Isaiah 53:10

Yet it pleased … grief The sentence must be a restatement of the fact that the Servant has suffered by the will of Jehovah, this being repeated in order to introduce the explanation of Jehovah's purpose in imposing chastisement upon him. The second clause, he hath put him to grief, represents a single Hebrew word, which is vocalised and translated by the LXX. as the noun for "sickness" (Isaiah 53:3). The meaning intended by the punctuators is probably "he hath made him sick" (R.V. marg.), although the form is anomalous and the syntax uncertain. Since it is too short to form an independent line, it must be closely attached to what precedes: hence the rendering of Dillmann and others, "It pleased Jehovah to crush him incurably," i.e. grievously (cf. Micah 6:13; Nahum 3:19). This is perhaps the best that can be made of the received reading, but it is most probable that the textual derangement which prevails in these verses begins here.

when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin Rather "if (or when) his soul should present a guilt-offering." The difficulty here does not lie in the analogy of the guilt-offering, for this probably signifies nothing more than has been already expressed in plain words, that the Servant's death is the means of removing guilt (Isaiah 53:4). It does not appear that the distinctive ritual and function of the guilt-offering ("âshâm, see Leviticus 5:14 ff., &c.) throws any light on this passage. The chief difficulty is the hypothetical character of the sentence, of which no satisfactory explanation has been given. No doubt the atoning effect of the sufferings is the condition of Jehovah's great purpose being attained, but the condition has been already fulfilled, whereas it is here spoken of as an event which is, if not problematic, at least future. The subject is ambiguous, but on every ground it is better to suppose that "his soul" is subject than that Jehovah is addressed. Ewald and Cheyne, however, prefer to read (with the change of a consonant) "when he shall make his soul a guilt-offering."

he shall seea seed(cf. Genesis 50:23) he shall prolonghis days i.e. shall enjoy long life. His "seed" are the true spiritual Israel of the future, those who by his means are converted to the knowledge of Jehovah.

the pleasure(i.e. the purpose, see on Isaiah 44:28) of the Lord the establishment of the universal religion, the eternal salvation. The verse returns on itself by repetition of the opening idea (as Isaiah 53:3; Isaiah 53:6) "palindromically," as Delitzsch would say.