The Hebrew choliy is the noun form meaning sickness or disease. Its most theologically charged occurrence is in Isaiah 53:3-4: 'a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief (choliy)... Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering (choliy).' The Servant knows disease and carries it โ this is the substitutionary heart of Isaiah's fourth Servant Song.
Matthew 8:17 quotes Isaiah 53:4 in connection with Jesus' healing ministry: 'This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases (nosos in Greek, translating choliy).' This is remarkable โ the Gospel writer sees physical healing as a sign of the deeper bearing of human affliction in the Atonement. Christ's healings on earth were previews of the ultimate 'taking up' of human choliy at the cross. The resurrection is the final answer to choliy: in the age to come, 'no longer will there be any curse' (Revelation 22:3).