Isaiah 8 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 8:8, 8:11, 8:14, 8:16, 8:20, 8:23
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 8
The sign-child, the flood and the coming light
Verse 8:1 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:1 YHWH said to me, “Take a large writing tablet and write on it with an ordinary stylus: ‘For Swift-plunder, Speedy-spoil.’”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:1 The Lord said to me, “Take a large new sheet and write on it with a human stylus: ‘To make plunder of spoils swiftly; for it is at hand.’”
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew large gillayon and the Maher-shalal-hash-baz inscription become Greek a large new writing sheet and an expanded translated phrase. Greek adds for it is at hand. Human or ordinary stylus retains the tools' stated accessibility without claiming a particular script.
Verse 8:2 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:2 “I will secure reliable witnesses for Myself, Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:2 “Make reliable men witnesses for Me, Uriah and Zechariah son of Barachias.”
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew divine first-person securing witnesses becomes Greek a command to the prophet. Greek lacks Uriah's priestly title and has Barachias rather than Jeberechiah; the two witnesses and reliability agree.
Verse 8:3 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:3 I approached the prophetess; she conceived and bore a son. YHWH said to me, “Call his name Swift-plunder, Speedy-spoil,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:3 I approached the prophetess; she became pregnant and bore a son. The Lord said to me, “Call his name Plunder-quickly, Spoil-swiftly,
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The approach, conception, birth and naming command agree. Hebrew's compact symbolic name is rendered with its noun-like phrases, while Greek gives explicit imperatives; both connect the name with the earlier inscription.
Verse 8:4 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:4 for before the boy knows how to call ‘My father’ and ‘My mother,’ one will carry away Damascus's wealth and Samaria's spoil before the king of Assyria.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:4 because before the child knows how to call father or mother, he will take Damascus's power and Samaria's spoils before the king of the Assyrians.”
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew my father and my mother becomes Greek father or mother; Hebrew wealth becomes Greek power. Both have an unexpressed singular taker, retained without identifying the child as a literal soldier or silently supplying the Assyrian king as grammatical subject.
Verse 8:5 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:5 YHWH spoke to me again, saying,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:5 The Lord spoke to me yet again,
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The renewed divine speech agrees.
Verse 8:6 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:6 “Because this people has rejected Shiloah's waters, which flow gently, and rejoices with Rezin and Remaliah's son,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:6 “Because this people does not want Siloam's water, which goes quietly, but wants to have Raasson and Romelias's son as king over you,
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew rejection and rejoicing with the two rulers become Greek not wanting the water and wanting the rulers as king over you. The Greek shifts this people to you and explicitly names kingship; the quiet water agrees.
Verse 8:7 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:7 therefore, look, the Lord is bringing up against them the River's mighty and abundant waters—the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will rise over all its channels and flow over all its banks.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:7 therefore, look, the Lord brings up against you the river's strong and abundant water—the king of the Assyrians and his glory. He will ascend every ravine of yours and walk over every wall of yours,
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew flooding its channels and banks becomes Greek advancing through your ravines and over your walls, shifting the water metaphor toward a military actor. Greek directly addresses you and lacks Hebrew all before glory.
Verse 8:8 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:8 It will sweep through Judah, overflow and pass on, reaching up to the neck. The outspread span of its wings will fill the breadth of your land, Immanuel.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:8 and he will remove from Judea a person able to lift a head or someone strong enough to accomplish anything. His encampment will fill the breadth of your country. God is with us.”
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew neck-high flooding and outspread wings become Greek removal of capable people and an encampment filling the land. Hebrew addresses Immanuel by name; Greek states the name's meaning, God is with us. The different actions and images are retained.
Verse 8:9 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:9 Raise the battle cry, peoples, and be shattered! Listen, all the distant parts of the earth! Gird yourselves and be shattered; gird yourselves and be shattered!
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:9 Know, nations, and be defeated! Listen to the earth's extremity! You who have grown strong, be defeated; for even if you grow strong again, you will again be defeated.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew the difficult opening ro'u is provisionally a battle cry; Greek commands knowing. Hebrew repeats girding and shattering twice; Greek gives strength and defeat, then an explicit conditional repetition. The address to distant peoples agrees.
Verse 8:10 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:10 Devise a plan, but it will be frustrated; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:10 Whatever counsel you devise, the Lord will scatter; whatever word you speak will certainly not endure for you, because the Lord God is with us.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Counsel's failure, an ineffective word and divine presence agree. Greek explicitly names the Lord as the plan's destroyer and expands God to Lord God.
Verse 8:11 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:11 For thus YHWH spoke to me with a strong hand and instructed me not to walk in this people's way, saying,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:11 Thus says the Lord: “With a strong hand they resist the course of this people's way, saying,
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew recounts divine instruction restraining the prophet; Greek has no to me and gives a difficult they resist construction. Greek apeithousin is provisionally read as a finite plural verb; its alternative participial construction requires review. The strong hand and people's way remain without importing the missing Hebrew instruction clause.
Verse 8:12 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:12 “Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls conspiracy. Do not fear what it fears or be terrified.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:12 ‘Never say hard; for everything this people says is hard.’ But do not fear its fear, and do not be troubled.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew conspiracy becomes Greek hard or harsh, and Hebrew the people's labels become Greek an assertion about everything they say. Both forbid sharing the people's fear; the Greek quotation attachment is provisional.
Verse 8:13 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:13 YHWH of hosts—Him you shall regard as holy. He shall be your fear, and He your terror.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:13 Sanctify the Lord Himself, and He will be your fear.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek lacks Hebrew of hosts and the parallel He your terror. The command to sanctify God and fear Him agrees, with plural your in Hebrew and singular in Greek's final clause.
Verse 8:14 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:14 He will become a sanctuary, but a striking stone and a stumbling rock to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to Jerusalem's residents.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:14 If you trust in Him, He will become a sanctuary for you, and you will not encounter Him as the stumbling of a stone or as the falling of a rock. But Jacob's house is in a trap, and those settled in Jerusalem in a pit.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Greek adds conditional trust and explicitly negates encountering God as a stumbling stone; Hebrew gives sanctuary and stumbling without that condition or negation. Hebrew both houses of Israel becomes Jacob's house, and Jerusalem's snare becomes a pit. The different promise and danger relationships are kept. First Peter two eight applies the stumbling-stone and snare-rock language in its account of Christ and those disobeying the word [NA281PE2].
Verse 8:15 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:15 Many among them will stumble, fall and be broken, be snared and captured.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:15 Therefore many among them will be powerless, fall and be broken; people who are secure will draw near and be captured.”
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Hebrew stumbling and being snared become Greek powerlessness and approaching, with an added description of the captured people as secure. Falling, breaking and capture correspond.
Verse 8:16 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:16 Bind up the testimony; seal the instruction among my disciples.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:16 Then those sealing up the law so that it may not be learned will become manifest.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew commands preserving testimony and instruction among disciples; Greek exposes people sealing law to prevent learning. The testimony and disciples have no separate Greek counterpart, and the purpose of sealing changes materially.
Verse 8:17 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:17 I will wait for YHWH, who hides His face from Jacob's house, and I will hope in Him.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:17 He will say, “I will wait for God, who turned His face away from Jacob's house, and I will put my trust in Him.”
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek adds an introductory he will say and changes present hiding to completed turning away. The first-person waiting and hope or trust in God agree.
Verse 8:18 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:18 Look, I and the children YHWH has given me are for signs and wonders in Israel, from YHWH of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:18 Look, I and the children God gave me—and it will be for signs and wonders in Israel's house, from the Lord Sabaoth, who dwells on Mount Zion.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The speaker, given children, signs, wonders and Zion-dwelling Lord agree. Greek explicitly adds Israel's house and has an abrupt singular it will be after the plural group; that construction is retained.
Verse 8:19 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:19 When they say to you, “Consult the mediums and spirit-knowers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people consult its God? Should it consult the dead on behalf of the living?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:19 If they say to you, “Seek those who speak from the earth and the belly-speakers, the empty-talkers who speak from the belly,” should not a nation turn to its God? Why do they seek the dead concerning the living?
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew names mediums and spirit-knowers with chirping and muttering; Greek describes earth-voices, belly-speaking and empty talk. Both challenge consulting the dead for the living. Greek's first rhetorical question lacks an expressed verb, supplied minimally as turn.
Verse 8:20 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:20 To instruction and to testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, there is no dawn for them.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:20 For He gave law for help, so that they might speak unlike this utterance, concerning which there are no gifts to give for it.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew calls for instruction and testimony and links nonconforming speech with no dawn; Greek gives law as aid and a difficult unlike-this-utterance clause ending in unavailable gifts. The missing testimony and dawn are not imported. Greek's negative scope and repeated concerning-it phrase require specialist review.
Verse 8:21 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:21 One will pass through it, distressed and hungry; when hungry, one will rage, curse one's king and one's God, and turn upward.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:21 A harsh famine will come upon you; when you hunger, you will be grieved and speak evil of the ruler and the cult images, and they will look up toward heaven above,
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew a distressed traveler becomes Greek famine coming upon you. Hebrew rage and cursing one's king and God become Greek grief and maligning the ruler and patakhra, provisionally cult images. Greek then shifts you to they and explicitly names heaven; the obscure object term remains open.
Verse 8:22 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:22 One will look to the earth, and look, distress and darkness, gloom of anguish, and one is driven into thick darkness.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:22 and they will look down to the earth, and look, affliction and confinement and darkness, constricted perplexity and darkness so that they cannot see,
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: The downward prospect of distress and darkness agrees. Hebrew being driven into gloom becomes Greek repeated darkness explicitly preventing sight; its additional confinement and perplexity terms are retained.
Verse 8:23 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
8:23 For there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali lightly, but in the later time He will give weight to the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
8:23 and the one in confinement will not remain perplexed for a time. “Do this first, do it quickly, country of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, way of the sea, and the rest who dwell by the sea and beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations, the regions of Judea.”
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew contrasts former humiliation and later honor or weight; Greek gives imperatives to act first and quickly, adds coastal residents and Judean regions, and phrases the end of perplexity differently. Hebrew the later verb's honor-versus-heaviness sense and Greek the time clause's attachment remain provisional. This is eight twenty-three in both declared editions, commonly English nine one.