Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Jim West <jwest AT highland.net>]

At 11:25 AM 4/16/99 -0500, you wrote:

>(Isa 53:5 KJV)  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was 
>bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon 
>him; and with his stripes we are healed.
>
>This person said to me that the true Hebrew expression is:
>
>wounded FROM OUR transgressions
>
>bruised FROM OUR iniquities
>

This is rather a literal rendering of the preposition <heb> min </heb>.  But
it is basically correct.  The suffering servant (Israel's exiles) was
wounded "from" or "because of", which is the same thing as "for", "for the
cause of".  I.e., in the exilic period (when Deutero-Isaiah was composed)
the exilees were suffering due to the transgressions of their forebears.  

Thus, 

"he (the exilic community) is wounded because of our transgressions; he is
bruised because of our iniquities... " etc.

Small wonder that the Church found here a fine explanation of the Christ
event and adapted it for its own purposes- transforming it thusly:

"he (Jesus) was wounded because of our transgressions, he was bruised
because of our iniquities... "etc.

Best,

Jim

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Jim West, ThD
Petros Baptist Church- Pastor
Quartz Hill School of Theology- Adjunct Prof. of Bible

fax- 978-231-5986
email- jwest AT highland.net
web page-  http://web.infoave.net/~jwest