Lumen Fidei - page 29

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CHAPTER TWO
UNLESS  YOU  BELIEVE,
YOU WILL NOT  UNDERSTAND
(cf. Is 7:9)
Faith and truth
23. Unless you believe, you will not understand
(cf. Is 7:9). The Greek version of the Hebrew
Bible, the Septuagint translation produced in Al-
exandria, gives the above rendering of the words
spoken by the prophet Isaiah to King Ahaz. In
this way, the issue of the knowledge of truth be-
came central to faith. The Hebrew text, though,
reads differently; the prophet says to the king:
“If you will not believe, you shall not be estab-
lished”. Here there is a play on words, based
on two forms of the verb ’amān : “you will be-
lieve” (ta’amînû) and “you shall be established”
(tē’āmÄ“nû ). Terrified by the might of his enemies,
the king seeks the security that an alliance with
the great Assyrian empire can offer. The prophet
tells him instead to trust completely in the solid
and steadfast rock which is the God of Israel.
Because God is trustworthy, it is reasonable to
have faith in him, to stand fast on his word. He is
the same God that Isaiah will later call, twice in
one verse, the God who is Amen, “the God of
truth” (cf. Is 65:16), the enduring foundation of
covenant fidelity. It might seem that the Greek
version of the Bible, by translating “be estab-
lished” as “understand”, profoundly altered the