Investigation: Jesus and Isaiah

Journey of a Passage

• Isaiah 5:1–7: The vineyard song: justice and bloodshed →A love song becomes a verdict: "the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel… he looked for judgment (mishpat), but behold oppression (mispach); for righteousness (tsedaqah), but behold a cry (tse'aqah)." The wordplay cannot be translated. Jesus' parable of the tenants (Mark 12:1 and parallels) reuses the opening.
• Isaiah 6:9–10: "Hear ye indeed, but understand not": the hardening text →Isaiah's commission: "Make the heart of this people fat… lest they… convert, and be healed." The Hebrew is a command; the library's Greek makes it a description ("the heart of this people has grown fat"), and Matthew 13:15 (Jesus' words in Matthew's report) and Acts 28:27 (Paul's words in Acts) quote that Greek form. Mark 4:12 adapts it briefly; John 12:40 has its own form. The Great Isaiah Scroll reads hashem ("make desolate") for hashmen ("make fat").
• Isaiah 7:14–16: Almah, parthenos and Immanuel →"Behold, a virgin (ha-almah, 'the young woman') shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Hebrew almah, Greek parthenos, Latin virgo; the Masoretic Text "she (or you) will call," the Great Isaiah Scroll "he (or one) will call," the Greek "you will call," Matthew 1:23 "they will call." The sign's time frame (vv. 15–16) is the reign of Ahaz. Matthew reads it of Jesus' birth.
• Isaiah 8:13–15: A sanctuary and a stone of stumbling →"He shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel." The library's Greek turns the threat into a promise ("if you trust in him… you will not stumble"). Romans 9:33 and 1 Peter 2:8 cite the stone in wording closer to the Hebrew, joined with Isaiah 28:16.
• Isaiah 9:1–2 (Hebrew 8:23–9:1): Galilee of the nations: "a great light" →"The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light." In Hebrew numbering this is 8:23–9:1. Matthew 4:15–16 quotes it to explain Jesus' move to Capernaum in Galilee, in a form that partly follows the Greek. The Great Isaiah Scroll matches the Masoretic Text closely.
• Isaiah 9:6–7 (Hebrew 9:5–6): The child's names: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God… →"For unto us a child is born… and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." The Masoretic Text and the Great Isaiah Scroll give four names (the scroll writes "Prince of the Peace" with the article); the library's Greek gives one, "Angel of Great Counsel," and adds a sentence; the Vulgate lists six (Admirabilis, Consiliarius, Deus, Fortis, Pater futuri saeculi, Princeps pacis).
• Isaiah 10:20–23: "A remnant shall return" →"The remnant shall return (shear yashuv)… unto the mighty God. For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return." The Hebrew "return" becomes "be saved" in the library's Greek (Giguet: "un reste en sera seul sauvé"), and Paul quotes that Greek form in Romans 9:27–28. The Great Isaiah Scroll agrees with the Masoretic Text.
• Isaiah 11:1–5: The shoot from Jesse and the Spirit's gifts →"There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse… and the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him." The Hebrew names six qualities; the library's Greek and the Vulgate add "piety," giving the Christian tradition of the seven gifts of the Spirit. Qumran's Isaiah commentary (4Q161) applies the passage to "the shoot of David" at the end of days.
• Isaiah 11:6–10: The wolf and the lamb; the root of Jesse for the nations →"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb." In v. 6 the Masoretic Text lists "the calf and the young lion and the fatling (meri)"; the Great Isaiah Scroll reads "the calf and the young lion will graze (yimru)," agreeing with the library's Greek ("brouteront ensemble"). In v. 10 the Greek reads "the one who rises to rule the nations; in him the nations will hope," the form Paul quotes in Romans 15:12.
• Isaiah 14:12–15: "O Lucifer, son of the morning": helel ben shachar →"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" The Hebrew helel ben shachar, "shining one, son of dawn," became Greek heōsphoros and Latin lucifer, both ordinary names of the morning star; the KJV kept the Latin as a name. The verse addresses the king of Babylon (v. 4). Jesus' words against Capernaum (Matthew 11:23; Luke 10:15) echo vv. 13–15; the reading of the verse as Satan's fall came later.
• Isaiah 22:20–25: Eliakim and the key of the house of David →"And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open." Eliakim replaces Shebna as steward over the palace. The Hebrew witnesses agree (1QIsa-a, 4QIsa-a); the library's Greek adds "I will give him the glory of David." Revelation 3:7 applies the key to the risen Christ; the passage ends with the peg giving way (v. 25).
• Isaiah 25:6–8: "He will swallow up death in victory" →"He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces." The Hebrew billa ha-mavet la-netsach means "he has swallowed death forever"; the Great Isaiah Scroll and 1QIsa-b agree. The library's Greek makes death the swallower ("death, having prevailed, will devour"); Paul's "Death is swallowed up in victory" (1 Corinthians 15:54) reads la-netsach as "in victory," like the later Greek of Theodotion. Revelation 21:4 takes up the tears.
