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LXX Isaiah

Septuagint

About this book
Chapter 40

1 Comfort, comfort my people, says God. 2 Speak, you priests, to the heart of Jerusalem; comfort her, for her humiliation is accomplished, her sin is put away: for she has received of the Lord's hand double the amount of her sins. 3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness,⁠ Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God.⁠ 4 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low: and all the crooked ways shall become straight, and the rough places plains.⁠ 5 And the glory of the Lord shall appear, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God:⁠ for the Lord has spoken it. 6 The voice of one saying, Cry; and I said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass:⁠ 7 The grass withers, and the flower fades: 8 but the word of our God remains for ever. 9 you that bring glad news to Zion, go up on the high mountain; lift up your voice with strength, you that bring glad news to Jerusalem; lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, Look at your God! 10 Look, the Lord is coming with strength, and his arm is with power: look, his reward is with him, and his work before him. 11 He shall tend his flock as a shepherd, and he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and shall soothe those who are with young. 12 Who has measured the water in his hand, and the heaven with a span, and all the earth in a handful? Who has weighed the mountains in scales, and the forests in a balance? 13 Who has known the mind of the Lord? and who has been his counselor, to instruct him? 14 Or with whom has he taken counsel, and he has instructed him? or who has taught him judgment, or who has taught him the way of understanding; 15 since all the nations are counted as a drop from a bucket, and as the turning of a balance, and shall be counted as spittle? 16 And Lebanon is not enough to burn, nor all beasts enough for a whole burnt offering: 17 and all the nations are as nothing, and counted as nothing. 18 To whom have you compared the Lord? and with what likeness have you compared him? 19 Has not the artificer made an image, or the goldsmith having melted gold, gilt it over, and made it a likeness? 20 For the artificer chooses out a wood that will not rot, and will wisely inquire how he shall set up his image, and so that it should not be moved. 21 Will you not know? will you not hear? has it not been told you of old? Have you not known the foundations of the earth? 22 It is he that comprehends the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants in it are as grasshoppers; he that set up the heaven as a chamber, and stretched it out as a tent to dwell in: 23 he that appoints princes to rule as nothing, and has made the earth as nothing. 24 For they shall not sow, neither shall they plant, neither shall their root be fixed in the ground: he has blown upon them, and they are withered, and a storm shall carry them away like sticks. 25 Now then to whom have you compared me, that I may be exalted? says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see, who has displayed all these things? even he that brings forth his host by number: he shall call them all by name by means of his great glory, and by the power of his might: nothing has escaped you. 27 For do not say, Jacob, and why have you spoken, Israel,⁠ saying, My way is hidden from God, and my God has taken away my judgment, and has departed? 28 And now, have you not known? have you not heard? the eternal God, the God that formed the ends of the earth, shall not hunger, nor be weary, and there is no searching of his understanding. 29 He gives strength to the hungry, and sorrow to those who are not suffering. 30 For the young men shall hunger, and the youths shall be weary, and the choice men shall be powerless: 31 but they that wait on God shall renew their strength; they shall put forth new feathers like eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not hunger.

Texts in conversation

How Mark Combines Isaiah and Malachi as One Quote

Septuagint · New Testament

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Summary

Mark opens with a combined quotation from Isaiah 40 and Malachi 3, although it only names Isaiah, and uses this to present itself in direct continuity with the narrative of the Hebrew Bible.

Passages

LXX Isaiah 40:3

Septuagint
1 Comfort, comfort my people, says God. 2 Speak, you priests, to the heart of Jerusalem; comfort her, for her humiliation is accomplished, her sin is put away: for she has received of the Lord's hand double the amount of her sins. 3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God. 4 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low: and all the crooked ways shall become straight, and the rough places plains.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Isaiah

LXX Malachi 3:1

Septuagint
1 Look, I send forth my messenger, and he shall survey the way before my face: and the Lord, whom you seek, shall suddenly come into his temple, even the angel of the covenant, whom you take pleasure in: look, he is coming, says the Lord Almighty. 2 And who will endure the day of his coming? or who will withstand at his appearing? for he is coming in as the fire of a furnace and as the herb of fullers. 3 He shall sit to melt and purify as it were silver, and as it were gold: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver, and they shall offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Malachi

Mark 1:2

New Testament
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way, 3 the voice of one shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make his paths straight.’” 4 In the wilderness John the baptizer began preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
60–75 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Mark

References

"... Mark’s gospel is unique in that it opens with a quotation from Jewish scripture (1:2–3). This opening quotation combines Malachi 3:1 with Isaiah 40:3, even though the evangelist only cites the prophet Isaiah. Here the evangelist gives the reader an obvious clue regarding the source material that has influenced and shaped his work, namely Jewish scriptures. Many interpreters have used this quotation to claim that the text of Isaiah in particular has played a significant role in the formation and theology of the gospel. But it is possible that Mark might also be pointing the reader to a particular figure in Jewish Scripture. Malachi 3:1 promises that God will send a messenger before he brings his judgment upon Israel. In Malachi 3:22 (LXX), it is quite clear that the messenger is the prophet Elijah: “And behold, I will send you Elijah the Tishbite before the great and glorious day of the Lord.” To the observant reader, Mark’s opening citation alludes to the prophetic figure of Elijah. Such an allusion might very well function as a clue to the reader that the story of Elijah is an important background for the gospel. This allusion to Elijah alone means little, but it might become more significant if additional allusions to or clear imitation of the Elijah-Elisha narrative can be discerned ..."
Adam Winn, Mark and the Elijah-Elisha Narrative: Considering the Practice of Greco-Roman Imitation in the Search for Markan Source Material (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2010), 82.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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LXX Isaiah 40:3 and LXX Malachi 3:1 and Mark 1:2

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