Who was Isaiah?
When they lived Jerusalem, between the eighth and the seventh centuries BC
In short
Isaiah was a prophet in Jerusalem during the reigns of four kings of Judah, between the eighth and the seventh centuries BC. He had a vision in the temple, walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign against Egypt, and advised the king during the Assyrian siege. The book that carries his name has sixty-six chapters.
- Written by
- Maria Luisa Navarro Schmitt
- Reviewed by
- Raphael Navarro Schmitt
- Published on
- Reading time
- 9 min read
By volume of quotation, Isaiah is the most influential prophet in the Bible: the New Testament draws on him more than on anyone else, and phrases from the book entered common speech far beyond religious circles. And even so, what is known about his life fits into a few paragraphs.
The book is large, spans historical situations far apart from one another, and mixes oracle, narrative, poem and liturgy. Reading Isaiah means dealing with that range, and with a question of composition that remains open among scholars — how many hands lie behind the sixty-six chapters.
What is known about his life
The opening of the book gives the essentials: son of Amoz, with his attention on Judah and on the capital, across the reigns of four named kings. That is dating by reign, the standard of the period, and it places his activity in the second half of the eighth century and the start of the seventh.
He had access to the court. The book shows him seeking out king Ahaz during a diplomatic crisis, being consulted by Hezekiah during a siege, and sending replies to royal envoys. None of that is the behaviour of a popular street prophet — it is the behaviour of somebody who moved inside the palace.
On his family, two data points. His wife is called a prophetess in chapter 8, with no further explanation. And at least two of his sons carry names that are themselves messages: the names announce what is going to happen to the country.
1The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Joatham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
The opening verse works as a catalogue card: who, about what, and under which reigns. Practically all the biographical information available comes from it.
3And I joined with the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the Lord said to me: “Call his name: ‘Rush to take away the spoils; Hurry to be plundered.’
His wife is introduced with a title — prophetess — and the text does not develop the point. The name given to the son is an entire sentence, and the sentence is a military warning.
The vision in the temple
Chapter 6 is the best-known text in the book and is dated by a king’s death. Isaiah sees the Lord seated on a high throne, with what is beneath him filling the temple, and six-winged seraphim repeating the same word three times. The lintels shake and the house fills with smoke.
His reaction is not worship: it is panic. He declares himself lost, claims unclean lips and says he lives among a people equally unclean. The purification comes through a physical and unpleasant gesture — a live coal taken from the altar with tongs and brought to his mouth.
Only then comes the question about who will go, and the answer that became a motto for vocation. And this is where devotional reading usually stops. What comes immediately afterwards is the description of the mission: to speak to a people who will hear without understanding, until the cities are left without inhabitants. He asks how long, and the answer is: to the end.
1In the year in which king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, sublime and exalted, and the things that were under him filled the temple.
2The Seraphim were standing above the throne. One had six wings, and the other had six wings: with two they were covering his face, and with two they were covering his feet, and with two they were flying.
3And they were crying out to one another, and saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts! All the earth is filled with his glory!”
4And the lintels above the hinges were shaken at the voice of the one crying out. And the house was filled with smoke.
5And I said: “Woe to me! For I have remained silent. For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live in the midst of a people having unclean lips, and I have seen with my eyes the King, the Lord of hosts!”
Five verses with the whole scene. In this edition his reaction is to say that he has kept silent; other editions have him say he is undone, or that he will perish. Worth checking which one your Bible carries before building anything on the word.
8And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send?” and, “Who will go for us?” And I said: “Here I am. Send me.”
The most quoted line in the book. It is a spontaneous offer, made before the content of the mission is revealed — and the content, three verses later, is considerably harsher than the line suggests.
The signs
Biblical prophets did not only speak: they staged. Isaiah is one of the most extreme cases of that. Chapter 20 records an order to remove the sackcloth and the sandals, and reports that he went naked and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent concerning Egypt and Ethiopia.
The scene is usually left out of introductions to the prophet, and the omission is understandable — but it is part of the method. The message about the futility of trusting a military alliance with Egypt is delivered by his body rather than by a speech.
Another sign, better known, is in chapter 7. Standing before king Ahaz, pressed by an enemy coalition and tempted to buy Assyrian protection, Isaiah announces a birth as a guarantee that the threat will pass.
2in that same time, the Lord spoke by the hand of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saying: “Go forth, and remove the sackcloth from your waist, and take your shoes from your feet.” And he did so, going out naked and barefoot.
3And the Lord said: Just as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot, as a sign and as a portent of three years over Egypt and over Ethiopia,
The order and its fulfilment in the same verse, with not a line of comment on the humiliation involved. The duration of the sign is stated here, and does not appear in every edition.
14For this reason, the Lord himself will grant to you a sign. Behold, a virgin will conceive, and she will give birth to a son, and his name will be called Immanuel.
The most debated verse in the book. In this edition the word is virgin, and the name announced means "God with us". The immediate setting is a military crisis in the days of Ahaz, which is what the note below addresses.
The siege of Jerusalem
Chapters 36 and 37 are narrative rather than poetry. The Assyrian army stands outside Jerusalem, and the spokesman of the Assyrian king refuses to negotiate in Aramaic: he deliberately speaks the language of the people, loudly enough for the defenders on the wall to hear. It is military propaganda aimed at the troops, over the heads of the negotiators.
Hezekiah goes up to the temple with the threatening letter and spreads it out there. Isaiah replies with an oracle, and the siege ends without a battle: the text reports that the Assyrian army was destroyed in a night and that the king went home.
It is one of the few biblical episodes with a counterpart in outside sources. Assyrian annals record the campaign against Judah and the siege of Jerusalem — and do not record the capture of the city, which was exactly the kind of victory those inscriptions always celebrated.
