Paul quotes a scripture, but
despite a superficial resemblance to Isaiah 64:4, the quotation itself is not
in the OT as we now have it. The early Church Father Origen (Commentary on
Matthew 27:9), claimed it was from the Apocalypse of Elijah, a book we no
longer have. Jerome agreed with this (Epistle 101 to Pammachius, and Commentary
on Isaiah, vol. 17). There is an Apocalypse of Elijah of Egyptian origin that
was first translated from Coptic in modern times by G. Steindorff in 1899 (see
“Apocalypse of Elijah” Introduction, by O. S. Wintermute, in Charlesworth,
James H. The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, vol. I (Garden City NY:
Doubleday, 1983). This pseudepigraphon, which contains many messianic
references and may date from early Christian times is not complete in its
modern form, and there is also a Hebrew version which is somewhat different
than the Coptic version, but less complete. So whether Paul’s quotation is from
a missing portion of one of these two books, or from an unknown version is not
known. (Kevin L. Barney, “The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the
Corinthians,” in Footnotes to the New Testament for Latter-day Saints,
ed. Kevin L. Barney, 2 vols. [2007], 2:61 n. e)
