1 Peter 2:24
About this verseChrist carried our sins in his own body on the cross so that we could be finished with sin and live rightly — his wounds have healed us.
Isaiah 53:5
The servant suffers wounds and punishment that belonged to us, and through what he endured we receive peace and healing.
But it was for our rebellions that he was pierced through, for our guilt that he was crushed. On him fell the discipline that won our peace, and his welts have brought us healing.
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Say the verse aloud, filling in each blank. Tap a blank for a hint.
What Isaiah 53:5 means
Isaiah writes centuries before the crucifixion, describing a servant who suffers not for his own wrongdoing but for other people’s. Every clause makes the same exchange: his wounds, our peace.
The New Testament writers return to this passage more than almost any other when explaining what happened at the cross. Memorised, it holds the heart of the gospel in the language of substitution — someone standing where we should have stood.
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Questions about Isaiah 53:5
What does Isaiah 53:5 mean?
It describes a servant wounded and crushed in the place of others, so that the punishment bringing them peace fell on him — and by his wounds they are healed.
Why do Christians read Isaiah 53 as being about Jesus?
Because the New Testament writers do. The chapter is quoted and applied to Jesus repeatedly, including by Philip in Acts 8, who begins from this passage to explain the good news.