The New Testament is our divinely inspired commentary on the Old Testament. When studying a passage, it’s often helpful to see how other biblical authors understood it. Here are the Apostle Paul’s quotes of the Old Testament in his letters.
Jump to: ** 1Corinthians; ** 2Corinthians; ** Galatians; ** Ephesians; ** Colossians; ** 1&2Thessalonians ** 1&2Timothy ** Next **Romans
| Rom 1:17 – For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” | Hab 2:4 | |
| Rom 1:22 – Claiming to be wise, they became fools | Jer 10:14 | allusion |
| Rom 2:6 – He will render to each one according to his works | Pro 24:12; Psa 62:12 | allusion |
| Rom 2:11 – God shows no partiality | Dt 10:17; Job 34:19 | allusion |
| Rom 2:24 – For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” | Isa 52:5; Eze 36:20 | |
| Rom 3:4 – By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.” | Psa 116:11; Psa 51:4 | |
| Rom 3:8 – And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just. | Jer 17:6 | allusion |
| Rom 3:10-12 – as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” | Psa 14:1 | |
| Rom 3:13 – “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips.” | Psa 5:9; Psa 140:3 | |
| Rom 3:14 – “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” | Psa 10:7 | |
| Rom 3:15-18 – Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” | Isa 59:7-8; Psa 36:1 | |
| Rom 4:3 – For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” | Gen 15:6 | |
| Rom 4:7-8 – “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” | Psa 32:1-2 | |
| Rom 4:11 – He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, | Gen 17:10 | |
| Rom 4:17 – as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. | Gen 17:5 | |
| Rom 4:18 – In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” | Gen 15:5 | |
| Rom 7:7 – What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” | Ex 20:17; Dt 5:21 | |
| Rom 8:36 – As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” | Psa 44:22 | |
| Rom 9:7 – and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” | Gen 21:12 | |
| Rom 9:9 – For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” | Gen 18:10 | |
| Rom 9:12 -she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” | Gen 25:23 | |
| Rom 9:13 – As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” | Mal 1:2-3 | |
| Rom 9:15 -For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” | Ex 33:19 | |
| Rom 9:17 -For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” | Ex 9:16 | |
| Rom 9:20 – But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” | Isa 45:9 | allusion |
| Rom 9:21 – Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? | Jer 18:6 | allusion |
| Rom 9:25 – As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ ” | Hos 2:23 | |
| Rom 9:26 -“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ ” | Hos 1:10 | |
| Rom 9:27-28 -And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” | Isa 10:22-23 | |
| Rom 9:29 – And as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.” | Isa 1:9 | |
| Rom 9:33 – as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” | Isa 8:14; Isa 28.16 | |
| Rom 10:5 – For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. | Lev 18:5; Eze 20:11 | |
| Rom 10:6-7 – But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). | Dt 30:12-23 | allusion |
| Rom 10:8 – But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); | Dt 30:14 | |
| Rom 10:11 -For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. | Isa 28:16 | |
| Rom 10:13 – For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” | Joel 2:32 | |
| Rom 10:15 -And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” | Isa 52:7; Nah 1:15 | |
| Rom 10:16 – But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” | Isa 53:1 | |
| Rom 10:18 – But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” | Psa 19:4 | |
| Rom 10:19 – But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, “I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry.” | Dt 32:21 | |
| Rom 10:20-21 – Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, “I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.” But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.” | Isa 65:1-2 | |
| Rom 11:1 -I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin | Psa 94:14 | allusion |
| Rom 11:3 -“Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” | 1Ki 19:10-14 | |
| Rom 11:4 – But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” | 1Ki 19:18 | |
| Rom 11:8 – as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.” | Isa 29:10 | |
| Rom 11:9-10 – And David says, “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them; let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,and bend their backs forever. | Psa 69:22-23 | |
| Rom 11:26-27 – And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob; and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” | Isa 59:20-21 | |
| Rom 11:34 – “For uwho has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” | Isa 40:13 | |
| Rom 11:35 – “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” | Job 41:11 | allusion |
| Rom 12:9 – Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. | Amo 5:15 | allusion |
| Rom 12:16 – Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. | Isa 5:21; Pro 3:7 | allusion |
| Rom 12:19 – Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” | Dt 32:35 | |
