A forerunner's voice, a great light in Galilee, the eyes of the blind opened, the mouth opened in parables, the king on a donkey — Isaiah described the ministry in detail, and Jesus read Isaiah aloud in Nazareth and said: this day it is fulfilled.
Isaiah and Malachi promised a herald who would prepare the Lord's way; all four Gospels identify him as John the Baptist preaching at the Jordan.
Mark 1:2 stitches Malachi 3:1 to the wording of Exodus 23:20 and credits the composite to Isaiah; Isaiah's original herald announces the return from exile.
Malachi closed the Old Testament by promising Elijah before the day of the Lord; Jesus declared that John the Baptist was the Elijah who was to come.
Malachi 4:5-6 is 3:23-24 in the Hebrew numbering. John denied being Elijah in person (John 1:21); Jesus identified him as Elijah in spirit and power (Luke 1:17).
The voice at the Jordan fuses the royal decree of Psalm 2 with the Servant of Isaiah 42, as the Spirit foretold by Isaiah descends on Jesus.
Some early witnesses to Luke 3:22 read the full Psalm 2:7 ('this day have I begotten thee'). Psalm 45:7 is verse 8 in the Hebrew numbering.
Like Israel's forty years, Moses' and Elijah's forty days, Jesus fasts forty days and answers the tempter from Deuteronomy, succeeding where Israel failed.
A typological recapitulation rather than a predictive text; Satan himself quotes Psalm 91:11-12.
John the Baptist opens the public ministry by naming Jesus the lamb of Isaiah 53 and of the Passover, who takes away the sin of the world.
Whether John meant the Passover lamb, Isaiah's lamb, or the apocalyptic lamb is debated; the Gospel draws on all three.
Isaiah promised that the despised lands of Zebulun and Naphtali would see a great light; Matthew cites it when Jesus settles in Capernaum to begin preaching.
Isaiah 9:1-2 is 8:23-9:1 in the Hebrew numbering; Matthew's wording differs from both the Masoretic text and the Septuagint. Contrast the objection 'out of Galilee ariseth no prophet' (John 7:52).
Isaiah foresaw the nations seeking the root of Jesse and streaming from east and west; Greeks seek Jesus, he promises to draw all men, and Gentiles sit down with Abraham.
Matthew 12:21 follows the Septuagint of Isaiah 42:4 ('in his name'); the Hebrew reads 'in his law'.
At Nazareth Jesus read Isaiah's Jubilee proclamation of good tidings to the poor and liberty to captives, closed the scroll, and said it was fulfilled in their hearing.
Luke's quotation splices Isaiah 58:6 into 61:1-2 and stops before 'the day of vengeance'.
Isaiah described the messianic age by the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, the lame leaping, and the dead rising; Jesus answered John's disciples by pointing to exactly these works.
Mark 7:37 ('the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak') echoes the Septuagint wording of Isaiah 35:6.
Matthew reads the Suffering Servant's bearing of griefs as fulfilled in the evening of healings at Capernaum.
Matthew applies the verse to bodily healing; 1 Peter applies the same passage to sin-bearing on the cross.
Jesus raises a widow's son, feeds a multitude with barley loaves, and cleanses lepers, repeating and surpassing the signs of Elijah and Elisha that he himself invoked at Nazareth.
Typology rather than prediction: Nain lies a few miles from Shunem, and the crowd's cry 'a great prophet is risen among us' marks the echo.
The manna given in the wilderness, celebrated in Psalm 78, is claimed by Jesus as a type of himself, the true bread come down from heaven.
Rabbinic tradition expected the Messiah to renew the gift of manna (Edersheim on Psalm 72:16).
The rock struck in the desert and the prophets' promise of living water flowing from Jerusalem are fulfilled in the water Jesus offers at Jacob's well and at Tabernacles.
John 7:38 cites 'the scripture' without naming it; Isaiah 58:11, Zechariah 14:8, and Ezekiel 47 are the usual candidates. The Tabernacles water-libation recited Isaiah 12:3.
The prophets pictured the messianic age as an abundance of wine; the first sign at Cana, six jars of the best wine, is read by the Church as that promise beginning.
