' as a crushing under the full weight of sin and its punishment — the way grain is ground or spice broken in a mortar — and stresses that the healing in the final line comes through the Servant's wounds and blood, not through human obedience or merit. He also documents that ancient Jewish sources (Mechilta, Zohar) applied this verse directly to the Messiah bearing Israel's chastisements.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown19th c. · PD

JFB underlines that 'wounded' is literally 'pierced' — a precise physical term — and that 'chastisement' is not punitive wrath falling on a guilty party but corrective discipline laid on a sinless substitute so that reconciliation (peace with God) flows to those he represents. 'Healed' in their reading is spiritual healing from sin, grounded in Psalm 41:4 and Jeremiah 8:22.

Adam Clarkeearly 19th c. · PD

Clarke draws attention to the phrase 'chastisement of our peace,' noting that the Hebrew word for peace here (shelomeynu) means 'our pacification' — the act of bringing us into a state of favor and peace with God. The chastisement was not random suffering; it was the specific price that effected reconciliation.

The word behind it

מְחֹלָל mecholal

'Pierced' or 'wounded through.' From chalal, to bore through or pierce fatally. JFB notes it describes a literal bodily wound, not mere mental anguish — the same root used elsewhere of one slain in battle. The KJV 'wounded' softens slightly what the Hebrew expresses: a mortal piercing. This sharpens the substitutionary logic of the verse: the Servant is not emotionally troubled on our behalf — he is physically destroyed for our transgressions.

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