• Isaiah 28:16: A stone in Zion: "shall not make haste" or "shall not be ashamed" →"Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste." The Hebrew lo yachish means "will not hurry" (or panic); the library's Greek reads "will not be put to shame," adds "in him," and that form is quoted in Romans 9:33, 10:11 and 1 Peter 2:6, which apply the stone to Christ. The Qumran Community Rule applies the same verse to its council.
• Isaiah 29:13–14: Lips near, heart far: Isaiah 29:13 in the Gospels →"This people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men." Mark 7:6–7 and Matthew 15:8–9 report Jesus quoting the verse, in a form that follows the Greek ("in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men"). Paul quotes v. 14 in 1 Corinthians 1:19.
• Isaiah 35:5–10: The blind see, the lame leap: Isaiah 35 and Jesus' answer to John →"Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart." When John the Baptist asks whether Jesus is "he that should come," Jesus answers with a list that combines this passage with Isaiah 26:19, 29:18 and 61:1 (Matthew 11:5; Luke 7:22). The highway of holiness and the return of the ransomed (35:8–10) close the poem; 35:10 recurs in 51:11.
• Isaiah 40:3–5: "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness" →"The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord." The Hebrew accents read "A voice cries: In the wilderness prepare the way"; the Greek and the Vulgate put the voice in the wilderness. All four Gospels apply the Greek form to John the Baptist (Mark 1:3; Matthew 3:3; Luke 3:4–6; John 1:23); the Qumran Community Rule applies the Hebrew to its own retreat to the desert to study the law (1QS 8:13–16).
• Isaiah 42:1–4: "Behold my servant": Hebrew, Greek and Matthew 12 →"Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles." The Hebrew names no one; the library's Greek reads "Jacob my servant… Israel my chosen." Matthew 12:18–21 quotes the passage of Jesus in a form close to neither, without Jacob and Israel, ending with the Greek "in his name shall the Gentiles trust." The Great Isaiah Scroll reads "his justice" (v. 1) and "they will inherit" (v. 4).
• Isaiah 43:10–13: "Ye are my witnesses… that I am he" →"Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord… that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me." The Hebrew ani hu ("I am he") is rendered in the Greek as egō eimi, "I am"; John 13:19 has Jesus say "that ye may believe that I am he" in nearly the same Greek words. The Hebrew witnesses agree.
• Isaiah 44:6–8: "I am the first, and I am the last" →"Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God." The Great Isaiah Scroll adds "his name" ("the LORD of hosts is his name"). In Revelation the title is used by God (1:8; 21:6) and by the risen Christ (1:17; 2:8; 22:13), a later application with large theological weight.
• Isaiah 45:22–24: "Unto me every knee shall bow": Romans 14 and Philippians 2 →"Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth… unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear." Paul quotes 45:23 in Romans 14:11 of God's judgment, and in Philippians 2:10–11 applies it to Jesus: "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow… and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." The Hebrew witnesses agree; the Greek reads "every tongue shall confess (to) God."
• Isaiah 53:4–6: "Surely he hath borne our griefs… with his stripes we are healed": Matthew and 1 Peter →"Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows… he was wounded for our transgressions… with his stripes we are healed… the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." Matthew 8:17 applies v. 4 to Jesus' healings, in wording close to the Hebrew ("sicknesses"); the library's Greek reads "he bears our sins." 1 Peter 2:24–25 applies vv. 5–6 to Jesus' death and to straying sheep.
• Isaiah 53:12: "Numbered with the transgressors": Luke 22:37 and a verse added to Mark →"He was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." In Luke 22:37 Jesus quotes the first phrase of himself at the Last Supper, the only explicit quotation of Isaiah 53 attributed to Jesus in the Gospels. The KJV's Mark 15:28 quotes it too, but that verse is missing from the oldest manuscripts of Mark and was added later. The Great Isaiah Scroll, 1QIsa-b and 4QIsa-d read "the sins of many" and "for their transgressions."
• Isaiah 56:3–7: "Neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree": foreigners, eunuchs and a house of prayer →"Neither let the son of the stranger… say, The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree." Eunuchs who keep the sabbath receive "a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters"; foreigners who join the LORD are brought to his holy mountain, "for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people." Deuteronomy 23:1–3 excluded eunuchs and some foreigners from the assembly; Nehemiah 13:1–3 applied the rule. In Mark 11:17 Jesus quotes v. 7 at the temple.
• Isaiah 61:1–3: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me": the scroll Jesus read at Nazareth (Luke 4:16–21) →"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek… to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God." Luke 4:18–19 reports the words Jesus read in the synagogue at Nazareth. They follow the Greek, not the Hebrew, in "recovering of sight to the blind"; they add a line from 58:6; and they stop before "the day of vengeance." The oldest manuscripts of Luke also lack "to heal the brokenhearted," which the KJV has.
• Isaiah 66:22–24: "Their worm shall not die": the book's last verse, Mark 9:48 and Gehenna →"And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh." The book ends with worshippers who come every new moon and sabbath, and who go out to see the corpses of rebels. In Mark 9:48 Jesus uses the same words of Gehenna. Isaiah speaks of dead bodies seen by the living; Mark of a place the hearers must avoid; later doctrine of everlasting punishment goes further than either text.