9:29a–c

These words are an exact quote of an ancient Greek translation (about 200 BC) of the Hebrew in Isaiah 1:9. If you indicate the location of quotes from the Old Testament with cross-references, you may want to do so here.

9:29a

The Greek of 9:29a begins with a word that is often translated as “and.” This verse supports 9:27b–c, like 9:28 supports it. So Paul used “and” here. In some language it may be more natural to omit this word and leave the connection to 9:28 implicit, as the Berean Standard Bible does.

Isaiah foretold: This clause introduces words from the Old Testament. In some languages such words are clearly shown to be from there. For example:

And as Isaiah foretold ⌊in God’s word⌋

Isaiah: If you explained in your translation that Isaiah was a prophet in 9:27, you may not need to explain it again here. For example, the Contemporary English Version does not add the words “the prophet” here.

foretold: This word indicates that Isaiah spoke about something that would happen later. The Greek tense indicates that Isaiah spoke before Paul’s time and that his words are still in effect. For example:

had said before (Good News Translation)

9:29b–c

Unless the Lord of Hosts had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah: The Greek grammar indicates that God had left some Israelites alive after he punished them. The unless-clause asks what might have happened if he had not left some and then answers what might have been in that case. Some languages have a special grammar or word to indicate that. For example:

The Lord of only strength did not leave off with striking us had-that-happened, we became as Sodom and Gomora had-that-happened
-or-
If the Lord Almighty did not leave us(inc) his ancestors, they would have been destroyed like the people of Sodom, and they would have died also like the people from Gomorrah

English uses Unless…had in the first part and would have become in the second part to indicate this meaning.

9:29b

the Lord of Hosts: Here the word Hosts refers to armies. God has very many angels who would fight for him. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

the Lord of Armies (God’s Word)
-or-
the Lord of heaven’s armies

This phrase implies that God is very powerful. Some English versions like the New International Version have “Lord Almighty” here, but “Almighty” is a different word in the Hebrew.

had left us descendants: This refers to God allowing some of the children of the Israelites to live. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

left us some descendants (Good News Translation)
-or-

If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring (English Standard Version)
-or-
kept safe for us ⌊some of⌋ our descendants

descendants: The Greek here is literally “seed,” singular, but referring to plural seeds as a group. Some languages can use a literal translation for the correct meaning. For example:

seed

Some languages must use the plural and translate without the metaphor. See the examples above.

9:29c

we would have become like Sodom: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible literally translates as become means that Israel would have resembled Sodom. God destroyed the city of Sodom and all its people (Genesis 19:1–28). Here are other ways to translate this clause:

we would have been like Sodom (English Standard Version)
-or-
we (incl.) would be like the people in the town Sodom…, all dead

we would have resembled Gomorrah: The Greek is literally “and we would have been made like Gomorrah.” God also destroyed the city of Gomorrah and all its people (Genesis 19:1–28). Here are other ways to translate this clause:

and have been made like Gomorrah (New American Bible, Revised Edition)
-or-
and ⌊God⌋ would have made us to be like ⌊the people in⌋ ⌊the town of⌋ Gomorrah, ⌊also all dead⌋

Sodom…Gomorrah: God destroyed these two cities and all the people in them because of the great evil that they were doing. If readers of your translation are not familiar with the story in Genesis about these cities, you may want to translate literally and explain the story briefly in a footnote. Here is an example footnote:

God destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and all the people in them because of the great evil that they were doing. See Genesis 19:1–28.

Note that this is a quote, so you may not want to add implied words to it.

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