Bible Strands
John 12:38
This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: “Lord, who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator (John) addresses his readers, not a live audience, at the point where Jesus has performed many signs in the crowd's presence and they still refuse to believe (v. 37).
The words — πληρωθῆν (plērōthēn, aorist passive subjunctive of πληρόω, "to fill up, complete") carries the verse: the rejection is not incidental but the mechanism by which Isaiah's word reaches its fulfillment.
The thread — The quotation is Isaiah 53:1 verbatim; Paul reuses the same phrase in Romans 10:16 and extends the theme of unsought revelation in Romans 10:20.
Why it lands — It removes the comfort of treating unbelief as a temporary lapse; the verse presents it as a pattern that Scripture anticipated, which forces the reader to ask whether their own response to the message is genuine or merely the same rejection in a different century.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?
Cross-references
- Isaiah 53:1 Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
- Romans 10:16 But not all of them welcomed the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?”
- Romans 10:20 And Isaiah boldly says: “I was found by those who did not seek Me; I revealed Myself to those who did not ask for Me.”
- 1 Corinthians 1:24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
- 2 Corinthians 4:3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
- Matthew 16:17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by My Father in heaven.
- Acts 8:28 and on his return was sitting in his chariot reading Isaiah the prophet.
- Acts 13:27 The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning Him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath.
- 2 Corinthians 3:14 But their minds were closed. For to this day the same veil remains at the reading of the old covenant. It has not been lifted, because only in Christ can it be removed.
- Galatians 1:16 to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not rush to consult with flesh and blood,