Objection: Jesus Bore Our Griefs and Sorrows, Not Our Sicknesses and Pains, on the Cross
Good grief! Someone hasn’t spent any time with a concordance.
Many Bibles published today have a margin note that the literal translations of the Hebrew words used for griefs and sorrows in Isaiah 53:4 are sicknesses and pains. Therefore, the correct literal translation of that verse is, “Surely he hath borne our sicknesses, and carried our pains.”
This is an obvious conclusion to anyone who takes the time to study it out. It is not a way of trying to make this verse say something it does not say or rewrite the Bible.
You don’t even need a concordance to figure out that Isaiah 53:4 should be translated as shown above. Simply read Matthew 8:16-17! Do you suppose the Holy Spirit could interpret His own prophecy correctly? Matthew plainly says that Isaiah said that Jesus “took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses.” The fulfillment of this prophecy is cited at an event where Jesus healed all that were sick! So there is absolutely no question that Isaiah was talking about illnesses here. “Healing” people of sorrows and griefs as we normally define them would not have been fulfilled by the healing of the sick.
In the case of griefs, it is utterly ridiculous to maintain that Jesus redeemed us from all forms of grief, because the Holy Spirit Himself can be grieved, as shown by Ephesians 4:30: “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” Peter tells us that we will have to endure grief, even after Jesus’ atonement, in 1 Peter 2:19: “For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.” Peter says a few verses later that you were healed, but he makes it clear that Jesus did not relieve you of all griefs in this life! Therefore, the word griefs in Isaiah 53:4 cannot refer to this kind of grief.
If you’re convinced already that this objection is corny, you can stop reading here. If you think you need more proof, here are some facts to save you some study time:
Griefs Defined
Let’s look at the other places where the same Hebrew word translated griefs in Isaiah 53:4 is used in the Old Testament (the underlying word in each case in the same Hebrew word):
“And the LORD will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee.” – Deuteronomy 7:15.
“Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.” – Deuteronomy 28:61.
“The son of the woman, the mistress of the house fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.” – 1 Kings 17:17.
“And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, enquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover from this disease.” – 2 Kings 1:2.
“Shall I recover of this disease?” – 2 Kings 8:8.
“Shall I recover of this disease?” – 2 Kings 8:9.
“Now Elisha was fallen sick of the sickness whereof he died...” – 2 Kings 13:14.
“And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians.” – 2 Chronicles 16:12.
“And thou shalt have great sickness by disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by day...the LORD smote him with an incurable disease...his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness” – 2 Chronicles 21:15, 18, 19.
“By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.” – Job 30:18.
“For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh.” – Psalm 38:7.
“The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.” – Psalm 41:3.
“All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.” – Ecclesiastes 5:17.
“And it is an evil disease” – Ecclesiastes 6:2.
“Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.”—Isaiah 1:5-6.
“The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness:” – Isaiah 38:9.
“He will cut me off with pining sickness” – Isaiah 38:12.
“When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.” – Hosea 5:13.
Want more? Good! The Hebrew word translated griefs in Isaiah 53:4 is derived from another Hebrew word that is translated sick in 34 verses in the Old Testament! Feel free to buy a concordance or go online and look up these verses for yourself, as I think I have listed enough verses here to rest my case.
This is no attempt to rewrite the Bible, but simply an attempt to point out where the King James translators should have used clearer words to express what the Hebrew words were saying. My Reina-Valera Spanish Bible (RVR 1960, a standard among Spanish-speakers), which was translated directly from the Hebrew and the Greek, states explicitly in Isaiah 53:4 that He (Jesus) bore our sicknesses (enfermedades) and pains (dolores). This underscores the point that no one is attempting to rewrite the original Hebrew.
Based on the other places in the Old Testament that the word is used, it is indisputable that Jesus bore our sicknesses at Calvary.
Many different words are translated grief outside of Isaiah 53. The word grief appears 22 times in the Old Testament outside of Isaiah 53. In only two of these cases is the same Hebrew word that Isaiah used in Isaiah 53:4 used to express the word grief:
“As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness: violence and spoil is in her; before me continually is grief and wounds.” – Jeremiah 6:7
“Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it.” – Jeremiah 10:13
Even in these cases, a physical hurt seems to be indicated.
Other Hebrew words are used to express emotional grief. The one in Isaiah 53:4 is the one used above to describe physical grief. It is never used to describe purely emotional grief.
Sorrows Defined
Now let’s look at the other word, the one used for sorrows in Isaiah 53:4. This is the same word that is also used in the verses below. In the interest of fairness, I have listed it everywhere I could find it, not just the places that might seem to help my case:
“If there be dearth in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting, or mildew, locusts, or caterpillers; if their enemies besiege them in the cities of their land; whatsoever sore or whatsoever sickness there be: Then what prayer or what supplication soever shall be made of any man, or of all thy people Israel, when every one shall know his own sore and his own grief...”—2 Chronicles 6:28-29.
“He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain” – Job 33:19. (The second "pain" is actually implicit from the first and was added by the translators.)
“For I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me” – Psalm 38:17.
“For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded” – Psalm 69:26.
“For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow” – Ecclesiastes 1:18.
“All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity: because thy sins were increased. Why criest thou for thine affliction? thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity...” – Jeremiah 30:14-15.
“Thou didst say, Woe is me now! for the LORD hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.” – Jeremiah 45:3.
“Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.” – Jeremiah 51:8.
“Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger” – Lamentations 1:12.
“The LORD is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity” – Lamentations 1:18.
Like the English word pain, this particular Hebrew word appears to be used to refer to both physical and emotional pain, as is clear from both uses in the verses shown above. This word is not as clear-cut as the word for griefs, which always means physical sickness in Scripture. I am not saying that the word used for sorrows always means physical pain; I am simply proving that the word is in fact used to describe physical pain in some places and emotional pain in others. But that’s a GOOD thing, because otherwise only PHYSICAL issues would be healed based on what Jesus did. This shows us that EMOTIONAL problems as well as PHYSICAL problems are covered by His atonement.
Matthew 8:17 shows us that the Holy Spirit (through Isaiah) meant that SICKNESSES (which could be physical or emotional) were healed because Jesus took them. This covers more than just the boo-hoo-hoo kind of “sorrows.”
See the discussion Isaiah’s Prophecy of Redemption for even more discussion of this topic.