Isaiah 8:17

I Will Put My Trust in Him

Quoted by the apostles in Hebrews 2:13, in the older Greek wording

Side by Side

The Older Text

Septuagint, translated before Messiah

And one shall say, I will wait for God, who has turned away his face from the house of Jacob, and I will trust in him. Behold I and the children which God has given me.

The Later Text

Masoretic, finished about 1,000 years after the cross

And I will wait upon Yahuah, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. Behold, I and the children whom Yahuah hath given me.

Quoted in Hebrews 2:13

The apostle’s Old Testament

And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.

Your KJV reads: the Hebrew in Isaiah (“I will look for him”), then the Greek wording in Hebrews (“I will put my trust in him”).

See what changed and why ↓

What Your Bible Says

And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.
Hebrews 2:13 KJV

Hebrews hears Messiah speaking in these lines. He calls the redeemed His brethren, and He says He will put His trust in Elohim.

What the Jewish Bible Says

And I will wait upon Yahuah, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
Isaiah 8:17 KJV

The Hebrew word means to wait with hope, to look eagerly for someone who is coming. The Greek put it as trust.

What Changed

“I will look for him” became “I will trust in him.” Waiting in hope and trusting are close kin. A man looks for the One he trusts. The meaning holds.

Who Is Trusting Whom?

Hebrews puts these words in Messiah’s mouth. Messiah says He will put His trust in Elohim. One who trusts in Elohim is not Elohim. The same verse goes on: “the children which God hath given me.” The Father gives, and the Son receives. Just before, Messiah says, “I will declare thy name unto my brethren” (Hebrews 2:12). He declares another’s Name, and He calls men His brothers.

Purpose of the Change

No motive evident: wording variation only. The pair still matters because the writer of Hebrews quoted the Greek wording, and built on it.

The Bottom Line

Hebrews quoted the Greek. In both texts the Son waits on and trusts His God.

Even in glory He still speaks of His God: “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God … and I will write upon him the name of my God” (Revelation 3:12).

Dig Deeper The evidence, for anyone who wants it

An Honest Note

The same Greek words, “I will trust in him,” also appear in 2 Samuel 22:3 and Isaiah 12:2. Some think Hebrews draws on one of those. But the next line Hebrews quotes, “Behold I and the children,” is Isaiah 8:18, so Isaiah 8 is the most natural source.

Signs and Wonders

In Isaiah the prophet and his children were “for signs and for wonders in Israel from Yahuah of hosts” (Isaiah 8:18). Hebrews sees a greater fulfillment: Messiah and the family Yahuah gave Him.