myBibleHistory

Journey of a Passage

Isaiah 59:20–21

"The Redeemer shall come to Zion": to Zion, for Zion, out of Zion (Romans 11:26)

"And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord." The Hebrew says the redeemer comes to Zion for those in Jacob who repent. The library's Greek reads "for the sake of Zion" and "he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob," making God the one who removes the sin. Paul quotes the Greek in Romans 11:26–27 but writes "out of Zion," and adds a line from Isaiah 27:9.

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
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. 1QIsa-b (1Q8), Qumran Cave 11st century BC – 1st century AD (reported)Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
  4. 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. Romans 11:26–27 (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 59:20–21. "A redeemer will come to Zion" with a different preposition of the same meaning (el for le); v. 21 "and my spirit" with a conjunction and without the second "says the LORD." Otherwise the differences are of spelling (fuller use of vowel letters) and small grammatical forms.

  3. 1st century BC – 1st century AD (reported)

    1QIsa-b (1Q8), Qumran Cave 1

    ◐ Contains part of itDescends, 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 59:20–21. Agrees with the Masoretic Text in v. 21; of v. 20 only "says the LORD" survives.

  4. 1st century AD; edition 2010s

    Romans 11:26–27 (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).

    καὶ οὕτως πᾶς Ἰσραὴλ σωθήσεται, καθὼς γέγραπται, “Ἥξει ἐκ Σιὼν ὁ ῥυόμενος, ἀποστρέψει ἀσεβείας ἀπὸ Ἰακώβ. Καὶ αὕτη αὐτοῖς, ἡ παρʼ ἐμοῦ διαθήκη”, “Ὅταν ἀφέλωμαι τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν.”

    And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: The deliverer will come out of Zion; he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins

    Paul's quotation, combining Isaiah 59:20–21 (Greek) with 27:9. KJV: "And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins."

  5. 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).

    et venerit Sion redemptor, et eis qui redeunt ab iniquitate in Jacob, dicit Dominus. Hoc fœdus meum cum eis, dicit Dominus: spiritus meus qui est in te, et verba mea quæ posui in ore tuo, non recedent de ore tuo, et de ore seminis tui, et de ore seminis seminis tui, dicit Dominus, amodo et usque in sempiternum.

    Latin numbering: Isaiah 59:20–21. Jerome translated Isaiah from Hebrew (c. AD 400).

  6. 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.

    וּבָ֤א לְצִיּוֹן֙ גּוֹאֵ֔ל וּלְשָׁבֵ֥י פֶ֖שַׁע בְּיַֽעֲקֹ֑ב נְאֻ֖ם יְהוָֽה׃ וַאֲנִ֗י זֹ֣את בְּרִיתִ֤י אוֹתָם֙ אָמַ֣ר יְהוָ֔ה רוּחִי֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָלֶ֔יךָ וּדְבָרַ֖י אֲשֶׁר־שַׂ֣מְתִּי בְּפִ֑יךָ לֹֽא־יָמ֡וּשׁוּ מִפִּיךָ֩ וּמִפִּ֨י זַרְעֲךָ֜ וּמִפִּ֨י זֶ֤רַע זַרְעֲךָ֙ אָמַ֣ר יְהוָ֔ה מֵעַתָּ֖ה וְעַד־עוֹלָֽם׃

    And a redeemer will come to Zion, and to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, declares the LORD (v. 20)

    Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 59:20–21.

  7. 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).

    And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.

  8. 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.

    En faveur de Sion viendra le Rédempteur, et il éloignera les impiétés de Jacob. Et voici mon alliance avec eux, dit le Seigneur: Mon Esprit qui est en toi, et les paroles que j’ai mises en ta bouche, ne manqueront pas à ta bouche, ni à celle de ta postérité; car le Seigneur l’a dit, maintenant et pour tous les siècles.

    Greek (digital file) numbering: Isaiah 59:20–21. 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: a translation difference (Hebrew "to those who turn from transgression" / Greek "he will turn away ungodliness"); later quotation in Romans with a further change ("out of Zion"), probably influenced by Psalm 14:7 ("out of Zion") and combined with Isaiah 27:9.

Go'el: the kinsman-redeemer (Ruth 3–4; Leviticus 25:25), used of God throughout 40–66 (41:14; 43:14; 44:6, 24; 47:4; 48:17; 49:7, 26; 54:5, 8; 60:16; 63:16).

V. 21's promise that God's spirit and words will not depart from the mouth of the people and their descendants "for ever" became important in later Jewish thought about the continuity of Torah and prophecy (reported).

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedRomans 11:26 reads "out of Zion."
  • Independently documentedThe library's Greek has "for the sake of Zion." Giguet; C check.
  • Plausible, not confirmedPaul's "out of Zion" comes from Psalm 14:7. One proposal; others suggest a variant Greek text.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Isaiah 59: The Redeemer Shall Come to Zion →"The LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save… But your iniquities have separated between you and your God" (59:1–2). Hands defiled with blood, lips speaking lies; no one sues justly; they hatch vipers' eggs and weave spiders' webs; "their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood… the way of peace they know not" (vv. 3–8). The people confess: "we wait for light, but behold obscurity… We grope for the wall like the blind… judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter" (vv. 9–15a). God sees that there is no justice and no one to intervene; "therefore his arm brought salvation unto him"; he puts on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation, and garments of vengeance (vv. 15b–19). "And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob"; God's spirit and words will not depart from their mouths (vv. 20–21).