Who would have believed our report So will the nations say to one another, Were we to hear from others what we see, it would be unbelievable.

the arm of the Lord like this, with greatness and glory, to whom was it revealed until now?

And he came up like a sapling before it This people, before this greatness came to it, was a very humble people, and it came up by itself like a sapling of the saplings of the trees.

and like a root he came up from dry land.

neither form had he in the beginning, nor comeliness.

and we saw him that he had no appearance. Now shall we desire him? And when we saw him from the beginning without an appearance, how could we desire him? Now shall we desire him? This is a question.

Despised and rejected by men was he. So is the custom of this prophet: he mentions all Israel as one man, e.g., (44:2), “Fear not, My servant Jacob”; (44:1) “And now, hearken, Jacob, My servant.” Here too (52:13), “Behold My servant shall prosper,” he said concerning the house of Jacob. יַשְׂכִּיל is an expression of prosperity. Comp. (I Sam. 18:14) “And David was successful (מַשְׂכִּיל) in all his ways.”

and as one who hides his face from us Because of their intense shame and humility, they were as one who hides his face from us, with their faces bound up in concealment, in order that we not see them, like a plagued man who hides his face and is afraid to look.

Indeed, he bore our illnesses Heb. אָכֵן, an expression of ‘but’ in all places. But now we see that this came to him not because of his low state, but that he was chastised with pains so that all the nations be atoned for with Israel’s suffering. The illness that should rightfully have come upon us, he bore.

yet we accounted him We thought that he was hated by the Omnipresent, but he was not so, but he was pained because of our transgressions and crushed because of our iniquities.

the chastisement of our welfare was upon him The chastisement due to the welfare that we enjoyed, came upon him, for he was chastised so that there be peace for the entire world.

We all went astray like sheep Now it is revealed that all the heathens (nations [mss.]) had erred.

accepted his prayers He accepted his prayers and was appeased concerning the iniquity of all of us, that He did not destroy His world. accepted...prayers Heb. הִפְגִּיעַ, espriad in O.F., an expression of supplication.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted Behold he was oppressed by taskmasters and people who exert pressure.

and he was afflicted with verbal taunts, sorparlec in O.F.

yet he would not open his mouth He would suffer and remain silent like the lamb that is brought to the slaughter, and like the ewe that is mute before her shearers.

and he would not open his mouth This refers to the lamb brought to the slaughter.

From imprisonment and from judgment he is taken The prophet reports and says that the heathens (nations [mss., K’li Paz]) will say this at the end of days, when they see that he was taken from the imprisonment that he was imprisoned in their hands and from the judgment of torments that he suffered until now.

and his generation The years that passed over him.

who shall tell? The tribulations that befell him, for from the beginning, he was cut off and exiled from the land of the living that is the land of Israel for because of the transgression of my people, this plague came to the righteous among them.

And he gave his grave to the wicked He subjected himself to be buried according to anything the wicked of the heathens (nations [mss., K’li Paz]) would decree upon him, for they would penalize him with death and the burial of donkeys in the intestines of the dogs.

to the wicked According to the will of the wicked, he was willing to be buried, and he would not deny the living God.

and to the wealthy with his kinds of death and to the will of the ruler he subjected himself to all kinds of death that he decreed upon him, because he did not wish to agree to (denial) [of the Torah] to commit evil and to rob like all the heathens (nations [mss., K’li Paz]) among whom he lived.

and there was no deceit in his mouth to accept idolatry (to accept a pagan deity as God [Parshandatha]).

And the Lord wished to crush him, He made him ill The Holy One, blessed be He, wished to crush him and to cause him to repent; therefore, he made him ill.

If his soul makes itself restitution, etc. Said the Holy One, blessed be He, “I will see, if his soul will be given and delivered with My holiness to return it to Me as restitution for all that he betrayed Me, I will pay him his recompense, and he will see children, etc.” This word אָשָׁם is an expression of ransom that one gives to the one against when he sinned, amende in O.F., to free from faults, similar to the matter mentioned in the episode of the Philistines (I Sam. 6:3), “Do not send it away empty, but you shall send back with it a guilt offering (אָשָׁם).”

From the toil of his soul he would eat and be satisfied, and he would not rob and plunder.

with his knowledge...would vindicate the just My servant would judge justly all those who came to litigate before him.

and their iniquities he would bear He would bear, in the manner of all the righteous, as it is said (Num. 18:1): “You and your sons shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary.”

Therefore Because he did this, I will allot him an inheritance and a lot in public with the Patriarchs.

he poured out his soul to death Heb. הֶעֱרָה. An expression like (Gen. 24:20), “And she emptied (וַתְּעַר) her pitcher.”

and with transgressors he was counted He suffered torments as if he had sinned and transgressed, and this is because of others; he bore the sin of the many.

and interceded for the transgressors through his sufferings, for good came to the world through him.