| Rom 12:20 – To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” | Pro 25:21-22 | |
| Rom 13:9 – For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” | Ex 20:13-17; Dt 5:16-21; Lev 19:18 | |
| Rom 14:11 – for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” | Isa 45:23 | |
| Rom 15:3 – For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” | Psa 69:9 | |
| Rom 15:9 – and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.” | Psa 18:49 | |
| Rom 15:10 – And again it is said, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” | Dt 32:43 | |
| Rom 15:11 – And again,“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him.” | Psa 117:1 | |
| Rom 15:12 – And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.” | Isa 11:1; Isa11:10 | |
| Rom 15:21 – but as it is written, “Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.” | Isa 52:15 |
1Corinthians
| 1Cor 1:19 – For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” | Isa 29:14 | |
| 1Cor 1:20 – Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? | Isa 19:12; Isa 44:25; Isa 33:18 | allusion |
| 1Cor 1:31 – so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” | Jer 9:24 | |
| 1Cor 2:9 – But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— | Isa 64:4 | |
| 1Cor 2:16 – “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. | Isa 40:13 | |
| 1Cor 3:8 – He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. | Psa 62:12 | allusion |
| 1Cor 3:19 – For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” | Job 5:13 | |
| 1Cor 3:20 – and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” | Psa 94:11 | |
| 1Cor 5:13 – God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.” | Dt 17:9; Dt 19:19; Dt 24:7 | allusion |
| 1Cor 6:16 – Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” | Gen 2:24 | |
| 1Cor 9:9 – For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? | Dt 25:4 | |
| 1Cor 10:1 – For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, | Ex 13:21; Ex 14:22; Num 9:18 | allusion |
| 1Cor 10:3 – and all ate the same spiritual food, | Ex 16:15; Ex 17:6; Num 11:4; Num 20:11; Num 26:64-65 | allusion |
| 1Cor 10:7 – Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” | Ex 32:6 | |
| 1Cor 10:8-10 – We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by sthe Destroyer. | Num 25:1-9; Num 21:4; Num 14:2; Num 14:36; Psa 106:14-19 | allusion |
| 1Cor 10:20 – No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. | Dt 32:17 | |
| 1Cor 10:26 – For “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” | Ps 24:1; Ex 9:29; Ex 19:5 Dt 10:14; Job 41:11; Ps 50:12 | |
| 1Cor 14:21 – In the Law it is written, “By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.” | Isa 28:11-12; Dt 28:49 | |
| 1Cor 15:3 – For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, | Is 53; Da 9:26; Zec 13:7 | |
| 1Cor 15:4 – hat he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, | Ho 6:2; Psa 16:10; Is 53:10 | allusion |
| 1Cor 15:25 – For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. | Psa 110:1 | |
| 1Cor 15:27 – For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. | Psa 8:6 | |
| 1Cor 15:32 – What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, x“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” | Isa 22:13; Isa 56:12; | |
| 1Cor 15:45 – Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. | Gen 2:7 | |
| 1Cor 15:54 – When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” | Isa 25:8 | |
| 1Cor 15:55 – “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” | Hos 13:14 |
2Corinthians
| 2Cor 3:13 – not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. | Ex 34:33 | allusion |
| 2Cor 4:13 – Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, | Psa 116:10 | |
| 2Cor 5:17 – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. | Isa 43:18-19 | |
| 2Cor 6:2 – For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. | Isa 49:8 | |
| 2Cor 6:16 – What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. | Lev 26:11-12; Ex 29:45; Ex 6:7; Je 31:33; Eze 11:20; | |
| 2Cor 6:17-18 – Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” | Isa 52:11-12; Jer 31:9; 2Sa 7:8-14 | |
| 2Cor 8:15 – As it is written, “Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.” | Ex 16:18 | |
| 2Cor 9:7 – Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. | Dt 15:10; Ex 25:2; | |
| 2Cor 9:9 – As it is written, “He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” | Psa 112:9 | |
| 2Cor 10:17 – “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” | Jer 9:23-24 | |
| 2Cor 13:1 – This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. | Dt 19:15; Num 35:30 |
Galatains
Ephesains
Philippians
Colossians
1&2 Thessalonians
1&2 Timothy
No references for Titus.
No references for Philemon.
A quotation is a word-for-word citation of the original source, often preceded by “it is written” or “saying”.
An allusion is a reference to the original source using the the same key words or thoughts without quoting word for word.
Because the New Testament writers often borrow the language of the Old Testament (allusion) rather than quote verses directly, different scholars suggest different counts for the number of times the New Testament quotes or refers to the Old Testament.
Quotes from the Septuagint (LXX) may have appear to have somewhat different wording than the linked translation of the Hebrew text.