References (53)
And he sent Eljakim, who was in charge of the palace (literally: 'was over the house') [had the highest position in the royal house in Jerusalem], and the scribe Shebna and the elders among the priests, clothed in sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz [Hebr. – not the same person as the prophet Amos from Tekoa ()].
And the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
And Isaiah said to them, "Thus shall you say to your master: Thus says the Lord (Yahweh): Do not be afraid of the word you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
Then Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent word to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the Lord (Yahweh), the God (Elohim) of Israel: As you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib, king of Assyria, I have heard you.
In those days Hezekiah was sick unto death. And Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him and said, "Thus says the Lord (Yahweh): Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live."
And it came to pass, before Isaiah had gone out of the inner court of the city, that the word of the Lord (Yahweh) came to him, saying
And Isaiah said, "Take a fig cake." And they took it and put it on the boil, and he recovered.
And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "What shall be the sign that the Lord (Yahweh) will heal me and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord (Yahweh) on the third day?"
And Isaiah said, "This shall be the sign to you from the Lord (Yahweh) that the Lord (Yahweh) will do what he has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps or backward ten steps?"
And Isaiah the prophet cried out to the Lord (Yahweh), and he brought back the shadow ten steps that it had already gone on Ahaz's sundial.
And Isaiah the prophet came to Hezekiah and said to him, "What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?" And Hezekiah said, "They came from a distant land, from Babylon."
And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the Lord (Yahweh).
And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of the Lord (Yahweh) that you have spoken is good." And he said, "Is it not so that peace (shalom) and truth shall prevail in my days?"
What else there is to say about Uzziah, about his early days as well as his last, has been written down by the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz.
Meanwhile, King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, prayed and cried out to heaven.
The rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his power, and how he found favor in the sight of God, are they not written in the book of the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel?
The vision of Isaiah (Hebr. Yeshayahu), son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem (in those days, in those times) when
Uzziah [Hebr. Uzziyah; also called Azariah; 10th king of the Southern Kingdom, ca. 791-739 BC – a good king, but died a leper, see ], Jotham [11th king of the Southern Kingdom, ca. 759-742 BC – a good king, see ], Ahaz [12th ruler of the Southern Kingdom, ca. 735-715 BC – did evil, see ; ; ] and Hezekiah [Hebr. Chizkijaho; 13th king of the Southern Kingdom, ca. 715-686 BC – a good king and reformer, see ; ; ] were kings of Judah.
[Isaiah's father was named Amoz. His name is similar to that of the prophet Amos of Tekoa (who lived earlier in the mid-700s BC) and wrote the Book of Amos, see . Isaiah received his calling in 740 BC (, ) and his 50 years of service spanned the reigns of four kings until 686 BC. According to tradition, he was sawed in half as a martyr by Manasseh (Hezekiah's son), see ; .]
The word that Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
Then the Lord
(Yahweh) said to
Isaiah, "Go out now and meet Ahaz, you and Shear Jashov
[meaning 'a remnant shall return'], your son, at the end of the aqueduct
[] by the upper pool, on the highway to
the Fuller's Field [place where textiles were washed and dried],
[Here begins the second major section of the book of Isaiah with prophetic words against the nations. Chapters 13-27 have a sevenfold symmetry. The opening words against Babylon (chapters 13-14) are echoed in the final section on the fall of Judah's enemy (chapters 24-27). The fall of Babylon is described in chapter 21.
A The fall of Babylon and the restoration of Judah (chapters 13-14)
B Judah's neighbor Moab (chapters 15-16)
C Egypt and Ethiopia (chapters 17-20)
D Center – The fall of Babylon (chapter 21)
C´ Jerusalem and Egypt (chapter 22)
B´ Judah's neighbor Tyre (chap. 23)
A´ The fall of the city (Babylon) and the restoration of Judah (chaps. 24-27)]
Message (prophecy, this burden) concerning Babylon, which was revealed to Isaiah, son of Amoz.
[The Hebrew word massa is a common term in prophetic literature that introduces a message from God, see ; ; . The word comes from a verb meaning "to carry," which suggests that the message is also demanding and, to some extent, burdensome. It appears 15 times in Isaiah. Exactly how Isaiah "sees" this message is not stated; it may have been a vision, a dream, or an insight based on some event. It begins with the prelude to a great war:]
at that time the Lord (Yahweh) spoke through Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saying, "Go and take the sackcloth from your hips and take the shoes from your feet." He did so and walked around naked and barefoot.
The Lord (Yahweh) said, "As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and warning to Egypt and Cush [present-day Ethiopia/Sudan],
And he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace (literally: 'over the house') [in Jerusalem], and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz.
So the servants (Hebr. eved) of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
And Isaiah said to them, "This is what you shall say to your master, thus says the Lord (Yahweh): 'Do not be afraid of these words that you have heard, with which the young men (Hebr. naar) of the king of Assyria have reviled me.
