Matthew Quotes Isaiah 53 in the Middle of a Healing Account — Settling What "Griefs" Means
Did you know the New Testament tells us exactly how to read Isaiah 53 — by quoting it in the context of Jesus physically healing the sick?
"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— Matthew 8:17
Isaiah 53:4 says the Suffering Servant "hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows." The Hebrew word behind "griefs" is choli (חֳלִי) — the ordinary word for physical sickness and disease.
The clincher is how the New Testament applies it. In Matthew 8:16–17, after a scene in which Jesus heals "all that were sick," Matthew states that this fulfilled Isaiah's words: "Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses."
Matthew, writing under inspiration, applies Isaiah 53:4 directly to the physical healing of bodies — not merely to spiritual or emotional restoration. The inspired interpretation tells us the prophecy includes the body.
Why It Matters
When Scripture interprets itself, the question is settled. Matthew anchors Isaiah 53 to physical healing, which means bodily wholeness is woven into what Jesus carried at the cross — not read into the text, but declared by the text.
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