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Old Testament

Isaiah

66 chapters

Start reading: Isaiah 1

About this book

Isaiah is the longest of the prophetic books and one of the most quoted in the New Testament. It begins with a stern indictment of Judah for empty religion and injustice, then widens to God's judgment on the nations. Alongside the warnings runs a steady promise: a righteous king from David's line, a child called Immanuel, and a servant who will suffer for the sake of others. The book's second half turns to comfort, announcing that God will bring his people home from exile and that his word will not fail. It closes with a vision of new heavens and a new earth. Isaiah's themes are the holiness of God, the cost of injustice, trust in God rather than in political alliances, and hope that reaches beyond Israel to all peoples. Christians have long read its servant passages as pointing to Jesus, while Jewish readers understand them in other ways.

Author
The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz; many scholars think chapters 40–66 come from later prophets in his tradition.
Date
Isaiah's ministry ran from about 740 to 700 BC; the book reached its final form after the exile.
Audience
The people of Judah and Jerusalem, and later Israelites facing or returning from exile in Babylon.

Themes

The holiness of GodJustice and true worshipThe coming king and the suffering servantComfort and return from exileSalvation for all nations

Outline

  1. 1:1–12:6Judgment and hope for Judah
  2. 13:1–27:13Oracles against the nations
  3. 28:1–35:10Woes and trust in God, not alliances
  4. 36:1–39:8Hezekiah and Jerusalem's crisis
  5. 40:1–55:13Comfort and the servant
  6. 56:1–66:24Restoration and new creation

