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.
Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently
The family tree
Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.
✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives
- Same line, through lost copies
- Translation
- Uncertain connection
- The oracle as first spoken or written8th–6th century BC (by section; debated)
- Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a), Qumran Cave 1c. 125 BC (palaeography; reported)Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
- 1QIsa-b (1Q8), Qumran Cave 11st century BC – 1st century AD (reported)Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
- Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
- Romans 10:11 (Greek New Testament; library: Statistical Restoration text)1st century AD; edition 2010sUncertain relationship to the verse (which wording it followed is the question)
- 1 Peter 2:6 (Greek New Testament; library: Statistical Restoration text)1st century AD; edition 2010sUncertain relationship to the verse (which wording it followed is the question)
Every witness, in order
8th–6th century BC (by section; debated)
The oracle as first spoken or written
No original survives. The oldest copies of Isaiah are the Qumran scrolls: the Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a, about 125 BC, nearly complete), 1QIsa-b (1Q8) and some twenty other fragmentary manuscripts.
c. 125 BC (palaeography; reported)
Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a), Qumran Cave 1
How the site knows this: Described from a published transcription of the manuscript. Described in the site's own words from Martin Abegg's transcription (ETCBC/CACCHT Dead Sea Scrolls dataset v2.0.5); the transcription itself is not reproduced. Photographs and DJD XXXII not yet checked.
Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 28:16. The stone, "tested," "precious cornerstone," "firm foundation" and "the one who trusts will not hurry" as in the Masoretic Text; the verb "lay" has a participle form ("I am laying"). Otherwise the differences are of spelling (fuller use of vowel letters) and small grammatical forms.
1st century BC – 1st century AD (reported)
1QIsa-b (1Q8), Qumran Cave 1
How the site knows this: Described from a published transcription of the manuscript. Described in the site's own words from Martin Abegg's transcription (ETCBC/CACCHT Dead Sea Scrolls dataset v2.0.5); the transcription itself is not reproduced. Photographs and DJD XXXII not yet checked.
Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 28:16. A fragmentary copy: only parts of these verses survive, and in the transcription much of the passage is restored by the editors. What survives (the start and the last word) agrees with the Masoretic Text; the verb is written as a participle.
1st century AD; edition 2010s
Romans 10:11 (Greek New Testament; library: Statistical Restoration text)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: the Greek New Testament editions in the library (Textus Receptus, Byzantine Textform, Statistical Restoration).
Λέγει γὰρ ἡ Γραφή, “Πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων ἐπʼ αὐτῷ οὐ καταισχυνθήσεται.”
For the scripture says: Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame
Paul's quotation of the Greek form. KJV: "For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed."
1st century AD; edition 2010s
1 Peter 2:6 (Greek New Testament; library: Statistical Restoration text)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: the Greek New Testament editions in the library (Textus Receptus, Byzantine Textform, Statistical Restoration).
Διότι περιέχει ἐν Γραφῇ: “Ἰδοὺ, τίθημι ἐν Σιὼν λίθον, ἀκρογωνιαῖον ἐκλεκτὸν ἔντιμον, καὶ ὁ πιστεύων ἐπʼ αὐτῷ, οὐ μὴ καταισχυνθῇ.”
Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame
1 Peter's quotation, joined with Psalm 118:22 and Isaiah 8:14. KJV: "Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded."
Jerome c. AD 400, from Hebrew; edition 1592
Latin Vulgate (Clementine)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).
Idcirco hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Ecce ego mittam in fundamentis Sion lapidem, lapidem probatum, angularem, pretiosum, in fundamento fundatum; qui crediderit, non festinet.
Latin numbering: Isaiah 28:16. Jerome translated Isaiah from Hebrew (c. AD 400).
AD 1008
Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.
לָכֵ֗ן כֹּ֤ה אָמַר֙ אֲדֹנָ֣י יְהוִ֔ה הִנְנִ֛י יִסַּ֥ד בְּצִיּ֖וֹן אָ֑בֶן אֶ֣בֶן בֹּ֜חַן פִּנַּ֤ת יִקְרַת֙ מוּסָ֣ד מוּסָּ֔ד הַֽמַּאֲמִ֖ין לֹ֥א יָחִֽישׁ׃
Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a firm foundation: whoever trusts will not hurry (panic)
Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 28:16.
1611
King James Bible
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).
Therefore thus saith the Lord God, 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.
Greek translation c. 2nd century BC; French 1872
Greek Isaiah (library: Giguet's French)
How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.
À cause de cela, ainsi dit le Seigneur, voilà que je mets dans les fondations de Sion une pierre de grand prix, une pierre choisie et précieuse; c’est la pierre angulaire et honorable des fondations; et celui qui croira en elle ne sera point confondu.
Greek (digital file) numbering: Isaiah 28:16. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check only); a C check needs Ziegler's Göttingen Isaiah or Rahlfs–Hanhart.
What changed, and why
Classification: translation difference (hurry / be ashamed) carried into later quotation; Hebrew witnesses (1QIsa-a, 1QIsa-b) agree in substance.
1QS 8:7–8 (Community Rule) calls the community's council "the tested wall, the precious cornerstone": a Jewish application before the New Testament (reported).
Romans 9:33 combines this verse with 8:14 (stone of stumbling); 1 Peter 2:6–8 combines it with Psalm 118:22 and 8:14.
What the evidence shows
- The Hebrew reads "shall not make haste."
- Romans 10:11 quotes the Greek "shall not be ashamed."
- The library's Greek adds "in him." Giguet: "celui qui croira en elle"; C check.
Sources
Related lessons
- Isaiah 28: A Precious Corner Stone →Woe to Samaria, the proud crown of Ephraim's drunkards, a fading flower that the storm will trample; God himself will be a crown for the remnant (28:1–6). Judah's priests and prophets reel with wine and mock Isaiah's teaching as baby talk, "tsav la-tsav, qav la-qav"; so God will speak to them through foreign lips (vv. 7–13). Jerusalem's rulers boast of a covenant with death; God lays in Zion a tested, precious cornerstone: "he that believeth shall not make haste"; their covenant will be annulled (vv. 14–22). A farmer's parable: as the plowman knows when to plow and how to thresh each crop, so God's work is measured and wise (vv. 23–29).
- Investigation: Jesus and Isaiah →Isaiah is quoted in the Gospels more than any other prophet. This study registers 55 uses that involve Jesus: 20 in Matthew, 14 in Mark, 12 in Luke and 9 in John. For each it records who speaks (Jesus as the Gospel reports him, the narrator, John the Baptist, a heavenly voice, Simeon, or a later scribe), the Isaiah passage and its original setting, the Gospel's Greek wording, whether the use is an explicit quotation, a quotation without formula, an allusion, a proposed allusion, or a later Christian connection, and how that Gospel uses it. Each Gospel is kept separate.