All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
all we
Psalm 119:176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.
Matthew 18:12-14 How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? …
Luke 15:3-7 And he spake this parable unto them, saying, …
his own
Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Isaiah 56:11 Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.
Ezekiel 3:18 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Psalm 69:4 They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away.
each one has turned to his own way;
This part emphasizes individual responsibility and the universal nature of sin. It reflects the human tendency to pursue personal desires and self-interest, often in opposition to God's will. This idea is consistent with the narrative of the fall in Genesis 3, where Adam and Eve chose their own way over God's command. The phrase also aligns with Proverbs 14:12, which warns that a way that seems right to a person can lead to death, highlighting the peril of self-directed paths.
and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.
This statement is a prophetic reference to the atoning work of Jesus Christ, who is seen as the suffering servant in Isaiah 53. The concept of substitutionary atonement is central here, where the sins of humanity are placed upon Christ, fulfilling the sacrificial system outlined in Leviticus. This act of bearing iniquity is further explained in 2 Corinthians 5:21, where Christ is described as being made sin for us. The phrase underscores the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy and the redemptive plan of God through Jesus, as also seen in 1 Peter 2:24, which speaks of Christ bearing our sins in His body on the cross.
The prophet opens with a vivid picture everyone can grasp. Sheep are famous for wandering without noticing the cliff’s edge, and Isaiah says we do the same.
• Universal problem: “There is no one who does good, not even one” (Psalm 14:3).
• Sin isn’t limited to obvious rebels; Paul echoes Isaiah when he writes, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
• Our helplessness: Like sheep, we cannot rescue ourselves; we need a Shepherd (John 10:11).
Isaiah moves from the collective to the individual. The wandering is personal.
• Personal responsibility: “Each of us will give an account of himself to God” (Romans 14:12).
• Self-direction without God: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25).
• The deadly illusion: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12).
Together these verses underline that my choices, not just humanity’s in general, put me at odds with God.
Here comes the astonishing remedy: God transfers our guilt to a substitute.
• The voluntary Servant: Jesus “gave His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).
• Divine initiative: “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
• Prophetic fulfillment: “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24), a direct echo of Isaiah 53.
• Complete coverage: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). No one is excluded who comes to Him.
Isaiah 53:6 tells the whole gospel in a single verse: all of us wander, each of us is personally guilty, and yet God has placed every ounce of that guilt on His perfect Servant. Our Shepherd sought us, our Substitute saved us, and our stories are rewritten by His grace.
(6) All we like sheep have gone astray . . .--The confession of repentant Israel (Psalm 119:176), of repentant humanity (1Peter 2:25), was also the thought present to the mind of the Servant, as in Matthew 9:36; John 10:11.Hath laid on him.--Better, as in the margin, hath made to light on him. The words express the fact, but do not explain the mystery, of the substitutive satisfaction. The two sides of that mystery are stated in the form of a seeming paradox. God does not punish the righteous with the wicked (Genesis 18:25). He accepts the suffering of the righteous for the wicked (Mark 10:45). . . .
Verse 6. - All we like sheep have gone astray. "All we" means either the whole nation of Israel, which "went astray" in the wilderness of sin (Psalm 107:4; Psalm 119:176; Ezekiel 34:6), or else the whole race of mankind, which had wandered from the right path, and needed atonement and redemption even more than Israel itself We have turned every one to his own way. Collectively and individually, the whole world had sinned. There was "none that did good" absolutely - "no, not one" (Psalm 14:3). All had quitted "the way of the Lord" (Isaiah 40:3) to walk in their "own ways" (Isaiah 66:3). The Lord hath laid on him; literally, the Lord caused to light upon him. God the Father, as the primary Disposer of all things, lays upon the Son the burden, which the Son voluntarily accepts. He comes into the world to do the Father's will. He prays to the Father, "Let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Matthew 26:39). So St. John says that the Father "sent the Son to be the Propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10). And St. Paul tells us that God (the Father) "made him to be sin for us who knew no sin" (2 Corinthians 5:21). It does not lessen the Son's exceeding mercy and loving-kindness in accepting the burden, that it was laid upon him by the Father. The iniquity of us all (compare the initial "All we"). The redemption is as universal as the sin, at any rate potentially. Christ on the cross made "a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice... for the sins of the whole world."