Then Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent word to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the Lord (Yahweh), the God (Elohim) of Israel, because you have prayed to me against Sennacherib, king of Assyria,
At this time [around 700 BC], Hezekiah became terminally ill. The prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, came to him and said, "Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die and not recover."
[Hezekiah had no son to inherit the throne, so he needed to look after his house and appoint a successor. The political situation was also very unstable because the Assyrian army was threatening to invade the country.]
Then the word of the Lord (Yahweh) came to Isaiah. He said
Isaiah said, "Let them take a fig cake and put it as a bandage on the boil, and he shall recover."
Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, "What did these men say? And where did they come to you from?" And Hezekiah said, "They came to me from a distant land, from Babylon."
Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the Lord of hosts (Yahweh Sebaots):
Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of the Lord (Yahweh) that you have spoken is good." He added, "For there will be peace (shalom, peace and prosperity) and truth in my days (during my lifetime)."
For he is the one who is spoken of through the prophet Isaiah, as [the prophet Isaiah refers to when he] says:
A voice of one crying (urging) in the wilderness (desert, wasteland):
"Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight (even) [make way for the Lord]."
[Quotation from from the Greek translation Septuagint. Matthew changes the quotation from "the paths of our God" to "his paths". A call to repent and walk in his well-trodden and familiar paths, see also .]
He did this to fulfill one of Isaiah's prophecies []:
This happened so that what was said through the prophet Isaiah [Isaiah 53:4] would be fulfilled: "He took upon himself our weaknesses (illnesses, limitations) and our diseases (chronic, incurable illnesses) he bore."
This was so that the words of the prophet Isaiah would be fulfilled []:
They fulfill Isaiah's prophecy:
You will hear (again and again) but not understand,
you will see (repeatedly) but not perceive.
You hypocrites (actors)! Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said []:
He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you []:
This people honors me with their lips (they say the right things),
but their hearts are far from me.
It is written in the book of the prophet Isaiah []:
"The voice of one crying in the desert (wilderness):
Prepare the way of the Lord,
making his paths straight.
and they handed him [the scroll of] the book of Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the place [at the end of Isaiah, se ] where it is written:
He confirmed (enlightened – Gk. phemi) with the words of the prophet Isa: "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare (make straight) the way' [Isaiah 40:3]."
because the words of the prophet Isa would be fulfilled:
"Lord, who believed our message (report, sermon),
and to whom has the arm of the Lord (God's great power) been revealed?" []
The reason they could not believe was, as Isaiah also said:
Isaiah was able to speak (send out – Gk. epo) because he saw his [the Anointed One's] glory [in his vision, see ] and spoke (Gk. laleo) about him. [John explains how the prophets spoke about Jesus, see , and again he equates Jesus with God, see ; .]
but was now on his way home, sitting in his chariot and reading the prophet
Isaiah.
[A eunuch was a man who had been castrated, either voluntarily or by force. It was not unusual for eunuchs to hold high positions because they were loyal and reliable. However, there were restrictions withIn Jewish tradition. A eunuch was only allowed access to the outer temple area, see . This high-ranking Ethiopian was a pagan who believed in the God of Israel. This was probably his only pilgrimage to Jerusalem. It is probably no coincidence that he is reading the prophet Isaiah as the carriage slowly rolls along. Here are the strongest promises to eunuchs in particular. When the Messiah establishes his kingdom, they will have access to pray to God and receive a name that is better than sons and daughters, see . What he did not know was that soon his eyes would be opened to these Scriptures through faith in Jesus!]So Philip ran up [and stayed close to the chariot]. He heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. [In ancient times, it was common to read aloud.] Then he asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?"
[In Greek, the question is also a clever play on words. The Greek word for "understand" is ginosko, and "read" is anaginosko, which literally means "to understand again." It describes the process of how we read. We recognize the letters that make up the sentence. The letters are understood again in a new way.]
When they could not agree, they parted ways, after Paul had said this one word: "The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through the prophet Isaiah to your fathers
Isaiah cries out about Israel:
"Even if the sons (children) of Israel were as numerous as the sand of the sea,
only a remnant will be saved.
Isa also prophesied:
If the Lord Almighty had not left us a few survivors,
we would have become like
Sodom, we would have resembled
Gomorrah.
[]But not everyone has listened [wanted to hear and obey] the gospel. Isaiah says:
Lord, who has believed our report (preaching, what they have heard)? []
Then Isaiah goes so far as to say [in ]:
I revealed myself to those who did not seek me;
I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.
And further, Isaiah says:
The root of Jesse [the Messiah],
he who stands up to rule over the nations,
in him
the Gentiles shall hope. [] [There is a clear thread running through these four quotations, showing that the Gentiles have always been part of God's plan to be blessed through the Israelites, see . In the first, David praises God among the Gentiles; in the second, Moses exhorts the Gentiles to rejoice together with the Jews; in the third, the psalmist exhorts the Gentiles to praise the Lord; and in the fourth, Isaiah prophesies that the Gentiles will live under the Messiah and have their hope in him.]
