Isaiah 53:5
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5 (NKJV)
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5 (NIV)
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.
Isaiah 53:5 (KJV)
But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.
Isaiah 53:5 (NLT)
But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5 (ESV)
But He was pierced through for our wrongdoings, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5 (NASB)Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was crushed for our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing]; the punishment [required] for our well-being fell on Him, and by His stripes (wounds) we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5 (AMP)Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMP), Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.
Isaiah 53:5 (AMPC)Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMPC), Copyright © 1954, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried, o ur disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him, o ur sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed.
Isaiah 53:5 (MSG)Scripture quotations from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
New Covenant Meaning
Rapha: Healed as a Completed Reality
The Hebrew rapha (healed) is used throughout the Old Testament for both physical healing and restoration to wholeness. In Isaiah 53:5, the verb is a perfect tense in Hebrew: "we are healed" (niphal perfect of rapha). A perfect tense in Hebrew describes a completed action, something done and finished. The prophet, writing centuries before the cross, declares the healing as an accomplished fact: the Servant will bear the stripes, and the healing of those stripes is certain. Peter confirms the New Covenant application in 1 Peter 2:24, quoting this verse in the aorist tense: "by whose stripes you were healed." The healing is located in the completed work of Christ, not in a future transaction still awaiting fulfillment.
Four Words, Four Dimensions of the Exchange
Isaiah 53:5 presents the substitutionary exchange in four parallel statements. He was pierced (chalal: pierced through, profaned) for our transgressions (pesha: deliberate rebellion). He was crushed (daka: crushed to powder) for our iniquities (avon: guilt, perversity). The chastisement (musar: discipline, correction) for our peace (shalom: wholeness, completeness, nothing missing) was upon Him. By His stripes (chaburah: bruise, wound from a blow) we are healed (rapha: restored to health and wholeness). Each pairing shows the transfer: what we deserved (the cause) fell on Him (the effect), and what He accomplished (the cause) comes to us (the effect). The theology of substitution is not implied here. It is stated in four consecutive declarations.
Peter quotes Isaiah 53:5 directly in 1 Peter 2:24: "who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness, b y whose stripes you were healed." Peter uses the past tense: you were healed. He applies the verse to the believers he is writing to, not as a future hope but as a completed fact. The healing of Isaiah 53:5 is not a promise still waiting fulfillment. It is a declaration of something accomplished at the cross that believers receive by faith. Matthew 8:17 also quotes Isaiah 53:4-5 in connection with Jesus healing the sick: "He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses." The New Testament authors consistently treat this passage as literally fulfilled in Christ.
Application for Your Life
His Stripes Were the Price. Your Healing Is the Result.
Isaiah 53:5 does not say "by His stripes, healing is available if conditions are met." It says "by His stripes we are healed." The stripes were the payment. The healing is the purchased result. The cross did not open a possibility of healing that is still being negotiated. It secured a reality that is received by faith. When you pray about your body, you are not asking God to do something He has not done. You are asking to receive what He has already provided through the completed work of His Son. Bring that distinction into how you approach Him: not "please heal me," but "I receive the healing purchased at the cross."
Shalom: Nothing Missing, Nothing Broken
The chastisement "for our peace" (shalom) is broader than tranquility. Shalom is the Hebrew word for wholeness, completeness, prosperity, and nothing missing or broken. The chastisement that fell on Christ was for the restoration of our total shalom, s piritual, relational, physical, mental. The cross was not only about sin forgiveness. It was about the comprehensive restoration of shalom in every dimension of human existence. Where you are experiencing lack, brokenness, or absence of wholeness in any area of life, Isaiah 53:5 declares that Christ bore the chastisement necessary to restore that shalom. You live on the other side of that chastisement.
Prayer Based on This Verse
Father, I receive what Isaiah declared and Peter confirmed: by His stripes I was healed. The chastisement for my peace fell on Jesus. He was pierced for my transgressions, crushed for my iniquities. The exchange is complete. I do not approach You asking for something You have not already provided. I approach You receiving what the finished work secured: healing, wholeness, shalom, n othing missing, nothing broken. Where my body, mind, or circumstances are not reflecting the shalom Your Son purchased, I align my believing with Your Word. I declare with Isaiah and Peter: I am healed. Not because I feel it in this moment, but because He bore the stripes that paid for it. I receive it by faith. In Jesus name. Amen.