Matthew 8:17 Meaning: He took our infirmities and bore our diseases
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.”
That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our diseases.
that it might be fulfilled that was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, `Himself took our infirmities, and the sicknesses he did bear.'
so that that should be fulfilled which was spoken through Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities and bore our diseases.
Meaning in one sentence
Learn how Matthew applies Isaiah 53:4 to Jesus' healings. Does this verse promise physical healing or point to Christ's atoning work?
Context
After healing the centurion's servant from a distance, Jesus enters Peter's house and finds Peter's mother-in-law sick with a fever. He touches her hand, the fever leaves, and she gets up to serve them. That evening, crowds bring many who are possessed by demons and sick, and Jesus heals them all with a word. Then Matthew pauses the action with a quiet explanation. He reaches back seven hundred years to the prophet Isaiah and says: this is what Isaiah was talking about. The healings are not random acts of kindness. They are a deliberate fulfillment of a promise about the Servant who would take on human weakness and carry our diseases.
Key Words
The Greek behind this verse carries subtle weight. Jesus took our infirmities, using the verb elaben, to take up, to take onto Himself, not just to remove something at a distance. It is the same word used when He takes bread, takes a child, takes the cup. He personally gathered our weakness into His own hands.
The second verb, ebastasen, means He bore our diseases, He carried them as a man carries a heavy load on his shoulders. The word does not mean "took away" as if they vanished instantly; it means He shouldered the burden. And He did this Himself: the pronoun autos ("Himself") is emphatic, not an angel, not a symbol, but Jesus in person.
The nouns are equally broad. Astheneias covers any weakness of body or soul, sickness, frailty, even moral weakness. Nosous is specifically illness, disease. Matthew does not let us spiritualize the verse away into only one kind of suffering.
How Christians Read This Verse
Christians across traditions have read this verse differently. The Reformed tradition, following Calvin, emphasizes that Isaiah originally spoke of Christ bearing sin, and Matthew applies it to physical healing as a sign pointing to that greater work, a taste of what the full atonement will accomplish. Wesley and the Methodists describe two senses: Christ fulfilled the prophecy in the highest sense by bearing sin on the cross, and in a lower sense by healing the diseases that are fruits of sin.
Other Christians, especially within charismatic and Pentecostal traditions, see here a direct promise that Christ's atoning work includes provision for physical healing in this life. They point to the same verbs and argue that if Christ bore our diseases, we can claim healing by faith today. Both sides seek to be faithful to the text, disagreeing on timing and extent.
A common misunderstanding
A common mistake is to read this verse as a blanket promise that Jesus will heal any sickness if we simply believe enough. The word bore does not mean "took away forever", it means He carried the burden. In fact, Matthew is describing Jesus' healing ministry in Capernaum as a sign, not a universal guarantee for every believer in every century. The full fulfillment of this verse includes Christ's death and resurrection, where He finally removes sin and death, and with them, all suffering, at the end of the age.
Living This Out
This week, you may carry a specific weakness, a persistent illness, a chronic ache, a tiredness that won't lift. This verse does not promise that it will vanish tonight. But it does promise this: Jesus has taken that weight onto Himself. He is not distant from your pain. He carried it before you did. You can bring it to Him not because He will always remove it now, but because He already knows its weight and has shouldered it in His own body. That changes how you endure. You are not alone under the load.
Main takeaway: Jesus personally took our physical and spiritual weakness onto Himself, carrying what we could not carry, both in his healing touch and on the cross.
For Families
For ages 5, 8
Jesus helped sick people because He loves them. He even carried their sicknesses Himself. You can always tell Jesus when you don't feel well, He cares.
For ages 9, 12
Matthew shows that Jesus didn't just heal people to be nice. He was fulfilling a promise God made hundreds of years earlier through Isaiah. Jesus took our weaknesses on Himself, not just disease, but tiredness, sadness, and even our failures. That means He understands what we go through. We can trust Him with everything that's hard in our lives.
Questions People Ask
Does Matthew 8:17 promise physical healing for every believer today?
Many Christians read this verse differently. Some see it as a promise that Christ's atonement covers physical healing now, while others see the healings as signs pointing to complete healing at the resurrection. The verbs 'took' and 'bore' suggest Jesus carried our diseases, but not every Christian tradition agrees on whether that guarantees healing in this life. Both views seek to honor what Jesus accomplished.
Why does Matthew apply Isaiah 53:4 to healings when Isaiah was talking about sin?
Isaiah 53:4 describes the suffering Servant bearing griefs and sorrows, which Christians understand primarily as sin-bearing. Matthew applies the same verse to physical healings because he sees Jesus' miracles as a preview of the full salvation He would accomplish on the cross. Bodily healing is an outward sign of the inner healing from sin. The connection is not a contradiction but a layered fulfillment.
What does 'bore our diseases' mean in the original Greek?
The Greek verb 'ebastasen' means 'to carry' or 'to bear as a burden', like picking up a heavy load and carrying it on one's shoulders. It does not mean 'took away' as if the diseases simply disappeared. Jesus shouldered our sicknesses, taking them on Himself. This points both to His healing ministry and to His suffering on the cross, where He carried the ultimate weight of sin and its consequences.
For pastors & researchers
Greek interlinear, 8 commentaries & word study