A typological reading found in the Fathers and modern Catholic exegesis; no Gospel formula citation. Joel 3:18 is 4:18 in the Hebrew numbering.
The Psalms and Job reserve to God alone the stilling of storms and walking on the sea; Jesus calms the tempest and walks on the lake, and the disciples ask what manner of man this is.
These are descriptions of a divine prerogative rather than predictions; the Gospels present the miracles as its exercise.
The prophets said the Lord himself would blot out sins in the days of the new covenant; Jesus forgives the paralytic and the penitent woman, and the scribes recognize the divine claim.
Psalm 103:3 pairs forgiving iniquity with healing disease, the very pairing Jesus makes for the paralytic.
Isaiah promised the captives of the mighty would be rescued; Jesus explains his exorcisms as binding the strong man and plundering his house by the finger of God.
An allusion rather than a formula quotation; 'the finger of God' recalls the Egyptian magicians' confession.
The Servant was given a tongue to sustain the weary, and grace was poured on the royal lips; hearers marvel at Jesus' gracious words and he invites the weary to find rest.
Matthew 11:29 quotes Jeremiah 6:16's 'rest for your souls'. Psalm 45:2 is verse 3 in the Hebrew numbering.
Asaph's psalm promised to utter things hidden from the foundation of the world; Matthew sees it fulfilled in Jesus' habit of teaching the crowds only in parables.
Psalm 78 is a historical psalm; Matthew calls its author 'the prophet' (the Chronicler also calls Asaph a seer, 2 Chronicles 29:30).
Isaiah's commission foretold a people who would hear without understanding; Jesus cites it for the purpose of parables and John for the unbelief that met his signs.
John adds that Isaiah 'saw his glory and spoke of him' (John 12:41), reading the temple vision of Isaiah 6 as a vision of Christ.
Jesus tells the Pharisees that Isaiah prophesied of them: worship by precepts of men while the heart is far from God.
A prophecy of the Messiah's opponents rather than of the Messiah; Jesus himself applies it ('well did Isaiah prophesy of you').
Isaiah's promise that all Zion's children would be taught by the Lord is claimed by Jesus in the Bread of Life discourse for those the Father draws to him.
Isaiah's Branch would discern beyond appearances; Jesus knows what is in man, reads the thoughts of scribes, and tells the Samaritan woman her history.
The Talmud (Sanhedrin 93b) reads Isaiah 11:3 as the Messiah's power to judge by discernment rather than sight.
Hosea and Isaiah called the Lord Israel's bridegroom; Jesus takes the title for himself and John the Baptist calls himself the bridegroom's friend.
Because the bridegroom of Israel in the Old Testament is God himself, the title is an implicit claim to divinity.
Jesus quotes Micah's picture of households divided to describe the sword his coming brings; rabbinic tradition read the same verse of the messianic woes.
Edersheim lists Micah 7:6 among passages the Mishnah (Sotah 9:15) applies to the footsteps of the Messiah.
Ezekiel promised that God would shepherd his scattered sheep through one Davidic shepherd; Jesus calls himself the good shepherd and pities the crowds as sheep without a shepherd.
Ezekiel says both that God himself will shepherd (34:11-16) and that his servant David will (34:23); the Gospel sees the two promises converge in Christ.
Ezekiel's shepherd-God would seek the lost and bring back the driven away; Jesus defines his mission in the same words and tells the parable of the lost sheep.
Isaiah's Servant would neither strive nor cry in the streets; Matthew cites the song when Jesus heals the crowds and charges them to keep silent.
Matthew's is the longest Old Testament quotation in his Gospel; the Targum already names the Servant 'the Messiah'.
Jesus offers his generation one sign: as Jonah was three days in the fish and preached repentance to Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be three days in the earth.
A type named by Jesus himself rather than a prediction; Jonah 1:17 is 2:1 in the Hebrew and Vulgate numbering. Luke stresses the preaching, Matthew the three days.
Psalm 110 and Zechariah foresaw a priest after the order of Melchizedek who would also sit and rule; Hebrews applies the oath to Jesus, and he affirms his kingship while refusing an earthly crown.
