Isaiah 53:8 - Exposition

He was taken from prison and from judgment ; rather, by oppression and a judgment was he taken away; i.e. (us Dr. Kay says) "by a violence which cloaked itself under the formalities of a legal process." The Septuagint Version, which is quoted by Philip the deacon in the Acts ( Isaiah 8:1-22 :33), must have been derived from quite a different text. It preserves, however, the right rendering of the verb, "was he taken away," i.e. removed from the earth. Who shall declare his generation? literally, his generation who considereth ? The meaning is obscure. Dr. Kay understands by "his generation," his lifetime or his life, comparing Isaiah 38:12 , "Mine age is departed," where the same word is used and accompanied by a pronominal suffix. Mr. Urwick suggests that it includes

Others (Delitzsch, Gesenius, Cheyne) take "his generation'' to mean "the men of his generation," and join the clause with what follows: "As for those of his generation, which of them considered that he was cut off," etc.? He was cut off; i.e. taken away before his time, cut down like a flower (comp. Job 14:2 ; Lamentations 3:54 ; Ezekiel 37:11 ). The land of the living. The present world, the earth (see Isaiah 38:11 ; and comp. Job 28:13 ; Psalms 27:13 ; Psalms 52:5 ; Psalms 116:9 ; Psalms 142:1-7 2; Jeremiah 11:19 ). For the transgression of my people was he stricken . The sentiment is the same as in Isaiah 38:5 , but with the difference that there it was suffering only, here it is death itself, which the Servant endures for man. "My people" may be either "God's people" or "the prophet's people," according as the speaker is regarded as Isaiah or Jehovah. Jehovah certainly becomes the Speaker in verses 11, 12.