Quotations from the Old Testament in the New Testament
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Quotations - from the Old Testament in the New, which are very numerous, are not made according to any uniform method. When the New Testament was written, the Old was not divided, as it now is, into chapters and verses, and hence such peculiarities as these: When Luke (20:37) refers to Exodus 3:6, he quotes from "Moses at the bush", i.e., the section containing the record of Moses at the bush. So also Mark (2:26) refers to 1 Samuel 21:1-6, in the words, "in the days of Abiathar;" and Paul (Romans 11:2) refers to 1 Kings ch. 17-19, in the words, "in Elias", i.e., in the portion of the history regarding Elias.
In general, the New Testament writers quote from the Septuagint ("LXX") version of the Old Testament, as it was then in common use among the Jews. But it is noticeable that these quotations are not made in any uniform manner. Sometimes, e.g., the quotation does not agree literally either with the LXX. or the Hebrew Masoretic text. This occurs in about one hundred instances.
Sometimes the LXX. is literally quoted (in about ninety instances), and sometimes it is corrected or altered in the quotations (in over eighty instances).
For example, at Matthew 21:42 Jesus says "Did ye never read in the scriptures that the stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner?" which is a reference to Psalm 118:22. Likewise Mark 12:10. Other quotations are sometimes made also directly from the Hebrew text (Matthew 4:15, 16; John 19:37; 1 Corinthians 15:54). Besides the quotations made directly, there are found numberless allusions, more or less distinct, showing that the minds of the New Testament writers were filled with the expressions and ideas as well as historical facts recorded in the Old.
There are in all two hundred and eighty-three direct quotations from the Old Testament in the New, but not one clear and certain case of quotation from the Deuterocanonical books. In addition to the Deuterocanonical books, a number of other Old Testament books are also not quoted in the New Testament.
Besides quotations in the New from the Old Testament, there are in Paul's writings three quotations from certain Greek poets, Acts 17:28; 1 Corinthians 15:33; Titus 1:12. These quotations are memorials of his early classical education.
David Instone-Brewer points out that the household codes of Eph 5-6 and elsewhere are based on what Aristotle taught and serve as a Christian commentary on same.
External link
- Deuterocanonical Citations in New Testament (http://scripturecatholic.com/deuterocanon.html)