Real Bible Translation

Chapter 53

Isaiah 53:5

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RBT Hebrew Interlinear:

והוא וְהוּא

and Himself

Conjunction, Pronoun personal third person masculine singular

מחלל מְחֹלָל

who is profaned/bored

Verb Pual participle passive masculine singular absolute

מפשענו מִפְּשָׁעֵנוּ

from the rebelions of ourselves

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Prep-M, Noun common masculine plural construct, Suffix pronominal first person both plural

מדכא מְדֻכָּא

who is crushed

Verb Pual participle passive masculine singular absolute

מעונתינו מֵעֲוֹנֹתֵינוּ

from bent/crooked ones of ourselves

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Prep-M, Noun common feminine plural construct, Suffix pronominal first person both plural

מוסר מוּסַר

discipline

Noun common both singular construct

שלומנו שְׁלוֹמֵנוּ

complete one of ourselves

Noun common both singular construct, Suffix pronominal first person both plural

עליו עָלָיו

upon himself

Preposition, Suffix pronominal third person masculine singular

ובחברתו וּבַחֲבֻרָתוֹ

and within the allied one of himself

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Conjunction, Preposition, Noun common feminine singular construct, Suffix pronominal third person masculine singular

נרפא נִרְפָּא־

we are healing

Verb Niphal perfect third person masculine singular

לנו לָנוּ׃

to ourselves

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Preposition, Suffix pronominal first person both plural

RBT Translation:

and Himself who is profaned/bored from the rebelions of ourselves who is crushed from bent/crooked ones of ourselves discipline complete one of ourselves upon himself and within the allied one of himself we are healing to ourselves

RBT Paraphrase:
And Himself is he who is profaned⁴ from the rebellions of ourselves, he who is crushed from bent over/crooked ones of ourselves! A chastisement of the peace ("shalom") of ourselves is against himself; But within the allied one⁵ of himself, we are healing ourselves!⁶

Julia Smith Literal 1876 Translation:
And he being wounded for our transgressions, and crushed from our iniquities; the correction of our peace upon him, and in the marks of his stripes it was healed to us.

LITV Translation:
But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His wounds we ourselves are healed.

Brenton Septuagint Translation:
But he was wounded on account of our sins, and was bruised because of our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and by his bruises we were healed.

Footnotes

Isa. 53:5

Strong's #2490 חלל chalal. to perforate, pierce through, lay open, profane, desecrate.

The Hebrew word מחלל (mechalel) comes from this root and can have both active and passive meanings:

(1) In the piel (active), מחלל means "he who profanes" or "he who desecrates," as seen in Leviticus 19:12:

ולא תחלל את-שם אלוהיך

"And you are/she is not profaning the self eternal name of the God/Mighty Ones of yourself"

(2) In the pual (passive), the meaning shifts to "he who is profaned" or "he who is desecrated"

With varied meanings like this, grammatical context usually plays an important role. If there were some object of piercing—say, a spear—it would be easy to translate it concretly as "piercing," but the context is rebellion and "rebellion" does not pierce. It does however profane.

מחלל מ פשע נו

Nearly all translations thus far change the preposition -מ "from" to a "for/because of" because the true to text translation would be "he who is pierced/bore through from the rebellions/revolts of ourselves..." and this does not make much sense semantically. Make no mistake about it, there is no "for" or "because of" in this text.

But the alternate meaning is also true the text, and makes more semantical sense:

"he who is profaned/desecrated from the rebellions of ourselves..."

Transgression [פשע pasha] is a word that has come to take on a sense of "crossing boundaries" or "breaking rules" But that is not at all the meaning of the word . While a "boundary" might imply a physical or metaphorical limit, פשע is more about the attitude behind the act—rebellion, defiance, or wilful disobedience. (cf. Strong's #6588)

Isa. 53:5

The Hebrew verb חבר (chabar) primarily means "to join" or "to bind together," conveying the idea of forming a connection or alliance. This term is used in various contexts, including the joining of physical objects, the uniting of people in friendship or alliance, etc. In its root form, it can imply both a physical and metaphorical connection, whether literal (such as the binding of objects) or relational (such as the forming of alliances).

The feminine noun derived from this verb, חבורה (chabburah), Strong's 2250, translates to "bound together," "allied," or "association." However, this term also carries an additional nuance: it can imply a bruise or wound. This secondary meaning perhaps stems from the idea of being physically "bound" together in a manner that causes injury as Strong's Lexicon notes:

"from chabar; properly, bound (with stripes)"

The primary sense however is of connection or alliance, if indeed it can refer to a physical mark or injury that results from "a binding or impact." Other more concrete words for "wound" exist in Hebrew (for example, petza Strong's #6482). Chabburah is only found seven times.

Isa. 53:5

Hebrew נרפא לנו

To translate this as "we are healed" is to erase the preposition and possesive לנו meaning "to/for us" since "we are healed to ourselves" makes no sense.

But to retain it means recognizing נרפא in the Qal active, understanding that the preposition ל is working as an accusative, which is a standard function of it in Biblical Hebrew.