[Steven Avery]

Originally Posted by Gord9

Jesus did not have the KJV, nor did the appostles quote from the KJV for example when Matthew quotes Isaiah 40.3

Quote:
"For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Matt 3:3 (KJV)"

Hi Gord9,

Just to be clear, there are no quotation marks in the King James Bible itself. I realize you put the quotation marks around your quoting the King James Bible however a reader might mistakenly think that Matthew put quotation words around the words of Isaiah. Quotation marks indicate representing the exact, or almost exact, words. Many NT references to the NT give the writer's and speaker's exegesis (or midrash, if you will) along with the Tanach (OT) reference. And these textual nuances and insights are inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 40:3
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the LORD,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Later some Greek OT texts were incorrectly 'smoothed' to match the inspired writers. The classic case of this is Psalm 14. Tampered to match Romans 3 as a single quotation/reference.

Knowing the evidences (including the DSS, the Peshitta and Vulgate and Targumim and the Greek textual history and more) we can conclude this type of tampering occurred in the Greek text line on Isaiah 40:3 as well.

Shalom,
Steven