Reinterpreting Isaiah 6:9–10 in the New Testament and in Modern Translations

This passage is quoted several times in the New Testament books, more than any other passage in the Old Testament, but, more importantly, these quotations in each case play a key role in the authors' arguments. At the same time, it can be interpreted differently in different contexts, both in the original (the Book of Isaiah) and in the New Testament books. The key question can be formulated as follows: was the prophet's listeners' misunderstanding part of God's plan, or did they choose it voluntarily? The answers vary in different contexts, and we will consider how this quotation can be understood in the context of the Book of Isaiah itself (which, as we know, has its own history of composition) and in New Testament contexts. Next, we will consider how this choice is reflected in some modern Bible translations.

Prof. Dr. Andrei Desnitsky is a biblical scholar, philologist, translator, and Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences. His research spans biblical philology, Bible translation theory and methodology, Septuagint studies, biblical poetics and parallelism, exegesis, intertextuality, early Christianity, and the relationship between religion and society.

He has extensive practical and scholarly experience in Bible translation. Since 1999 he has worked as a consultant in projects of the Institute for Bible Translation, assisting translators working with languages of Russia and neighbouring regions.

His academic research has addressed the translation technique of the Septuagint, biblical parallelism and poetics, modern Bible translation, biblical exegesis, the reception of the Old Testament in the New Testament, and problems arising when biblical texts move between languages, literary traditions, and cultural contexts.

Desnitsky has also produced his own complete modern Russian translation of the New Testament. The complete New Testament corpus was developed from his earlier work on the Epistles and subsequently expanded to include the Gospels, Acts, and Revelation. A print edition appeared in 2025, followed by a corrected second edition in 2026.