Who Makes the Guilt Offering? (Isaiah 53:10)

First-year students of Biblical Hebrew learn that the verb forms for the Yiqtol-2MS and the Yiqtol-3FS are exactly the same. Thus, the verb tiqṭōl (תִּקְטֹל) could mean either “you kill” or “she/it kills”. This certainly opens the door to ambiguity in some Bible passages!

Let us consider a clause in Isaiah 53:10:

אִם תָּשִׂים אָשָׁם נַפְשׁוֹ

What is the subject of the verb tāśiym (תָּשִׂים)? In other words, what is the entity doing the action of the verb tāśiym? Let us consider the options.

Option 1: “you make”

The first option is to take tāśiym as being in the Yiqtol-2MS form, meaning that its subject is a masculine singular entity being addressed (“you”). In this case, the meaning of the clause would be:

When you make his soul a guilt offering.

This first option is reflected in the NKJV:

Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.

However, if this option is accepted, then the passage goes awkwardly from not addressing someone, to addressing someone, and then back to not addressing someone. Because this option is a very unnatural way of reading the text, it is highly unlikely that this was the meaning that the author intended, especially since another plausible and more reasonable option is available.

Option 2: “she/it makes”

The second option is to take tāśiym as being in the Yiqtol-3FS form, meaning that its subject is a feminine singular entity (“she/it”). The only feminine singular entity in context is “his soul” (נַפְשׁוֹ). Thus, in this case, the meaning of the clause would be:

When his soul makes a guilt offering.

This second option is reflected in the ESV:

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

Notice how this second option is the more natural way of reading the Hebrew text. Moreover, a subject for the verb tāśiym is readily available in the immediate context.

Conclusion

Contrary to popular belief, the original languages of the Bible—Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek—are not special languages which are so specific that no ambiguities exist in the original texts of the Bible. Rather, like any other languages, the biblical languages have their own set of issues. Even today, scholars are still discussing language issues in many biblical passages, and the more discussions are advanced, the closer we get to the original intended meaning of the text.