Isaiah 54 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 54:6, 54:10, 54:15, 54:16
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Chapter 54
The restored wife and rebuilt city
Verse 54:1 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
54:1 “Sing, barren woman who has not given birth! Break out in song and shout, you who have not labored in childbirth. For the desolate woman's children are more numerous than the married woman's,” says YHWH.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
54:1 “Rejoice, barren woman who does not give birth! Break out and cry aloud, you who do not labor in childbirth, because the deserted woman's children are more numerous than those of the woman who has a husband,” for the Lord has spoken.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both promise the barren woman more children than the married woman. Rashi identifies her with Jerusalem [RASHI54]. Galatians four twenty-six–twenty-seven quotes the Greek invitation in its allegorical account of the free Jerusalem above and children of promise [NA28GAL4].
Verse 54:2 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
54:2 “Enlarge your tent's space; let them stretch out your dwelling curtains. Do not hold back! Lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
54:2 “Widen the place of your tent and your curtains. Pitch them; do not spare! Lengthen your ropes and strengthen your pegs.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The enlarged tent, ropes, and stakes agree. Greek includes curtains within the enlarged space and directly commands pitching; Hebrew tells unspecified people to stretch the curtains.
Verse 54:3 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
54:3 For you will prevail to right and left; your offspring will possess nations and settle deserted cities.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
54:3 Spread out still farther to right and left. Your offspring will inherit nations, and you will settle deserted cities.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both announce expansion and possession. Hebrew prevail follows Rashi; break out is another rendering [RASHI54]. Greek begins with a command, and you rather than the offspring settle cities.
Verse 54:4 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
54:4 Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; do not be humiliated, for you will not be disgraced. You will forget your youth's shame and no longer remember your widowhood's reproach.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
54:4 Do not fear because you were put to shame, or be abashed because you were reproached. For you will forget lasting shame and never remember your widowhood's reproach.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew future freedom from shame becomes Greek encouragement despite past shame. Greek lasting shame replaces the shame of youth. Forgetting widowhood's reproach agrees.
Verse 54:5 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
54:5 For your husband is your Maker; YHWH of hosts is His name. Your Redeemer is Israel's Holy One, who will be called the God of all earth.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
54:5 For the Lord is the One making you; the Lord Sabaoth is His name. The One who rescued you is Himself Israel's God; He will be called upon throughout all earth.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew husband or master is not explicit in Greek, and Holy One becomes God. Greek worldwide calling upon Him replaces His being named God of all earth. Hebrew Maker and husband are plural in form but share the singular divine referent.
Verse 54:6 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
54:6 For YHWH called you like a forsaken wife, grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is rejected,” says your God.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
54:6 “The Lord has not called you like an abandoned, fainthearted wife, nor like a wife hated since youth,” says your God.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew compares the called woman to the forsaken wife; Greek explicitly negates both comparisons. Hebrew when rejected follows Rashi; a question about rejecting one's youthful wife is another punctuation [RASHI54]. The negations materially change the portrayal of the divine call.
Verse 54:7 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
54:7 “For a small moment I abandoned you, but with great compassion I will gather you.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
54:7 “For a short time I abandoned you, and with great mercy I will have mercy on you.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both contrast brief abandonment with great mercy. Greek repeating have mercy replaces the specific Hebrew action gather.
Verse 54:8 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
54:8 In a little anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says your Redeemer, YHWH.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
54:8 In a little anger I turned My face from you, and with everlasting mercy I will have mercy on you,” says the Lord who rescued you.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Brief anger contrasts with lasting compassion in both. Hebrew little follows the Dunash/Jonathan option reported by Rashi; a burst of anger is another interpretation [RASHI54]. Greek turns rather than hides the face and lacks for a moment within this verse.
Verse 54:9 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
54:9 “For this is to Me like Noah's waters: as I swore that Noah's waters would never again pass over earth, so I swore not to be angry with you or rebuke you.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
54:9 “This dates for Me from the water in Noah's time, when I swore to him then concerning the earth not to be angry with you again, nor at a threat against you
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek combines the Noah oath with the present promise instead of repeating the no-more-flood oath separately, adds the oath to him, and carries the negated threat into mountains in ten. Its dative earth is rendered concerning the earth; addressing earth is another possible attachment.
