There are in all 283 direct quotations from the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) in the New Testament. In about 90 instances, the Septuagint is quoted literally. In around 80 further instances, the quote is altered in some way. For example, at Jesus says "Did ye never read in the scriptures that the stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner?", a reference to . Likewise, . Other quotations are sometimes made directly from the Hebrew text (e.g. , , ).
New Testament authors also quote from other sources. The synoptic gospels have Jesus quoting from or alluding to deutero-canonical works several times, such as the Wisdom of the Son of Sirach. Paul makes three quotations from classical poets. The Epistle of Jude quotes the pseudepigraphal Book of Enoch (1 Enoch 1:9) and the Assumption of Moses.
Formatting
When the New Testament was written, the Old Testament was not divided into chapters and verses, and there is therefore no uniform standard for these quotes and the authors had to provide contextual references: When refers to , he quotes from "Moses at the bush", i.e. the section containing the record of Moses at the bush. refers to , in the words "in the days of Abiathar". refers to 1 Kings ch. 17–19, in the words, "in Elias", i.e. in the portion of the history regarding Elias.
In popular culture
In November 2022, the game show Jeopardy! created a controversy after bible experts disagree about which of Paul's letters had the most Old Testament quotations.
The controversy was not the amount of Old Testament scripture was in letters written by Paul, but rather did Paul write the book of Hebrews which Jeopardy said was the correct answer. There was a time when scholars believed Hebrews was written by Paul, but this was not the predominant opinion in the ancient world (Origen), or of Protestant scholars at the time of the Reformation (Luther, Calvin). Most scholars now agree that it was written not by Paul, but by an unknown author.
References
Bibliography
Gregory Beale and D. A. Carson. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich [u.a.]: Baker Academic [u.a.], 2008. Archer, Gleason Leonard, Gregory Chirichigno, and Evangelical Theological Society. Old Testament Quotations in the New Testament. Chicago: Moody Press, 1983. Brooke Foss Westcott, Fenton John Anthony Hort. The New Testament in the Original Greek, 1925, pp. 601–618