The Suffering Servant — Isaiah 53

Isa 53:4-6 is the Old Testament's deepest exposition of substitution: "he was pierced for our transgressions... and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all." The Servant suffers not for his own sin but for the people's.

Athanasius — On the Incarnation, and John Calvin — Institutes of the Christian Religion. The New Testament quotes it more than any other chapter of the prophets.

The sin-bearing of 53:6 illuminates the hilasterion of Rom 3:25 and the atoning blood of Lev 16:15. It is fulfilled in the Lamb of God of John 1:29, the one who takes away the sin of the world.