So this is our familiar comparison of 1 Corinthians 2.9 with the two relevant verses from Isaiah; the underlined text in Paul is what can be derived directly from the OT:
9 ἃ ὀφθαλμὸς οὐκ εἶδεν καὶ οὗς οὐκ ἤκουσεν καὶ ἐπὶ καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἀνέβη, ἃ ἡτοίμασεν ὁ θεὸς τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτόν.
9 "Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him."
Isaiah 64.3 LXX: ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος οὐκ ἠκούσαμεν οὐδὲ οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ ἡμῶν εἶδον θεὸν πλὴν σοῦ καὶ τὰ ἔργα σου ἃ ποιήσεις τοῖς ὑπομένουσιν ἔλεον.
Isaiah 65.17 LXX: ἔσται γὰρ ὁ οὐρανὸς καινὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ καινή καὶ οὐ μὴ μνησθῶσιν τῶν προτέρων οὐδ᾽ οὐ μὴ ἐπέλθῃ αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τὴν καρδίαν.
Let us compare Romans 3.10-18:
10 .... οὐκ ἔστιν δίκαιος οὐδὲ εἷς,
10 .... There is no one righteous, not even one;
Ecclesiastes 7.20 LXX: ὅτι ἄνθρωπος οὐκ ἔστιν δίκαιος ἐν τῇ γῇ ὃς ποιήσει ἀγαθὸν καὶ οὐχ ἁμαρτήσεται.
Psalm 13.1 LXX: οὐκ ἔστιν ποιῶν χρηστότητα οὐκ ἔστιν ἕως ἑνός.
11 οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ συνίων, οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ ἐκζητῶν τὸν θεόν.
11 there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.
Psalm 13.2 LXX: κύριος ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ διέκυψεν ἐπὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων τοῦ ἰδεῖν εἰ ἔστιν συνίων ἢ ἐκζητῶν τὸν θεόν.
12 πάντες ἐξέκλιναν, ἅμα ἠχρεώθησαν· οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ ποιῶν χρηστότητα, [οὐκ ἔστιν] ἕως ἑνός.
12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.
Psalm 13.3 LXX: πάντες ἐξέκλιναν ἅμα ἠχρεώθησαν οὐκ ἔστιν ποιῶν χρηστότητα οὐκ ἔστιν ἕως ἑνός.
13a τάφος ἀνεῳγμένος ὁ λάρυγξ αὐτῶν, ταῖς γλώσσαις αὐτῶν ἐδολιοῦσαν,
13a Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.
Psalm 5.10 LXX: τάφος ἀνεῳγμένος ὁ λάρυγξ αὐτῶν ταῖς γλώσσαις αὐτῶν ἐδολιοῦσαν.
13b ἰὸς ἀσπίδων ὑπὸ τὰ χείλη αὐτῶν,
13b The poison of vipers is on their lips.
Psalm 139.4 LXX: ἰὸς ἀσπίδων ὑπὸ τὰ χείλη αὐτῶν.
14 ὧν τὸ στόμα ἀρᾶς καὶ πικρίας γέμει·
14 Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.
Psalm 9.28 LXX: οὗ ἀρᾶς τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ γέμει καὶ πικρίας καὶ δόλου.
15 ὀξεῖς οἱ πόδες αὐτῶν ἐκχέαι αἷμα, 16 σύντριμμα καὶ ταλαιπωρία ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτῶν, 17 καὶ ὁδὸν εἰρήνης οὐκ ἔγνωσαν.
15 Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 ruin and misery mark their ways, 17 and the way of peace they do not know.
Isaiah 59.7-8 LXX: οἱ δὲ πόδες αὐτῶν ἐπὶ πονηρίαν τρέχουσιν ταχινοὶ ἐκχέαι αἷμα καὶ οἱ διαλογισμοὶ αὐτῶν διαλογισμοὶ ἀφρόνων σύντριμμα καὶ ταλαιπωρία ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτῶν καὶ ὁδὸν εἰρήνης οὐκ οἴδασιν.
18 οὐκ ἔστιν φόβος θεοῦ ἀπέναντι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτῶν.
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Psalm 35.2 LXX: οὐκ ἔστιν φόβος θεοῦ ἀπέναντι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτοῦ.
By far the most paraphrasing part is that which comes from Psalm 13.2 LXX, since the OT says that the Lord looked down to see whether (εἰ) there was anyone who understands or seeks God, and Paul simply turns this into a blanket statement (in parallel with the other affirmations flanking it) that no, there is no one doing so. As such, even here there is a one-to-one correspondence between what we find in the OT and what we find in Paul.
In a couple of spots the Pauline catena has changed the singular "his" into the plural "their", apparently for consistency.
There are plenty of OT phrases
omitted, but very few words and no phrases at all
added in the Pauline catena.
Given that the brief contact with Ecclesiastes comes right at the beginning of the catena, there is no example of one passage or psalm being started, postponed, and then resumed again where it was left off. Once Paul leaves Psalm 13.1-3 LXX, for example, he does not come back to it in this catena.
John, I would be interested to know how close you think what we find here is to Paul's treatment of Isaiah in 1 Corinthians 2.9. What are your thoughts?
Ben.