Who laid our iniquity on the Servant in Isaiah 53:6?

Isaiah 53:6 answers the question directly. The verse opens and closes with the same Hebrew word — kullanu (כֻּלָּנוּ, "all of us") — creating a bracket that makes the logic unmistakable. We all strayed. The iniquity of all of us was placed on one person.

כֻּלָּנוּ כַּצֹּאן תָּעִינוּ אִישׁ לְדַרְכּוֹ פָּנִינוּ וַיהוָה הִפְגִּיעַ בּוֹ אֵת עֲוֹן כֻּלָּנוּ

"All of us like sheep went astray; each man turned to his own way; and YHWH caused to fall on him the iniquity of all of us." — Isaiah 53:6 (MT)

The active agent is YHWH. The verb is hifgi'a (הִפְגִּיעַ, H6293), the Hiphil (causative) form of paga' — "to cause something to strike or fall upon someone." This is not passive language. YHWH is not described as allowing iniquity to land on the Servant. He is described as causing it to happen. He is the one who lays it there.

The Dead Sea Scrolls confirm this reading. The Isaiah Scroll from Qumran (1QIsa-a, column 44, lines 11–12) agrees with the standard Hebrew text in every substantive detail — the Hiphil verb form, YHWH as the subject, and the kullanu bracket at both ends of the verse.

The ancient Greek translation makes an interesting move at this point. Where the Hebrew says "YHWH caused the iniquity of all of us to fall on him," the Greek reads paredōken auton tais hamartiais hēmōn (G3860) — "the Lord delivered him over to our sins." The difference is significant. In the Hebrew, iniquity is transferred to the Servant; in the Greek, the Servant is handed over to sin as an active force. Both readings affirm vicarious suffering, but the mechanism differs. The Hebrew is the more direct statement: God actively caused the transfer, not as a bystander who permitted it, but as the agent who carried it out.

Read the full study on Isaiah 53.