Verse 54:10 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
54:10 Though mountains depart and hills shake, My kindness will not depart from you, and My covenant of peace will not shake,” says YHWH, who has compassion on you.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
54:10 for mountains to move away; nor will your hills be shifted. So neither will My mercy toward you fail, nor will your covenant of peace ever be removed.” For the Lord said, “I am gracious to you.”
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew mountains may depart while kindness remains; Greek, completing nine's oath, denies their departure and their hills' movement. Greek your covenant of peace replaces My covenant. The stable covenant agrees, but the surrounding cosmic assurance changes.
Verse 54:11 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
54:11 “Afflicted, storm-tossed woman, uncomforted! Look, I will lay your stones in carbuncle and found you on sapphires.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
54:11 Humbled and unsettled woman, you were not comforted! Look, I am preparing carbuncle as your stone and sapphire as your foundations,
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both promise gemstone foundations to the afflicted city. Hebrew carbuncle follows Rashi’s precious-stone explanation of pukh; antimony as a setting material is another reading [RASHI54]. Greek explicitly prepares a carbuncle stone; exact ancient mineral identifications remain uncertain.
Verse 54:12 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
54:12 I will make your windows of kadkod stone, your gates of fiery stones, and your whole border of precious stones.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
54:12 and I will make your battlements jasper, your gates crystal stones, and your enclosing wall choice stones,
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew kadkod is retained as an uncertain gemstone, and windows and fiery gate-stones follow options Rashi records; battlements, woodwork, or service fixtures are alternatives for the first feature [RASHI54]. Greek explicitly has jasper battlements and crystal gates; its enclosing wall corresponds to Hebrew border.
Verse 54:13 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
54:13 All your children will be taught by YHWH, and your children's peace will be great.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
54:13 and all your sons taught by God, and your children in great peace.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Divine instruction and abundant peace for the children agree. Greek God corresponds to Hebrew YHWH. John six forty-five quotes all taught by God and explains hearing and learning from the Father as coming to Jesus [NA28JHN6].
Verse 54:14 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
54:14 You will be established in righteousness; you will be far from oppression, for you will not fear, and far from terror, for it will not approach you.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
54:14 You will be built in righteousness. Keep away from injustice, and you will not fear; terror will not approach you.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Righteous establishment and freedom from terror agree. Hebrew distance from oppressors as promise follows Rashi; its form is imperative [RASHI54]. Greek directly commands avoidance of injustice. Irenaeus, Against Heresies five thirty-four four, reads eleven–fourteen as Jerusalem's rebuilding in the righteous kingdom [IRENAEUS534].
Verse 54:15 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
54:15 Look, whoever is without Me will surely dread; whoever gathers against you will fall over to your side.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
54:15 Look, newcomers will approach you through Me and take refuge with you.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew fear without divine support and an opponent's defection follow Rashi; he also records a sojourner reading. Hostile gathering not from Me is another construction [RASHI54]. Greek explicitly promises newcomers through God and refuge, changing both their character and divine agency.
Verse 54:16 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
54:16 Look, I created the smith who blows a charcoal fire and brings out a weapon for his work; I also created the destroyer to ruin it.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
54:16 Look, I am creating you, not like a smith blowing coals and bringing out an implement for work. I did not create you for ruin, to destroy
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew God creates both smith and destroyer; Greek God creates you, explicitly unlike a smith and not for destructive ruin. Hebrew the destroyer ruining it follows Rashi’s weapon-directed explanation [RASHI54]. Greek construction continues into seventeen. The divine action and object materially change.
Verse 54:17 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
54:17 No weapon sharpened against you will succeed, and you will condemn every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is YHWH's servants' inheritance, and their vindication comes from Me,” declares YHWH.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
54:17 every perishable implement. I will not grant success against you. Every voice will rise against you in judgment; you will defeat them all, and those accountable to you will be held liable in it. There is an inheritance for those serving the Lord, and you will be righteous before Me,” says the Lord.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek carries every perishable implement from sixteen, then adds liable opponents and directly declares you righteous before Me. Hebrew sharpened follows Rashi; formed is another reading [RASHI54]. Both promise defeat of accusations, but Greek's extended construction and unstated success-object remain compressed; in it is taken as in judgment.