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Journey of a Passage

Isaiah 40:6–8

"All flesh is grass": "and he said" or "and I said," and a scribe's repair

"The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass… but the word of our God shall stand for ever." The Masoretic Text has "and he said"; the Great Isaiah Scroll, the Greek and the Vulgate read "and I said," making the prophet the speaker. In the scroll, words skipped by the first scribe in vv. 7–8 were added later between the lines and in the margin. 1 Peter 1:24–25 quotes the passage in a shorter Greek form.

Manuscript variant: witnesses differ in wording

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
Hebrew
  1. The oracle as first spoken or written8th–6th century BC (by section; debated)
  2. Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a), Qumran Cave 1c. 125 BC (palaeography; reported)Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
  3. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
Greek
  1. Greek Isaiah (library: Giguet's French)Greek translation c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Isaiah
Latin
  1. Latin Vulgate (Clementine)Jerome c. AD 400, from Hebrew; edition 1592Translated from the Hebrew text Jerome used
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew
New Testament quotation
  1. 1 Peter 1:24–25 (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

  1. 8th–6th century BC (by section; debated)

    The oracle as first spoken or written

    – No copy survives

    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.

  2. c. 125 BC (palaeography; reported)

    Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a), Qumran Cave 1

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written

    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 40:6–8. In v. 6 reads "and I said" where the Masoretic Text has "and he said," agreeing with the Greek and the Vulgate. In vv. 7–8 the first scribe skipped from the first "the grass withers, the flower fades" to the second; a later hand wrote the missing words between the lines and down the margin, writing the divine name as a row of dots, and "our God" in v. 8 was erased and rewritten.

  3. 1st century AD; edition 2010s

    1 Peter 1:24–25 (Greek New Testament; library: Statistical Restoration text)

    ✓ Contains this passageUncertain relationship to the verse (which wording it followed is the question)

    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, “Πᾶσα σὰρξ ὡς χόρτος, καὶ πᾶσα δόξα αὐτῆς ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου.” “Ἐξηράνθη ὁ χόρτος, καὶ τὸ ἄνθος ἐξέπεσεν, τὸ δὲ ῥῆμα ˚Κυρίου μένει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα.” Τοῦτο δέ ἐστιν τὸ ῥῆμα τὸ εὐαγγελισθὲν εἰς ὑμᾶς.

    All flesh is as grass, and all its glory as the flower of grass; the grass withers and the flower falls; but the word of the Lord remains forever

    1 Peter's quotation (1:24–25), close to the Greek. KJV: "For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you."

  4. Jerome c. AD 400, from Hebrew; edition 1592

    Latin Vulgate (Clementine)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Hebrew text Jerome used

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    Vox dicentis: Clama. Et dixi: Quid clamabo? Omnis caro fœnum, et omnis gloria ejus quasi flos agri. Exsiccatum est fœnum, et cecidit flos, quia spiritus Domini sufflavit in eo. Vere fœnum est populus: exsiccatum est fœnum, et cecidit flos; verbum autem Domini nostri manet in æternum.

    Latin numbering: Isaiah 40:6–8. Jerome translated Isaiah from Hebrew (c. AD 400).

  5. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    ק֚וֹל אֹמֵ֣ר קְרָ֔א וְאָמַ֖ר מָ֣ה אֶקְרָ֑א כָּל־הַבָּשָׂ֣ר חָצִ֔יר וְכָל־חַסְדּ֖וֹ כְּצִ֥יץ הַשָּׂדֶֽה׃ יָבֵ֤שׁ חָצִיר֙ נָ֣בֵֽל צִ֔יץ כִּ֛י ר֥וּחַ יְהוָ֖ה נָ֣שְׁבָה בּ֑וֹ אָכֵ֥ן חָצִ֖יר הָעָֽם׃ יָבֵ֥שׁ חָצִ֖יר נָ֣בֵֽל צִ֑יץ וּדְבַר־אֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּ יָק֥וּם לְעוֹלָֽם׃

    A voice says, Cry! And he (one) said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all its loyalty like the flower of the field (v. 6)

    Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 40:6–8.

  6. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

  7. Greek translation c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

    Greek Isaiah (library: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Isaiah

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    Une voix m’a dit: Crie; et j’ai répondu: Que crierai-je? Toute chair est de l’herbe; toute gloire humaine est comme la fleur des champs. L’herbe s’est desséchée, et la fleur est tombée. Mais la parole de notre Dieu subsistera dans tous les siècles.

    Greek (digital file) numbering: Isaiah 40:6–8. 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: manuscript variant (he said / I said) with three witnesses against the Masoretic Text; a visible scribal correction in 1QIsa-a; later quotation in 1 Peter.

The Greek lacks most of v. 7 (as the first scribe of 1QIsa-a did), which suggests the same skip happened easily; scholars debate whether the shorter text is older.

1 Peter 1:24–25 ends "this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you."

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documented1QIsa-a reads "and I said" in 40:6. Described from a transcription.
  • Independently documentedThe Vulgate reads "et dixi" (and I said).
  • Independently documented1 Peter 1:24–25 quotes Isaiah 40:6–8.
  • DisputedThe longer Masoretic text of v. 7 is original.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Isaiah 40: Comfort Ye My People →A new voice: "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people… her warfare is accomplished" (40:1–2). A voice cries: prepare the LORD's way in the wilderness; every valley raised, every mountain lowered; all flesh shall see his glory (vv. 3–5). Another voice: "All flesh is grass… but the word of our God shall stand for ever" (vv. 6–8). Zion, herald of good news, announces: "Behold your God!", who comes with power and feeds his flock like a shepherd (vv. 9–11). Who measured the waters in his hand? The nations are a drop in a bucket; to whom will you liken God? An idol has to be made so that it will not totter (vv. 12–20). He sits above the circle of the earth, names every star, gives strength to the weary: "they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles" (vv. 21–31).
    • Investigation: The Great Isaiah Scroll →Found in a cave near the Dead Sea in 1947, the Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a) is the only complete book of the Hebrew Bible among the Dead Sea Scrolls, about a thousand years older than the medieval codices behind printed Hebrew Bibles. It agrees with the Masoretic Text in most of its words and differs in thousands of small ways: spelling, grammar, scribal slips, corrections, and a few real variants. This investigation explains what the scroll is, how its differences are classified, and which ones matter.