JESUS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

A comprehensive list of Old Testament passages that Christians have traditionally understood to refer prophetically or typologically to Jesus Christ.

These passages are interpreted as messianic either by New Testament authors, Church Fathers, or Christian tradition.

We like to create these lists so our readers can easily consult them and quickly access specific topics. Providing this type of information is one of the main goals of the site.

Pentateuch (Torah)

Genesis 3:15 – “He will crush your head…” (Protoevangelium)
Genesis 12:3 – “In you all nations shall be blessed” (Promise to Abraham)
Genesis 22:8, 18 – “God will provide Himself the lamb…” / “In your seed…”
Genesis 49:10 – “The scepter shall not depart from Judah…”
Numbers 21:8-9 – Bronze serpent lifted up (John 3:14-15)
Numbers 24:17 – “A star shall come out of Jacob…”

Historical Books

2 Samuel 7:12-14 – Promise to David: “I will raise up your offspring… I will be his Father…”

Job

Job 19:25-27 – “I know that my Redeemer lives…”

Psalms (Selected Messianic Psalms)

Psalm 2:7-9 – “You are my Son, today I have begotten you…”
Psalm 8:4-6 – “You have made him a little lower than the angels…”
Psalm 16:10 – “You will not allow your Holy One to see decay…”
Psalm 22 (entire) – “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (vv.1, 7-8, 16-18 especially)
Psalm 23 – “The Lord is my Shepherd…” (typologically)
Psalm 24:7-10 – “Lift up your heads… King of Glory…”
Psalm 40:6-8 – “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire…” (cf. Heb 10:5-7)
Psalm 45:6-7 – “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever…”
Psalm 68:18 – “You ascended on high…”
Psalm 69:9, 21 – “Zeal for your house…” / “They gave me gall for my food…”
Psalm 72 – Messianic kingship psalm
Psalm 89:3-4, 26-37 – Davidic covenant reaffirmed
Psalm 102:25-27 – Creator God eternal (applied to Christ in Heb 1:10-12)
Psalm 110:1-4 – “The Lord said to my Lord…” / “You are a priest forever…”
Psalm 118:22-26 – “The stone the builders rejected…”

Proverbs

Proverbs 8:22-31 – Wisdom personified (seen as prefiguring Christ)

Isaiah (the most cited OT prophet in relation to Christ)

Isaiah 7:14 – “The virgin will conceive…” (Immanuel prophecy)
Isaiah 9:1-7 – “A child is born… Mighty God, Everlasting Father…”
Isaiah 11:1-10 – The shoot from the stump of Jesse
Isaiah 28:16 – “I lay in Zion a stone, a tested stone…”
Isaiah 40:3-5 – “A voice crying in the wilderness…” (John the Baptist)
Isaiah 42:1-4 – The Servant of the Lord (First Servant Song)
Isaiah 49:1-6 – The Servant of the Lord (Second Servant Song)
Isaiah 50:4-7 – The Servant suffers (Third Servant Song)
Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12 – The Suffering Servant (Fourth Servant Song)
Isaiah 61:1-2 – “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…” (Luke 4:18-21)

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 23:5-6 – “A righteous Branch from David…”
Jeremiah 31:31-34 – The New Covenant

Ezekiel

Ezekiel 34:11-23 – God will shepherd His people / “My servant David…”
Ezekiel 37:24-28 – “My servant David shall be king over them…”

Daniel

Daniel 2:44-45 – God’s eternal kingdom (stone cut without hands)
Daniel 7:13-14 – “One like a Son of Man…” (cf. Matt 26:64)
Daniel 9:24-27 – Seventy Weeks prophecy (interpreted by some as foretelling the Messiah’s coming and death)