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Journey of a Passage

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.

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. 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 9:33 (Greek New Testament; library: Statistical Restoration text)1st century AD; edition 2010sUncertain relationship to the verse (which wording it followed is the question)
  2. 1 Peter 2:8 (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 8:13–15. "Sanctuary," "stone of stumbling" and "rock of offense" as in the Masoretic Text. Otherwise the differences are of spelling (fuller use of vowel letters) and small grammatical forms.

  3. 1st century AD; edition 2010s

    Romans 9:33 (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).

    καθὼς γέγραπται, “Ἰδοὺ, τίθημι ἐν Σιὼν λίθον προσκόμματος, καὶ πέτραν σκανδάλου, καὶ ὁ πιστεύων ἐπʼ αὐτῷ, οὐ καταισχυνθήσεται.”

    As it is written: behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame

    Paul combines 28:16 and 8:14. KJV: "As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed."

  4. 1st century AD; edition 2010s

    1 Peter 2:8 (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, “Λίθος προσκόμματος, καὶ πέτρα σκανδάλου”· οἳ προσκόπτουσιν τῷ λόγῳ ἀπειθοῦντες, εἰς ὃ καὶ ἐτέθησαν.

    and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense

    Joined with 28:16 and Psalm 118:22 in 1 Peter 2:6–8. KJV: "And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed."

  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).

    Dominum exercituum ipsum sanctificate; ipse pavor vester, et ipse terror vester: et erit vobis in sanctificationem; in lapidem autem offensionis, et in petram scandali, duabus domibus Israël; in laqueum et in ruinam habitantibus Jerusalem. Et offendent ex eis plurimi, et cadent, et conterentur, et irretientur, et capientur.

    Latin numbering: Isaiah 8:13–15. 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.

    אֶת־יְהוָ֥ה צְבָא֖וֹת אֹת֣וֹ תַקְדִּ֑ישׁוּ וְה֥וּא מוֹרַאֲכֶ֖ם וְה֥וּא מֽ͏ַעֲרִֽצְכֶֽם׃ וְהָיָ֖ה לְמִקְדָּ֑שׁ וּלְאֶ֣בֶן נֶ֠גֶף וּלְצ֨וּר מִכְשׁ֜וֹל לִשְׁנֵ֨י בָתֵּ֤י יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ לְפַ֣ח וּלְמוֹקֵ֔שׁ לְיוֹשֵׁ֖ב יְרוּשָׁלָֽ͏ִם׃ וְכָ֥שְׁלוּ בָ֖ם רַבִּ֑ים וְנָפְל֣וּ וְנִשְׁבָּ֔רוּ וְנוֹקְשׁ֖וּ וְנִלְכָּֽדוּ׃

    He will be a sanctuary, and a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over for both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem (v. 14)

    Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 8:13–15.

  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).

    Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.

  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.

    Ne sanctifie que le Seigneur, et que seul il soit l’objet de ta crainte. Et si tu mets en lui ta confiance, il sera ta sanctification; et tu ne te heurteras pas à lui comme à une pierre d’achoppement, comme à une roche qui croule. Mais les maisons de Jacob sont dans un piège, et les habitants de Jérusalem sont dans une fosse. C’est pourquoi beaucoup d’entre eux seront sans force, et ils tomberont, et ils seront brisés; ils approcheront du filet, et ils y seront pris.

    Greek (digital file) numbering: Isaiah 8:13–15. 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: Greek = interpretive translation (negated); NT = later quotation combining 28:16 and 8:14.

Miqdash ("sanctuary") and mokesh ("snare") sound alike; some scholars propose that the original read "snare" or "conspiracy" in v. 14. The Masoretic Text and the scroll read miqdash.

For Paul (Romans 9:30–33) and 1 Peter 2:6–8 the stone is Christ, on whom some stumble and others build.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedThe library's Greek negates the stumbling in 8:14.
  • Independently documentedRomans 9:33 combines Isaiah 28:16 and 8:14.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Isaiah 8: Speed the Spoil, Hasten the Plunder →God tells Isaiah to write on a large tablet "Maher-shalal-hash-baz" ("swift is the spoil, speedy the prey") before witnesses; Isaiah's wife, "the prophetess," bears a son of that name; before he can say "my father" and "my mother," Damascus and Samaria will be plundered by Assyria (8:1–4). Because the people refused "the waters of Shiloah that go softly," the River (Assyria) will flood Judah up to the neck: "O Immanuel" (vv. 5–8). Nations may plot, "for God is with us" (vv. 9–10). Do not fear what this people fears; "Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself"; he will be a sanctuary, and a stone of stumbling to both houses of Israel (vv. 11–15). "Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples"; Isaiah and his children are signs (vv. 16–18). Do not consult mediums: "To the law and to the testimony"; those who do will see only darkness (vv. 19–22).
    • 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.