Isaiah: The Prophet of Salvation

Isaiah at a Glance

Isaiah is one prophet's lifework in sixty-six chapters. The New Testament quotes him more than any other prophet, and he has often been called the fifth Gospel, because he speaks so plainly of Christ seven hundred years before Bethlehem.

• Author. Isaiah son of Amoz, a prophet in Jerusalem (Isaiah 1:1).
• Date. About 740 to 680 BC. His call came in the year King Uzziah died (Isaiah 6:1), and chapter 37 records the death of the Assyrian king Sennacherib, which came about 681 BC (Isaiah 37:38).
• Written To. The kingdom of Judah and the city of Jerusalem, and through them the exiles who would one day need comfort.
• Setting. Assyria is the great power. The northern kingdom falls in 722 BC, Judah is invaded in 701 BC and Jerusalem is spared, and Babylon is already named as the danger that is coming (Isaiah 39:6–7).
• Key Verse. he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:5).
• Key Word or Theme. Salvation. The name Isaiah means “the LORD is salvation,” and the book's favorite name for God is “the Holy One of Israel.”