36Then the Angel of the Lord went forth and struck down, in the camp of the Assyrians, one hundred eighty-five thousand. And they arose in the morning, and behold, all these were dead bodies.
The outcome in one verse. The number of the dead varies between editions, which is why it is worth reading the verse in your own Bible instead of repeating the figure from memory.
The second half, and the question of how many hands
From chapter 40 onward the tone changes completely. The threat disappears, consolation comes in, and the addressee stops being the Jerusalem menaced by Assyria and becomes a people already deported, to whom the end of exile is announced. A few chapters later, a Persian king is called by name.
From this comes one of the oldest debates in biblical criticism. Many scholars read the book as the work of more than one hand, gathered under a single name — the situation described from chapter 40 stands roughly a hundred and fifty years after the kings named in chapter 1. Others hold to single authorship, understanding those passages as prophecy of the future.
It is worth saying what the debate is not. It is not about the content of the book, which is the same either way, nor about its value. It is about the history of composition, and it is honest to record that it remains open.
It is in this part of the book that the most quoted texts of the whole Hebrew Bible in the New Testament are found: the poems about a servant who suffers in the place of others, in chapter 53, and the voice that orders consolation, in chapter 40.
1“Be consoled, be consoled, O my people!” says your God.
2Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and call out to her! For her malice has reached its end. Her iniquity has been forgiven. She has received double for all her sins from the hand of the Lord.
The turn of the book in two verses: the order to console, repeated, and the announcement that the penalty has been served. Whoever is being consoled here has already been through the punishment.
28I say to Cyrus, “You are my shepherd, and you will accomplish all that I will.” I say to Jerusalem, “You shall be built,” and to the Temple, “Your foundations shall be laid.”
The Persian king appears by name, charged with ordering Jerusalem rebuilt. It is precision of this kind that sits at the centre of the debate about the composition of the book.
3He is despised and the least among men, a man of sorrows who knows infirmity. And his countenance was hidden and despised. Because of this, we did not esteem him.
4Truly, he has taken away our weaknesses, and he himself has carried our sorrows. And we thought of him as if he were a leper, or as if he had been struck by God and humiliated.
5But he himself was wounded because of our iniquities. He was bruised because of our wickedness. The discipline of our peace was upon him. And by his wounds, we are healed.
The most quoted passage in the book. Read it noticing the alternation of pronouns: the text moves constantly between what happened to him and what belonged to us.
What the text does not say
Biblical figures gather layers of tradition that Scripture does not support. Telling the two apart does not diminish the story — it gives back what is actually written.
What is commonly said
Isaiah was sawn in two on the orders of king Manasseh.
What Scripture says
The Bible does not narrate Isaiah’s death. His book ends without that information, and no other biblical book records it. Hebrews 11:37 lists people who were cut, in a catalogue of sufferings, without naming anyone.
Where it comes from: The account of the execution comes from a writing outside the canon, the Ascension of Isaiah, and reappears in rabbinic tradition. It is ancient, but it is not biblical.
What is commonly said
All sixty-six chapters were written by the eighth-century prophet.
What Scripture says
From chapter 40 onward the text addresses people already exiled in Babylon — a situation standing roughly a hundred and fifty years after the kings named at the opening of the book — and goes so far as to name the Persian king who would authorise the return. Many scholars read the book as the work of more than one hand; others hold to single authorship, taking those passages as foresight. The question is still open.
What is commonly said
"Here I am, send me" is the line of somebody accepting a beautiful assignment.
What Scripture says
The offer is made before the task is described. What follows is a mission to speak to a people who will hear without understanding, and the answer to the question about how long that lasts is: until the cities are empty. The text places the enthusiasm before the content, deliberately.
What is commonly said
Isaiah was a preacher of the people, a plain man from the countryside.
What Scripture says
The book shows him seeking out one king in a diplomatic crisis, being consulted by another during a siege, and receiving royal envoys. It is the portrait of someone with standing at the court of Jerusalem, and nothing in the text suggests humble origins.
Where this person appears
1The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Joatham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
The opening of the book, with its dating by reigns — the main source of biographical information about him.
1In the year in which king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, sublime and exalted, and the things that were under him filled the temple.
2The Seraphim were standing above the throne. One had six wings, and the other had six wings: with two they were covering his face, and with two they were covering his feet, and with two they were flying.
3And they were crying out to one another, and saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts! All the earth is filled with his glory!”
4And the lintels above the hinges were shaken at the voice of the one crying out. And the house was filled with smoke.
5And I said: “Woe to me! For I have remained silent. For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live in the midst of a people having unclean lips, and I have seen with my eyes the King, the Lord of hosts!”
The vision in the temple and the panic it provokes.
8And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send?” and, “Who will go for us?” And I said: “Here I am. Send me.”
The spontaneous offer — made before the mission is described, which changes how the scene reads.
14For this reason, the Lord himself will grant to you a sign. Behold, a virgin will conceive, and she will give birth to a son, and his name will be called Immanuel.
The sign given to Ahaz, and the most debated verse in the book. The two readings are set out above.
1“Be consoled, be consoled, O my people!” says your God.
2Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and call out to her! For her malice has reached its end. Her iniquity has been forgiven. She has received double for all her sins from the hand of the Lord.
The opening of the second half, with the order to console a people already in exile.
3He is despised and the least among men, a man of sorrows who knows infirmity. And his countenance was hidden and despised. Because of this, we did not esteem him.
4Truly, he has taken away our weaknesses, and he himself has carried our sorrows. And we thought of him as if he were a leper, or as if he had been struck by God and humiliated.
5But he himself was wounded because of our iniquities. He was bruised because of our wickedness. The discipline of our peace was upon him. And by his wounds, we are healed.
The poem of the servant, the passage from this book most quoted in the New Testament.