Romans 10:16

‘But they did not all listen to the glad tidings. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” '

But that not all would receive those glad tidings was also made apparent in Scripture, for Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our report?' (Isaiah 53:1). The opening ‘Lord' is found in LXX but not in MT. The noun ‘report' (akoe) comes from the same root as the word ‘hear' in Romans 10:15 (akousowsin). Thus the idea is, ‘who has believed what they have heard from the messengers of the Messiah?', and the answer expected in the context of Isaiah is ‘no one' or ‘very few'. In Isaiah the question ‘Lord who has believed out report' is then followed by a description of the humiliated Servant of YHWH Who will offer Himself up His people, and will make many to be accounted as righteous, thus the question is particularly apposite to preaching about the crucified Messiah. The question then is, ‘Who will believe it?'

To answer this question we must ask, who is the ‘they' (in Paul's letter) who did not listen? Certainly it is possible to see the ‘who' in Isaiah's words as addressing a generalised ‘who' which could have included anyone. It is a question open to everyone. But the ‘our' limits the statement to the Jews, as is evidenced by the later reference in the Isaianic chapter to ‘us' and ‘our'. So the ‘our' would appear to apply to Jews. And this can be seen as supported by the fact that Paul's reference is to unbelievers (‘they did not all listen'). As Paul, when he speaks of unbelief, has in mind the Jews (it was they who were without excuse), rather than Gentiles, who were not necessarily expected to believe, this would confirm that this applies to the unbelieving Jews. And if that be so it would underline that there was a previous example of Israel's unbelief in the face of God's working in Isaiah's day, and what is more, in the face of God's offer of ‘righteousness' through His Servant (Isaiah 53:11).