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LXX Isaiah

Septuagint

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Chapter 6

1 And it happened in the year in which king Uzziah died, that I saw the Lord sitting on a high and exalted throne, and the house was full of his glory.⁠ 2 And seraphs stood all around him:⁠ each one had six wings: and with two they covered their face, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 And one cried to the other, and they said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Sabaoth: the whole earth is full of his glory.⁠ 4 And the lintel shook at the voice they uttered, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said, Woe is me, for I am pricked to the heart; for being a man, and having unclean lips, I dwell in the midst of a people having unclean lips; and I have seen with my eyes the King, the Lord of hosts. 6 And there was sent to me one of the seraphs, and he had in his hand a coal, which he had taken off the altar with the tongs: 7 and he touched my mouth, and said, Look, this has touched your lips, and will take away your iniquities, and will purge off your sins. 8 And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go to this people? And I said, look, I am here, send me. 9 And he said, Go, and say to this people, You shall hear indeed, but you shall not understand; and you shall see indeed, but you shall not perceive. 10 For the heart of this people has become gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; for fear that they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.⁠ 11 And I said, How long, Lord? And he said, Until cities be deserted by reason of their not being inhabited, and the houses by reason of there being no men, and the land shall be left desolate. 12 And after this God shall remove the men far off, and they that are left upon the land shall be multiplied. 13 And yet there shall be a tenth upon it, and again it shall be for plunder, as a turpentine tree, and as an acorn when it falls out of its husk.

Texts in conversation

Compare LXX Isaiah 6:10 and Acts 28:27

Septuagint · New Testament

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Summary

Acts 28 uses the Greek Septuagint translation of Isaiah 6 and includes details not found in the Hebrew version. It describes the people closing their own eyes and ears, softening the tone of the Hebrew version, which says that God closed them.

Passages

LXX Isaiah 6:10

Septuagint
8 And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go to this people? And I said, look, I am here, send me. 9 And he said, Go, and say to this people, You shall hear indeed, but you shall not understand; and you shall see indeed, but you shall not perceive. 10 For the heart of this people has become gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; for fear that they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. 11 And I said, How long, Lord? And he said, Until cities be deserted by reason of their not being inhabited, and the houses by reason of there being no men, and the land shall be left desolate. 12 And after this God shall remove the men far off, and they that are left upon the land shall be multiplied.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Isaiah

Acts 28:27

New Testament
25 So they began to leave, unable to agree among themselves, after Paul made one last statement: “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly to your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah 26 when he said, ‘Go to this people and say, “You will keep on hearing, but will never understand, and you will keep on looking, but will never perceive. 27 For the heart of this people has become dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have closed their eyes, so that they would not see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.”’ 28 “Therefore be advised that this salvation from God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen!” 29 Paul lived there two whole years in his own rented quarters and welcomed all who came to him,
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Acts

References

"... Like LXX Psalms, LXX Isaiah had a great impact on the New Testament. LXX Isaiah 6:9-10, for example, which softens the shock of the Hebrew, is put to apologetic use in Acts 28:27. The so-called 'Servant Songs', which Christian writers apply to Christ, are given a collective sense in the LXX ..."
Jennifer M. Dines, The Septuagint (London: T&T Clark, 2004), 22.

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 6:10 and Acts 28:27

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