The Mistranslated Isaiah 9:6
6For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6-7)
Many people refer to this verse when making a case for Jesus’ deity in scripture as this scripture is invoked almost every time as proof that Jesus is God.
But, the way that this verse currently reads in the Bible is not how the verse is read in the original form taken from the Masoretic text of the Jewish Scriptures. The following Jewish translation is completely different than the Christian version.
5For a child has been born to us, a son given to us, and the authority is upon his shoulder, and the wondrous adviser, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, called his name, “the prince of peace.”
https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/15940/jewish/Chapter-9.htm
This translation is very simple and it is also the original version of the Masoretic text from Isaiah 9:6.
Yet for us, there is one God, the Father. 1 Cor 8:6
DIGGING DEEPER
But to get to the true version of Isaiah 9:6, we must dig a little deeper and read the oldest version on record.
The Old Testament that most people find in their Protestant Bibles today is based on a relatively new version of the Old Testament called the Masoretic Text. The Masoretic text that most Protestant Bibles are based on was written between 600 AD and 900 AD.
In contrast, the Jewish Septuagint translation of the Old Testament predates the Masoretic text by almost 1,000 years. The Septuagint was compiled by Jews prior to the arrival of Jesus, which means it was not altered with regard to the prophecies concerning Jesus.
The Masoretic text is rejected by all four of the earliest surviving branches of Trinitarian faiths (Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and the A.C.E.) but embraced by the Protestants. It’s incredibly important to note that the Septuagint was the text quoted by Jesus, the Apostles, and early Christians.
EVERY SINGLE NEW TESTAMENT QUOTE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT CAME FROM THE SEPTUAGINT AND NOT THE MASORETIC TEXT.
Where this gets incredibly important is in Isaiah 9:6.
The Masoretic text of Isaiah 9:6 reads:
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore.
The legitimate Septuagint version (https://biblehub.com/bsb-strongs/isaiah/9.htm) reads:
6 For a child is born to us, and a son is given to us, whose government is upon his shoulder: and his name is called the Messenger of great counsel: for I will bring peace upon the princes, and health to him.7 His government shall be great, and of his peace there is no end: it shall be upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to support it with judgment and with righteousness, from henceforth and forever. The seal of the Lord of hosts shall perform this.
This means, that if Jesus or the apostles were to quote this verse, they would have used the Septuagint version of Isaiah 9:6.
ANCIENT QUOTES OF THE SEPTUAGINT VERSION OF ISAIAH 9:6
Justin Martyr is the first to quote the original form of this verse in “Dialogue with Trypho”, calling Jesus ‘the Angel of Mighty Counsel.‘
Irenaeus in “Against Heresies”, quotes this verse saying, “the messenger of great counsel of the Father.”
Origen, quotes, ‘He is the Messenger of Great Counsel, who has the government upon His shoulders‘ – Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. IX.
Peter of Alexandria, Canon 5, quotes, ‘Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called the Messenger of My mighty counsel.’
‘Listen to the prophet too, calling him, ‘the messenger of great counsel’.’ Archbishop of Constantinople, John Chrysostom
It’s wild to see that this was the only way the early church quoted this passage! There are too many quotes to list but doing a search provides plenty of evidence that this is the version of the text that early Christians were familiar with and not the Masoretic version of the text.
CONCLUSION:
This is one more example of corrupted translations to support a doctrine that is false. The Father (aka as Yahweh/Jehovah/I AM!) alone is God.
More Corrupted Bible Verses