Books of the Bible

The Book of Isaiah

Old Testament · Major Prophets · Genre: Prophecy · Author: Traditionally the prophet Isaiah of Jerusalem · Chapters: 66

Isaiah is the towering book of the prophets, a sweeping vision of God's holiness, judgment, and salvation. It warns a wayward people, comforts the exiles with promises of restoration, and points with startling clarity to a coming Servant who would bear the sins of many.

Start reading: Isaiah chapter 1

A key verse

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.Isaiah 53:5 (KJV)

The setting and background of Isaiah

Isaiah is the first and longest of the books called the Major Prophets, so named for their length rather than their importance. It is traditionally ascribed to Isaiah of Jerusalem, who prophesied in the eighth century before Christ, in the shadow of the Assyrian empire, though its later chapters address the exile that came more than a century afterward, and scholars have long debated whether the whole book came from Isaiah's own hand or gathered the work of his disciples in his spirit.

The book divides broadly into two great parts. The earlier chapters, set in Isaiah's own day, weave warnings of judgment on Judah and the nations together with luminous promises of a coming king. The later chapters, from the fortieth onward, turn to comfort a people facing exile, promising restoration, exalting the one true God above all idols, and unveiling the Suffering Servant who bears the sins of many.

Isaiah was written to call God's people to trust him rather than the powers of the world, and to lift their eyes to the salvation he would bring. It is quoted in the New Testament more than almost any other book and is sometimes called the fifth Gospel. In the sweep of Scripture its vision of Immanuel, its Suffering Servant, and its new heavens and new earth run straight to the Gospels and on to the final chapters of Revelation.

The story and structure of Isaiah

Isaiah ministered in Jerusalem in the eighth century before Christ, in a dangerous age when the empire of Assyria threatened to swallow the small kingdoms of Israel and Judah. His book opens with a searing indictment of Judah, whose worship has become empty and whose life is stained with injustice, yet it holds out at once the promise of cleansing for those who will return.

Near the beginning stands Isaiah's own call, a vision of the Lord high and lifted up, the seraphim crying holy, holy, holy, and the prophet undone by his uncleanness until a coal from the altar touches his lips and he is cleansed and sent. This vision of God's blazing holiness and cleansing grace sets the tone for everything that follows.

Isaiah announces judgment on Judah and on the surrounding nations, exposing pride and idolatry wherever he finds them. Yet threaded through the warnings are luminous promises: a virgin will conceive and bear a son called Immanuel, God with us, and a child will be born on whose shoulders the government will rest, called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

The later chapters turn from warning to comfort, addressed to a people facing exile, with the tender words, comfort ye, comfort ye my people. They promise that God will gather his scattered ones, that his word stands forever, and that he is doing a new thing. God alone is God, and the idols of the nations are nothing before him.

At the heart of these chapters stands the figure of the Suffering Servant, despised and rejected, wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, upon whom the Lord lays the iniquity of us all, and by whose stripes we are healed. The book closes with the promise of new heavens and a new earth, a vision of restoration that reaches to the end of the Bible.

The great themes of Isaiah

Key passages in Isaiah

Isaiah in the sweep of Scripture

Isaiah is quoted in the New Testament more than almost any other book and is sometimes called the fifth Gospel for its clear vision of the coming Christ. It gathers up the great prophetic themes of holiness, judgment, and salvation, and its sweep from present warning to future glory shapes the whole biblical hope. Its songs of the Servant, its promise of Immanuel, and its vision of new heavens and a new earth run straight into the pages of the New Testament and on to the last chapters of Revelation.

Where Christ is in Isaiah

Isaiah's Suffering Servant, wounded for our transgressions and bearing our iniquities, is fulfilled in Jesus, and the New Testament quotes these chapters directly of him. The child called Immanuel and Prince of Peace is the Saviour born in Bethlehem, and the promise of a light to the nations is fulfilled as the gospel goes out to all the world. When Jesus reads Isaiah aloud in the synagogue, he declares that its words of good news to the poor are fulfilled in him.

How to read Isaiah well

Read Isaiah for its grand vision of God, letting the sight of the thrice-holy Lord humble you and the coal from the altar assure you of cleansing. Linger over the fifty-third chapter, reading it slowly in the light of the cross, and let its Suffering Servant lead you to worship. When you are weary or afraid, return to its words of comfort, that God gathers his flock and renews the strength of those who wait on him, and lift your eyes to the new heavens and new earth it promises.

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