What Does Isaiah 52:13 Mean?
Behold, my servant shall see clearly. He shall rise, be lifted, and be raised very high.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.THE KEY
The servant’s ascent begins with a word for insight and success, then the Hebrew stacks three forms of rising.
THE MEANING
The verse binds the servant’s discernment to his being raised: wisdom and honor appear in one movement. Service here is not insignificance; the one called servant is also the one made unmistakably high.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that service means permanent obscurity or that a servant cannot bear honor.
THE ROOT
יַשְׂכִּיל
yaskil
GROWS FROM
שׂכל
s-k-l
Act wisely, understand, prosper.
“see clearly” in this verse is yaskil. Yaskil carries the sense of insight made effective, including success or prosperity. The same root appears in Psalm 32:8 as “instruct,” where insight becomes guidance.
ALSO GROWS
sekel: Understanding, insight, good sense.
שֵׂכֶל
This noun makes explicit the understanding carried within the servant’s wise action.
maskil: Insightful or instructive; also a designation for a psalm.
מַשְׂכִּיל
The word’s use for an instructive composition shows how this root’s insight can be communicated to guide another.
וְנִשָּׂא
venissa
GROWS FROM
נשׂא
n-s-ʾ
Lift, carry, bear.
“be lifted” in this verse is venissa. Nissa comes from the root for lifting and bearing, so the servant’s being raised is linguistically connected to carrying. Isaiah 53:12 uses this same root when it says he “bare the sin of many,” holding elevation and burden-bearing in one verbal family.
ALSO GROWS
nasa: To lift, carry, bear.
נָשָׂא
This is the verb behind “extolled” here and “bare” in Isaiah 53:12; one root carries both movements.
nasi: Leader, prince.
נָשִׂיא
This related form names a person of public standing, connecting the root’s lifting sense with elevation into honor.
יָרוּם
yarum
GROWS FROM
רום
r-w-m
Rise, be high; raise, exalt.
The first elevation verb, יָרוּם (yarum, rise), is followed by וְנִשָּׂא (venissa, be lifted) and וְגָבַהּ (vegavah, be high). The sequence forms a deliberate crescendo, not a single honor-word.
ALSO GROWS
ram: High, exalted.
רָם
This related form describes height as a state, echoing the servant’s rising into honor.
marom: Height, high place.
מָרוֹם
This noun makes the vertical sense explicit and echoes the verse’s closing image of being very high.
THE PATTERN
God raises the lowly into visible honor, so service and exaltation can occupy the same life.
He raises the bowed from the dust, and lifts the one in want from the ash heap, to seat them among the openhanded, and to make them hold the seat of weight. For the pillars of the earth are the LORD's, and he sets the world upon them.Therefore God also lifted him high, and favored him with a name above every name.THE THREAD
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the plunder with the strong, because he poured out his living soul to death, and was counted with the rebels. He carried the falling short of many, and for the rebels he stepped in.The word rendered “extolled” comes from נשׂא (nasa, to lift, carry, bear), the same root translated “bare” here. The servant’s rising is spoken beside his carrying: elevation does not erase the burden he bears.
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