Key verses

Isaiah 6:1-8Isaiah 9:6-7Isaiah 40:28-31Isaiah 53:4-6

Chapters of Isaiah

  1. 1Isaiah 1Isaiah's vision about Judah and Jerusalem begins with a courtroom scene: heaven and earth are called as witnesses, and God says his children have rebelled, worse than an ox that knows its owner.
  2. 2Isaiah 2Isaiah looks to the last days, when the mountain of the Lord's house will rise above all others and nations will stream to it to learn God's ways.
  3. 3Isaiah 3God announces that he will remove from Jerusalem and Judah every support: food, water, soldiers, judges, prophets, and skilled leaders.
  4. 4Isaiah 4A short, hopeful chapter follows the judgments.
  5. 5Isaiah 5Isaiah sings a song about a friend's vineyard: the owner did everything for it, yet it yielded wild grapes.
  6. 6Isaiah 6In the year King Uzziah died, Isaiah sees the Lord seated on a high throne, his robe filling the temple, with seraphim calling to one another that God is holy, holy, holy.
  7. 7Isaiah 7King Ahaz of Judah is terrified because Aram and Israel have allied against him.
  8. 8Isaiah 8Isaiah is told to write on a large scroll and later to name his newborn son Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz, a name meaning quick to plunder, as a sign that Assyria will soon overrun Israel and Aram.
  9. 9Isaiah 9Out of gloom, light dawns on the northern regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, the lands first struck by Assyria.
  10. 10Isaiah 10God pronounces woe on those who make unjust laws and rob widows and orphans, asking what they will do on the day of reckoning.
  11. 11Isaiah 11A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse, David's father, and the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him: wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord.
  12. 12Isaiah 12This short chapter is a song of thanksgiving for the day of salvation.
  13. 13Isaiah 13Isaiah begins a series of oracles against foreign nations with a message against Babylon.
  14. 14Isaiah 14God will have compassion on Jacob and settle his people in their land again, and foreigners will join them.
  15. 15Isaiah 15A dirge is sung over Moab, Israel's neighbor across the Dead Sea.
  16. 16Isaiah 16Moab's people send lambs as tribute to Jerusalem and plead for refuge as they flee like scattered birds.
  17. 17Isaiah 17Damascus, capital of Aram, will become a heap of ruins, and Israel's fortified cities will be abandoned because the northern kingdom made an alliance with it rather than trusting God.
  18. 18Isaiah 18Isaiah addresses Cush, a land beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, whose envoys travel in papyrus boats along the Nile.
  19. 19Isaiah 19God rides on a swift cloud to Egypt, and its idols tremble.
  20. 20Isaiah 20When the Assyrian commander Sargon captures the Philistine city of Ashdod, God tells Isaiah to remove his sackcloth and sandals and walk around stripped and barefoot for three years as a sign.
  21. 21Isaiah 21Three brief, unsettling oracles follow.
  22. 22Isaiah 22The oracle about the Valley of Vision, Jerusalem, describes a city that is noisy and celebrating while an enemy approaches.
  23. 23Isaiah 23The oracle against Tyre, the great Phoenician seaport, begins with the ships of Tarshish wailing because their harbor is destroyed.
  24. 24Isaiah 24Isaiah widens his view from the nations to the whole earth.
  25. 25Isaiah 25Isaiah breaks into praise: the Lord has done wonderful things, planned long ago in perfect faithfulness, and has turned a fortified city into rubble.
  26. 26Isaiah 26A song will be sung in Judah about a strong city whose gates are open to the righteous nation that keeps faith.
  27. 27Isaiah 27On that day the Lord will punish Leviathan, the twisting serpent of the sea, a symbol of chaos and evil, with his fierce and mighty sword.
  28. 28Isaiah 28Isaiah pronounces woe on Ephraim's proud drunkards, whose crown of pride will be trampled; but the Lord will be a glorious crown for his remnant.
  29. 29Isaiah 29Woe to Ariel, another name for Jerusalem, the city where David camped.
  30. 30Isaiah 30God rebukes his rebellious children who make plans without him, and who go down to Egypt for help without asking.
  31. 31Isaiah 31Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, relying on horses and chariots but not looking to the Holy One of Israel.
  32. 32Isaiah 32A king will reign in righteousness and princes will rule with justice, each a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place.
  33. 33Isaiah 33Woe to the destroyer who has not been destroyed and the traitor not yet betrayed; when he stops destroying, he will be destroyed.
  34. 34Isaiah 34The nations are summoned to listen: the Lord is angry with all of them and has set them apart for destruction.
  35. 35Isaiah 35In contrast to the desolation of chapter 34, the desert and parched land will rejoice and blossom like a crocus, with the glory of Lebanon and the splendor of Carmel.
  36. 36Isaiah 36In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Assyria's king Sennacherib invades Judah and captures its fortified cities.
  37. 37Isaiah 37Hezekiah tears his clothes, puts on sackcloth, and enters the temple, sending officials to ask Isaiah to pray.
  38. 38Isaiah 38Hezekiah becomes fatally ill, and Isaiah tells him to put his house in order because he will die.
  39. 39Isaiah 39Merodach-Baladan, king of Babylon, sends envoys with letters and a gift to congratulate Hezekiah on his recovery.
  40. 40Isaiah 40The second half of Isaiah opens with comfort: God tells his people that their warfare is ended and their guilt is pardoned.
  41. 41Isaiah 41God summons the nations to court and asks who stirred up the conqueror from the east; it was the Lord, first and last.
  42. 42Isaiah 42God presents his servant, whom he upholds and delights in, and on whom he places his Spirit.
  43. 43Isaiah 43The God who created Israel now says do not fear, for he has redeemed them and called them by name.
  44. 44Isaiah 44God assures Jacob, his chosen servant, that he will pour out his Spirit on their descendants like water on dry land, and they will flourish like willows by streams.
  45. 45Isaiah 45God calls Cyrus, a Persian king who does not know him, his anointed, promising to open doors before him so that people from east to west may know there is no God but the Lord.
  46. 46Isaiah 46Babylon's gods, Bel and Nebo, are loaded onto beasts of burden and carried into exile, weary loads for tired animals.
  47. 47Isaiah 47Virgin daughter Babylon is told to come down from her throne and sit in the dust.
  48. 48Isaiah 48God addresses stubborn Israel, who claim his name but not in truth.
  49. 49Isaiah 49The servant speaks: he was called before birth, and his mouth was made like a sharp sword.
  50. 50Isaiah 50The Lord asks Israel where their mother's certificate of divorce is, or which creditor he sold them to; they were sold for their own sins, but God's hand is not too short to redeem.
  51. 51Isaiah 51Those who pursue righteousness are told to look to the rock from which they were cut, to Abraham and Sarah, whom God blessed and made numerous.
  52. 52Isaiah 52Zion is told to awake, put on strength and beautiful garments, and shake off the dust, for the uncircumcised and unclean will no longer enter her.
  53. 53Isaiah 53The most famous of the servant songs describes one who grew up like a tender shoot, despised and rejected, a man of sorrows familiar with suffering.
  54. 54Isaiah 54The barren woman is told to sing and enlarge her tent, for she will have more children than the married.
  55. 55Isaiah 55Everyone who is thirsty is invited to come to the waters; those without money may buy wine and milk without cost.
  56. 56Isaiah 56God calls his people to maintain justice and do what is right, for his salvation is near.
  57. 57Isaiah 57The righteous perish and no one takes it to heart, yet they enter peace.
  58. 58Isaiah 58God tells Isaiah to cry out and tell his people their sins.
  59. 59Isaiah 59The Lord's arm is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear, but the people's sins have separated them from him.
  60. 60Isaiah 60Zion is told to arise and shine, for her light has come and the glory of the Lord rises upon her.
  61. 61Isaiah 61A speaker anointed by God's Spirit announces good news to the poor, healing for the brokenhearted, freedom for captives, and the year of the Lord's favor.
  62. 62Isaiah 62For Zion's sake the speaker will not keep silent, until her vindication shines like the dawn.
  63. 63Isaiah 63A warrior comes from Edom, his garments stained red, having trodden the winepress of judgment alone; no one else was with him.
  64. 64Isaiah 64The prayer continues with a bold cry: if only God would tear open the heavens and come down, so that mountains would tremble and nations shake.
  65. 65Isaiah 65God answers: he was ready to be found by those who did not ask, and held out his hands all day to a rebellious people who followed their own ways, offering sacrifices in gardens and eating forbidden food.
  66. 66Isaiah 66The book closes with God asking what house could contain him, since heaven is his throne and the earth his footstool.
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