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).
Read Isaiah 9:6–7 (Hebrew 9:5–6) in every edition
Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently
The family tree
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✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives
- Same line, through lost copies
- Translation
- 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
- Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
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 9:5–6. The four names as in the Masoretic Text, with the article in "Prince of the Peace." Otherwise the differences are of spelling (fuller use of vowel letters) and small grammatical forms.
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).
Parvulus enim natus est nobis, et filius datus est nobis, et factus est principatus super humerum ejus: et vocabitur nomen ejus, Admirabilis, Consiliarius, Deus, Fortis, Pater futuri sæculi, Princeps pacis. Multiplicabitur ejus imperium, et pacis non erit finis; super solium David, et super regnum ejus sedebit, ut confirmet illud et corroboret in judicio et justitia, amodo et usque in sempiternum: zelus Domini exercituum faciet hoc.
Latin numbering: Isaiah 9:6–7. 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.
כִּי־יֶ֣לֶד יֻלַּד־לָ֗נוּ בֵּ֚ן נִתַּן־לָ֔נוּ וַתְּהִ֥י הַמִּשְׂרָ֖ה עַל־שִׁכְמ֑וֹ וַיִּקְרָ֨א שְׁמ֜וֹ פֶּ֠לֶא יוֹעֵץ֙ אֵ֣ל גִּבּ֔וֹר אֲבִיעַ֖ד שַׂר־שָׁלֽוֹם׃ לםרבה לְמַרְבֵּ֨ה הַמִּשְׂרָ֜ה וּלְשָׁל֣וֹם אֵֽין־קֵ֗ץ עַל־כִּסֵּ֤א דָוִד֙ וְעַל־מַמְלַכְתּ֔וֹ לְהָכִ֤ין אֹתָהּ֙ וּֽלְסַעֲדָ֔הּ בְּמִשְׁפָּ֖ט וּבִצְדָקָ֑ה מֵעַתָּה֙ וְעַד־עוֹלָ֔ם קִנְאַ֛ת יְהוָ֥ה צְבָא֖וֹת תַּעֲשֶׂה־זֹּֽאת׃
For a child has been born to us, a son given to us; authority is on his shoulder, and his name is called Wonder-Counselor, Mighty God, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace (9:5)
Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 9:5–6.
1611
King James Bible
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
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.
Car un petit enfant nous est né, et un fils nous a été donné; la principauté repose sur son épaule, et il est appelé de ce nom, l’Ange du grand conseil. Par lui j’amènerai la paix sur les princes, par lui la santé et la paix. Sa principauté est grande, et à la paix qu’il donne il n’est point de limites; il s’assoira sur le trône de David, et il possèdera son royaume, pour le conduire, et l’affermir dans l’équité et la justice, maintenant et dans tous les siècles; l’amour du Seigneur des armées fera ce prodige.
Greek (digital file) numbering: Isaiah 9:6–7. 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 = a very different translation (possibly avoiding "Mighty God" for a human king); scroll = minor variants; Vulgate = different division of the names.
The names may be titles of the king, or sentences about God spoken over the child (a medieval Jewish reading). "Mighty God" (el gibbor) recurs in 10:21 of God.
No New Testament book quotes 9:6 directly; Luke 1:32–33 echoes 9:7.
What the evidence shows
- The library's Greek has "Angel of Great Counsel."
- The Great Isaiah Scroll reads "the Prince of the Peace," with the article. In the transcription.
- The child is Hezekiah.
Sources
Related lessons
- Isaiah 9: Unto Us a Child Is Born →In English numbering: the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, humbled before, will be glorified, "Galilee of the nations" (9:1). "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light" (v. 2); joy as at harvest; the yoke and the oppressor's rod broken as in the day of Midian; boots and bloodied garments burned (vv. 3–5). "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace"; his rule and peace will have no end on David's throne (vv. 6–7). Then a poem against the northern kingdom in four stanzas, each ending "For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still" (vv. 8–21).
- Investigation: The Royal Child and Jesse's Shoot →Isaiah announces a child with throne names, a shoot from Jesse's stump filled with the Spirit, and a king who reigns in righteousness. In their setting these are oracles about the Davidic king and Judah's future; later, Jews and Christians read them as promises of the messiah. This investigation keeps apart the ancient royal conventions, Isaiah's own hopes, Jewish messianic reception and Christian christology.
- 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.