In Zechariah the crowned priest is Joshua the high priest, read as a type of the Branch; Psalm 110 is Psalm 109 in the Vulgate.
On the mountain Moses and Elijah appear, Jesus' face shines as Moses' once did, and the Father's voice repeats Psalm 2 and Isaiah 42 with Deuteronomy's command to hear the prophet.
The scene gathers the Law (Moses), the Prophets (Elijah), and the Father's testimony; 'hear him' is the Deuteronomy 18:15 formula.
The bronze serpent raised in the wilderness to heal all who looked on it is named by Jesus as a type of the Son of Man lifted up so that believers may have eternal life.
Wisdom 16:7 already reads the serpent as a 'sign of salvation' pointing beyond itself to God the Saviour.
Jesus promises Nathanael the sight of heaven opened and angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man, making himself the ladder Jacob saw at Bethel.
A type claimed by Jesus; the rabbis debated whether the angels ascended 'on the ladder' or 'on Jacob', and John takes the second reading of the Son of Man.
Ezekiel promised sprinkled clean water and a new spirit put within; Jesus tells Nicodemus, a master in Israel, that one must be born of water and the Spirit.
Jesus' rebuke 'art thou a master in Israel and knowest not these things?' implies the teaching was available in the prophets.
Jeremiah alone in the Old Testament speaks of a new covenant written on hearts; Jesus names the chalice of the Last Supper 'the new covenant in my blood'.
Hebrews 8:8-12 is the longest Old Testament quotation in the New Testament.
The Servant would be despised and the psalmist a stranger to his mother's children; Jesus came to his own and his own received him not, his brothers disbelieved, and Nazareth tried to throw him down.
Psalm 69:8 is verse 9 in the Hebrew numbering.
Isaiah asked who would believe the message about the Servant; John cites the question to explain why so many signs produced so little faith.
Zechariah promised Zion a just king coming humbly on a donkey's colt; Jesus deliberately enters Jerusalem that way, and Matthew and John cite the verse.
Matthew opens the quotation with Isaiah 62:11 ('Say ye to the daughter of Zion'); rabbinic tradition universally read Zechariah 9:9 of the Messiah.
The Hallel's welcome of the pilgrim-king is shouted by the crowds on Palm Sunday, and Jesus tells Jerusalem it will not see him again until it says these very words.
'Hosanna' transliterates the 'save now' of Psalm 118:25; the psalm was sung at Tabernacles and Passover.
When the chief priests object to children crying Hosanna in the temple, Jesus answers them with Psalm 8.
Jesus quotes the Septuagint ('perfected praise'); the Hebrew reads 'ordained strength'. Psalm 8:2 is verse 3 in the Hebrew numbering.
Driving the traders from the temple, Jesus' disciples remember the psalmist's zeal for God's house; Paul applies the verse's second half to Christ bearing reproaches.
Psalm 69:9 is verse 10 in the Hebrew numbering; John alone places a temple cleansing at the start of the ministry.
Malachi foretold the Lord coming to purify his temple, and Isaiah and Jeremiah supply the very words Jesus uses there: a house of prayer for all nations made a den of thieves.
Mark alone keeps Isaiah's 'for all nations'; Zechariah 14:21 promised no more traders in the house of the Lord 'in that day'.
Psalm 118's rejected stone become the head of the corner is applied by Jesus to himself after the parable of the vineyard, and by Peter before the Sanhedrin.
Isaiah spoke of a stone laid in Zion that would be both sure foundation and stone of stumbling, and Daniel of a stone that shatters kingdoms; the apostles and Jesus apply all three to him.
Paul and Peter fuse Isaiah 8:14 with 28:16; Luke 20:18 ('on whomsoever it shall fall') echoes Daniel's stone. The Talmud applies Isaiah 8:14 messianically (Sanhedrin 38a).
The prophets pictured Israel as a fig tree found without fruit; Jesus' cursing of the leafy, fruitless fig tree on the way to the temple enacts their judgment.
An enacted parable understood through prophetic imagery rather than a formula fulfilment; Mark frames it around the temple cleansing.
