Matthew 8:17

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that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: 'He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.'

Matthew 8:17 (NKJV)

This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: 'He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.'

Matthew 8:17 (NIV)

That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.

Matthew 8:17 (KJV)

This fulfilled the word of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah, who said, 'He took our sicknesses and removed our diseases.'

Matthew 8:17 (NLT)

This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: 'He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.'

Matthew 8:17 (ESV)

This happened so that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled: 'He Himself took our illnesses and carried away our diseases.'

Matthew 8:17 (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

This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, when he said, 'He Himself took [in order to carry away] our weaknesses and infirmities and bore away our diseases.'

Matthew 8:17 (AMP)

Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMP), Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org

And thus He fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, He Himself took [in order to carry away] our weaknesses and infirmities and bore away our diseases.

Matthew 8:17 (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

Isaiah's well-known passage: He took our illnesses, He carried our diseases.

Matthew 8:17 (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

Healing as Fulfillment, Not Exception

Matthew does not record Jesus healing Peter's mother-in-law and the crowd of sick people as unexpected miracles. He records them as the fulfillment of Isaiah 53:4. This is Matthew's interpretive key: Jesus healed people because Isaiah said He would. The healing ministry of Jesus was not random compassion. It was the outworking of a predetermined plan, written in Scripture centuries before the cross. When Jesus healed in Matthew 8, He was doing what He had always been appointed to do. The healings were fulfillments, not exceptions.

He Took and He Bore: The Atonement Language

Matthew quotes Isaiah using two verbs: took and bore. The same verbs appear in Isaiah 53:4-5 in the context of sin and sickness being transferred to the Servant. He took them upon Himself. He bore them in His own body. This is substitution language: the Servant does not merely sympathize with human infirmity. He takes it and removes it. The mechanism is the same as sin: He bore yours so you do not have to bear it. Healing purchased at the cross operates by the same logic as forgiveness purchased at the cross.

Matthew 8 is a chapter of healings: the leper (v. 3), the centurion's servant (v. 13), Peter's mother-in-law (v. 15), and the large crowd (v. 16). Matthew concludes the section at verse 17 with the Isaiah 53:4 quotation as if to say: here is what all of this means. Jesus was not just being kind. He was being true to what the cross was always going to accomplish. Every healing in Matthew 8 is a down payment on what the cross would fully purchase. The atonement secured what the healings demonstrated.

Application for Your Life

The Healing Is Not New; It Was Decided Before the Cross

Matthew 8:17 gives you a theological foundation for praying for healing that is not based on feelings or favorable circumstances. The healing Jesus provides is not spontaneous mercy that you have to hope He is in the mood to give. It is a fulfillment of what Isaiah said He would do. He took our infirmities. He bore our sicknesses. The provision was made in advance. You are not asking God to do something new. You are receiving something that was secured when Isaiah's prophecy met its fulfillment.

Every Gospel Healing Is Evidence for You

When you read the healing accounts in the Gospels, they are not simply historical curiosities. They are demonstrations of what the atonement purchased. Each healed person in the Gospels is evidence that Isaiah 53:4 is operative. Matthew explicitly makes that connection in 8:17. The same Jesus who healed the people in Matthew 8 is the same Jesus who intercedes for you today (Hebrews 7:25). The connection between Isaiah's prophecy and your healing is still intact.

Prayer Based on This Verse

Father, I stand on what Matthew wrote: He Himself took my infirmities and bore my sicknesses. Not as a future possibility but as a fulfilled prophecy. This was decided in Isaiah before it was accomplished in Jesus. I receive the healing that was purchased. I am not asking You to consider it. I am receiving what Isaiah said and what Jesus did. In Jesus name. Amen.