Matthew 8:17

17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.”[a]

Matthew 8:17 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
English Standard Version (ESV)
17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: "He took our illnesses and bore our diseases."
New Living Translation (NLT)
17 This fulfilled the word of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah, who said, “He took our sicknesses and removed our diseases.”
The Message Bible (MSG)
17 He fulfilled Isaiah's well-known sermon: He took our illnesses, He carried our diseases.
American Standard Version (ASV)
17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying: Himself took our infirmities, and bare our diseases.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
17 So what the prophet Isaiah had said came true: "He took away our weaknesses and removed our diseases."
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
17 so that what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: He Himself took our weaknesses and carried our diseases.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
17 He did it to make what the prophet Isaiah had said come true. He had said, "He suffered the things we should have suffered. He took on himself the sicknesses that should have been ours." (Isaiah 53:4)

Matthew 8:17 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 8:17

That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the
prophet
In ( Isaiah 53:4 ) "He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows", here rendered,

himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses:
very agreeable to the Hebrew text, (awh) , "he himself", not another; (avn) , "took up", upon himself voluntarily, freely, as a man lifts up a burden, and takes it on his shoulders; (wnylx) , "our infirmities", diseases, sicknesses, whether of body or soul, (Mlbo wnybakmw) , "and bare", or carried, as a man does a burden upon his back, "our sicknesses", or diseases, which occasion pain and sorrow. And that these words are spoken of the Messiah, the Jews themselves own; for among the names they give to the Messiah, "a leper" is one; which they prove from this passage F21.

``The Rabbins say, "a leper" of the house of Rabbi is his name; as it is said, "surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted". Says R. Nachman, if he is of the living, he is as I am, as it is said, ( Jeremiah 30:21 ) Says Rab, if of the living, he is as our Rabbi, the holy.''

Upon which last clause the gloss is,

``If the Messiah is of them that are alive, our Rabbi the holy is he, "because (Myawlxt lbwod) he bears infirmities".''

Elsewhere F23 they say,

``There is one temple that is called the temple of the sons of afflictions; and when the Messiah comes into that temple, and reads all the afflictions, all the griefs, and all the chastisements of Israel, which come upon them, then all of them shall come upon him: and if there was any that would lighten them off of Israel, and take them upon himself, there is no son of man that can bear the chastisements of Israel, because of the punishments of the law; as it is said, "surely he hath borne our griefs"''

And in another ancient book F24 of their's, God is represented saying to the Messiah,

``(Nyrwvy lwbot) , "wilt thou bear chastisements", in order to remove their iniquities? (the iniquities of the children of God,) as it is written, "surely he hath borne our griefs": he replied, "I will bear them with joy".''

Hence it is manifest, that according to the mind of the ancient Jews, this passage belongs to the Messiah, and is rightly applied to him by the evangelist. But the difficulty is, how it had its accomplishment in Christ's healing the bodily diseases of men; since Isaiah speaks not of his actions and miracles, but of his sufferings and death; and not of bearing the diseases of the body, as it should seem, but of the diseases of the mind, of sins, as the Apostle Peter interprets it, ( 1 Peter 2:24 ) . To remove which, let it be observed, that though the prophet chiefly designs to point out Christ taking upon him, and bearing the sins of his people, in order to make satisfaction for them, and to save them from them; yet so likewise, as to include his bearing, by way of sympathy, and taking away by his power, the bodily diseases of men, which arise from sin; and which was not only an emblem of his bearing and taking away sin, but a proof of his power and ability to do it: for since he could do the one, it was plain he could do the other.


FOOTNOTES:

F21 T. Bab. Sanhedrim, fol. 98. 2.
F23 Zohar in Exod. fol. 85. 2.
F24 Pesikta in Abkath Rochel, l. 1. par. 2. p. 309. Ed. Huls.

Matthew 8:17 In-Context

15 He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.
16 When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.
17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.”
18 When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake.
19 Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”

Cross References 2

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Isaiah 53:4 (see Septuagint)
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