What Does Isaiah 53:12 Mean?
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.
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
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.THE KEY
The living self poured out to death becomes the one who receives a portion and shares the spoil.
THE MEANING
This verse places before you a servant whose living self is poured out to death, counted among rebels, and carrying the missing of many. The same servant receives a portion with the great, shares the spoil with the strong, and intercedes for those named rebels.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that rebellion places a person beyond intercession: the verse names intercession for the very people it names rebels.
THE ROOT
נַפְשׁוֹ
nafsho
GROWS FROM
נפש
The verbal root means to refresh or be refreshed; the noun names the living self, the living soul.
“living soul” in this verse is nafsho. The word translated “soul” names the living self, not a detachable part of a person. When that self is poured out to death, the verse describes a life given in its fullness.
ALSO GROWS
nephesh: Living soul; the self as a living being.
נֶפֶשׁ
This noun names the very self the verse says is poured out.
naphash: To refresh oneself or be refreshed.
נָפַשׁ
The verbal branch carries the sense of restored vitality, sharpening the cost of the living self poured out here.
פֹּשְׁעִים
poshe'im
GROWS FROM
פשע
To break away; to rebel.
The Hebrew names these people by rebellion, and repeats the same word for those among whom the servant is counted and those for whom he intercedes. The verse holds identification with rebels and intercession for rebels together.
ALSO GROWS
pesha: Rebellion; breaking away.
פֶּשַׁע
This noun gives the nature of the transgressors named in the verse.
poshea: A rebel; one who breaks away.
פֹּשֵׁעַ
The person formed by this root is both included in the servant’s count and met by his intercession.
נָשָׂא
nasa
GROWS FROM
נשא
To lift, carry, or bear.
“carried” in this verse is nasa. The word translated “bare” carries the sense of lifting and bearing. The verse presents the many’s missing as something the servant carries, not as an abstraction left untouched.
ALSO GROWS
nasa: To lift, carry, or bear.
נָשָׂא
This is the verb used for bearing the many’s missing in the verse.
massa: A burden or load.
מַשָּׂא
The related noun makes the carrying tangible: what is borne is a load.
THE PATTERN
A life poured into suffering and death becomes the source of fruit, alignment, and shared honor for many.
He shall see the toil of his living soul, and be filled. By his knowing, my servant, the one in alignment, shall align many, and he shall carry their crookedness.Truly, truly, I say to you. Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.Fixing our sight on Jesus, the one who goes first and brings our trust to its goal, who for the joy lying before him remained under the cross, looking down on the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.THE THREAD
He shall see the toil of his living soul, and be filled. By his knowing, my servant, the one in alignment, shall align many, and he shall carry their crookedness.נֶפֶשׁ (nephesh), meaning living soul, appears in both verses: in verse 11 it is in travail, and in verse 12 it is poured out to death. The shared word links the many’s alignment to the servant’s whole living self given.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us