Isaiah 65:2
A Disobedient and Gainsaying People
Wording onlyQuoted by the apostles in Romans 10:21, in the older Greek wording
One Hebrew word, two Greek words. Paul took both.
Side by Side
The Older Text
Septuagint, translated before Messiah
I have stretched forth my hands all day to a disobedient and gainsaying people, to them that walked in a way that was not good, but after their sins.
The Later Text
Masoretic, finished about 1,000 years after the cross
I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts.
Quoted in Romans 10:21
The apostle’s Old Testament
But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.
Your KJV reads: the Hebrew in Isaiah (“a rebellious people”), then the Greek wording in Romans (“a disobedient and gainsaying people”).
See what changed and why ↓What Your Bible Says
But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.
Romans 10:21 KJV
Paul has just quoted Isaiah 65:1: the nations who never looked for Yahuah found Him. Then he quotes the next verse: Israel, who had every invitation, kept refusing.
What the Jewish Bible Says
I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts.
Isaiah 65:2 KJV
The Hebrew has one word for the people: rebellious, stubborn, turning aside.
What Changed
The Greek used two words to carry the one Hebrew word: “disobedient” and “gainsaying,” which means talking back. A stubborn people disobeys and argues. The two Greek words spell out what the one Hebrew word holds.
The end of the verse also differs. The Hebrew says they walk “after their own thoughts.” The Greek says “after their sins.” Paul did not quote that part.
Their Own Way
Isaiah says what the rebellion was. They walked “in a way that was not good.” The open hands of Yahuah were calling them back to His way. Rebellion in Scripture is never a people keeping Yahuah’s commandments too closely. It is a people walking after their own thoughts in place of His.
Purpose of the Change
No motive evident: wording variation only. The pair still matters because Paul quoted the Greek wording.
The Bottom Line
Paul quoted the Greek. Rebellious or disobedient and gainsaying, it is the same people refusing the same open hands.
The open hands are still held out at the end of the Book: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20).
Dig Deeper The evidence, for anyone who wants it
The Same Word in the Law
The Hebrew word for “rebellious” is the one Moses used for the “stubborn” son in Deuteronomy 21:18: “a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father.” Isaiah pictures Israel as that son, and Yahuah as the Father still reaching out His hands.
Found by Those Who Did Not Seek
Paul quotes Isaiah 65:1 as “I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me” (Romans 10:20). That too follows the Greek, with the two lines in reverse order. The nations came in. The door stayed open to Israel.