All
we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:6
Isaiah 53 [1.] Who has believed our message?
To whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed?
For he grew up before him as a tender plant,
and as a root out of dry ground.
He has no good looks or majesty.
When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised,
and rejected by men;
a man of suffering,
and acquainted with disease.
He was despised as one from whom men hide their face;
and we didn’t respect him.
Isaiah 53 [4.] Surely he has borne our sickness,
and carried our suffering;
yet we considered him plagued,
struck by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions.
He was crushed for our iniquities.
The punishment that brought our peace was on him;
and by his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray.
Everyone has turned to his own way;
and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed,
yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth.
As a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he didn’t open his mouth.
Meaning:
Isaiah 52:13-53:12 is the fourth of Isaiah’s “Servant Songs”, describing a Servant of Yahweh who is despised, suffers terribly and is finally exalted. In the verses before this one, the speakers confess that the Servant’s suffering was not his own punishment but theirs: “he was pierced for our transgressions” (Isaiah 53:5). This verse explains why. It begins and ends with the word “all”: all have gone astray, and the iniquity of all was laid on him.
- “All we like sheep have gone astray”
Sheep wander easily. They follow the next patch of grass without thinking where it leads, and once lost they cannot find their way back alone. Isaiah uses this familiar picture for the whole people of God. Their sin is not described first as open rebellion but as straying, drifting from the shepherd’s care. Jesus used the same picture in his parable of the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine to seek the one that “has gone astray” (Matthew 18:12), and he looked on the crowds “like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36).
- “Everyone has turned to his own way”
The second line makes the problem personal. Each person has chosen his own path instead of God’s. This is the heart of sin: putting our own will in God’s place. No one is excluded. Paul says the same: “for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
- “and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all”
Here the verse turns from our failure to God’s remedy. Yahweh himself placed the guilt of the many on the one Servant. The Servant bears what we deserved, so that we might go free. The New Testament sees this fulfilled in Jesus. John the Baptist called him “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), and Paul writes, “For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
- The sheep and the Lamb
The next verse describes the Servant himself “As a lamb that is led to the slaughter” (Isaiah 53:7). The straying sheep are saved by the silent Lamb. When an Ethiopian official was reading this chapter, Philip, “beginning from this Scripture, preached to him Jesus” (Acts 8:35).
The Significance of Isaiah 53:6
- Everyone needs the Shepherd
This verse leaves no room for pride. All have strayed, whatever their background or record. Yet it is also full of hope, because the same “all” whose iniquity was laid on the Servant can be brought back. Peter applies these words to believers: “For you were going astray like sheep; but now have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls” (1 Peter 2:25).
- Trust the one who carried your sin
Christians do not need to carry their guilt. It has been laid on Christ. The right response is to turn from our own way, return to the Shepherd, and follow him. Jesus says, “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).
Cross-References:
1 Peter 2:25: "For you were going astray like sheep;" Peter applies Isaiah 53 to believers.
Matthew 18:12: "If a man has one hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray," The Shepherd seeks the lost.
John 1:29: "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" The Servant revealed.
2 Corinthians 5:21: "For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf;" Our sin laid on Christ.
Conclusion: Isaiah 53:6 describes all people as sheep that have wandered away, each choosing his own path. Yet Yahweh laid the iniquity of us all on his Servant, who carried it in our place. Fulfilled in Jesus, the Lamb of God, this verse calls everyone to turn from their own way and return to the Shepherd of their souls.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible