Isaiah 10:22–23

A Remnant Shall Be Saved

Quoted by the apostles in Romans 9:27–28, in the older Greek wording

Side by Side

The Older Text

Septuagint, translated before Messiah

And though the people of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them shall be saved. He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because the Lord will make a short work in all the world.

The Later Text

Masoretic, finished about 1,000 years after the cross

For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness. For the Lord Yahuah of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land.

Quoted in Romans 9:27–28

Paul on who Israel really is

Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.

Your KJV reads: “shall return” in Isaiah, following the Hebrew, and “shall be saved” in Romans, following the Greek.

See what changed and why ↓

What Your Bible Says

Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.
Romans 9:27 KJV

Paul is answering a hard question. If Yahuah made promises to Israel, why do so many in Israel reject Messiah? His answer: “they are not all Israel, which are of Israel” (Romans 9:6). Isaiah already said only a remnant would be saved.

What the Jewish Bible Says

Yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
Isaiah 10:22 KJV

Here the remnant returns. Read on its own, that can sound like a people coming home to the land, which any descendant of Jacob might claim by birth.

What Changed

Two things. The remnant “shall return” in the Hebrew but “shall be saved” in the Greek. And where the Hebrew speaks of a destruction decreed and overflowing, the Greek speaks of Yahuah finishing His work and cutting it short in righteousness. Paul quoted the Greek on both points.

Your KJV keeps both without explaining the gap: “return” in Isaiah, “saved” in Romans. A reader who checks Paul’s quotation against Isaiah finds words that do not match.

Who Is the Remnant?

For Paul, the remnant is not marked by bloodline. It is marked by deliverance: “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace” (Romans 11:5). Yahuah’s favor, not descent, sets them apart. That is why the word “saved” mattered to his argument.

Which One Is Right?

The Greek Bible, translated before Messiah, says the remnant shall be saved and the work cut short in righteousness.

Paul quoted it, nearly word for word, in Romans 9.

The Masoretic text says the remnant shall return, with a decreed destruction.

Purpose of the Change

The effect of “return” standing alone is a remnant that can be read as a homecoming by birth. “Saved” makes the remnant a matter of deliverance from Yahuah, which is the point Paul pressed against trust in descent.

The Bottom Line

Paul’s Bible said a remnant would be saved, not merely brought home. Deliverance, not bloodline, marks the remnant.

John saw that remnant at the end, marked by what they keep and whom they trust: “the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Yahushua Messiah” (Revelation 12:17).

Dig Deeper The evidence, for anyone who wants it

Isaiah’s Son

Isaiah named a son Shear-jashub, “a remnant shall return” (Isaiah 7:3). Return to what? The verse before this one answers: “The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God” (Isaiah 10:21). The return in Isaiah is a turning back to Yahuah.

An Honest Note

The Hebrew word shuv means to turn back, and it is the usual word for repenting. A remnant that turns back to Yahuah is a remnant that is delivered. So the Greek “saved” is a translation of the same Hebrew letters, not proof that the Hebrew was altered. What the Greek shows is how Jewish scholars understood “return” before Messiah, and Paul confirmed that understanding.

The Short Work

Verse 23 differs more. The Hebrew pictures a destruction already decreed. The Greek pictures Yahuah finishing His work and cutting it short. Paul followed the Greek, using it to say Yahuah would complete His work in a remnant rather than wait on the whole nation.

Lord of Sabaoth

Paul’s next line quotes Isaiah 1:9: “Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma” (Romans 9:29). Sabaoth is the Hebrew word for hosts, as in armies. It has nothing to do with the Sabbath. Yahuah of hosts left the seed.