Chiasm Isa 52:13-53:12

by Gregg Allen Trickett, written 11/22/2025 updated 1/12/2026

A few notations [a, b, ... >] show the continuity and congruence of this chiasm. Many other levels and connections pervade this passage about God’s suffering servant.

   Behold,
1ba  My servant will prosper.
2a     He will be high and lifted up
3        and greatly exalted.
4          Just as many were astonished at you, My people,
5a           so His appearance was marred more than any man
6              and His form more than the sons of men.
7                Thus He will sprinkle many nations,
8                  kings will shut their mouths on account of Him;
9                    for what had not been told them they will see,
10                     and what they had not heard
11 >.1                   they will understand.

11 >.2                   Who has believed
10                     our message?
9                    And to whom has the arm of YHWH been revealed?
8                  For He grew up before Him like a suckling child,
7                and like a root out of parched ground;
6              He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him,
5b           nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
4          He was despised
5c           and forsaken of men,
6              a man of sorrows
7                and acquainted with grief;
8                  and like one from whom men hide their face
9                    He was despised,
8                  and we did not esteem Him.
7                Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
6              and our sorrows He carried;
5d           yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
4          smitten of God,
3        and afflicted.
2b     But He was pierced through for our transgressions.
3ab      He was crushed for our iniquities.
4          The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
5e           and by His scourging we are healed.
6              All of us like sheep have gone astray,
7                each of us has turned to his own way;
8                  but YHWH has made intercession on Him the iniquity of us all.
9                    He was oppressed
10                     and He was afflicted;
11                       yet He did not open His mouth
12 >                       like a lamb that is led to slaughter.
12 >                       And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
11                       so He did not open His mouth.
10                     From constraint
9                    and judgment He was taken away.
8                  And as for His generation, who considered
7                that He was cut off out of the land of the living
6              for the transgression of my people
5f           to whom the stroke was due?
4          His grave was assigned with wicked men;
3        yet He was with a rich man in His death,
2      because He had done no violence
1    nor was there deceit in His mouth.
2      But YHWH was pleased
3a       to crush Him putting Him to grief.
4  >.1     When He would render His soul as a guilt offering,
3        He will see His offspring,
2      He will prolong His days,
1a   and the good pleasure of YHWH in His hand will prosper.

4  >.2     As a result of the anguish of His soul,
3        He will see it and be satisfied.
2ba    By His knowledge the Righteous One,
1b   My Servant,
2      will justify the many,
3b       and their iniquities He will bear.
4          Therefore I will allot Him a portion
5            with the many,
5            and with the strong
4          He will divide the plunder;
5a-f         because He poured out to death His soul {life},
6              and with the transgressors He was numbered.
7                Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
8                  and for the transgressors He interceded.