The Lord’s Decision

“Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him [Jesus]; He has put Him to grief.” (Isaiah 53:10)

There is nothing wrong with the translation of this verse, but the word “pleased” does not accurately represent our modern usage of the term. It means it was the Lord’s decision, or purpose. For instance, a criminal in Britain is sentenced by the judge to be detained “for the queen’s pleasure.” It’s not that the queen takes pleasure in the detention of the criminal, but that she considers it necessary. Historically, this phrase goes back to the Elizabethan period in England. So, when Scripture says “it pleased the Lord,” it does not mean the Lord took pleasure in bruising His Son, but rather that it was the Lord’s decision, it was His purpose. He saw fit to do it; He saw that it was necessary.

The Hebrew language is so condensed that it is almost impossible to translate it completely and accurately into another language. There are only about four Hebrew words in the first two lines of that verse. Where it says “It pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief,” the best translation I can find is “unto sickness” or “to make Him sickness by bruising Him.” The word translated “put Him to grief”, chalah, occurs also in Micah 6:13. God was speaking to rebellious, stubborn Israel, saying: “Therefore also I will make you sick [chalah] by striking you.” There, the New King James Version has translated it by the correct, literal word.