Introduction to the Book of Isaiah

The Hebrew name for the Book of Isaiah is “Yeshayahu” (יְשַׁעְיָה), meaning “Yahweh has saved.” The Book of Isaiah was likely completed after 723 BC. It contains background information about the Kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem, detailing the sins committed by the people of Judah before the LORD, and revealing the judgments and acts of salvation that the LORD would undertake. In the New Testament, apart from the Psalms, Isaiah is the most frequently quoted book. The central theme of this book is the lineage of David and Jerusalem, with particular emphasis in chapter 53, which describes the experiences and personal attributes of the Messiah Jesus, who would arrive approximately 700 years later. Because the Book of Isaiah contains the most numerous and detailed prophecies concerning the Messiah, it is often called the “Fifth Gospel” or the “Gospel of the Old Testament.”

Both Jewish tradition and the New Testament attest that the author of this book is the prophet Isaiah (Luke 4:17; John 12:38-41; Acts 8:28). Although some have speculated about multiple authors since the 18th century, there is no conclusive evidence for this. Due to the remarkable alignment of Isaiah’s prophecies about the Messiah with Jesus Christ, some have questioned whether Christians tampered with the Old Testament. However, the discovery of a complete manuscript of the Book of Isaiah from the 2nd century BC among the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, whose content is largely consistent with the Masoretic text from the 9th century AD, has completely debunked such doubts.

The Book of Isaiah is extensively quoted in the New Testament (as many as 411 times), demonstrating its significance far beyond its historical role. The entire book comprises sixty-six chapters, with the first part having thirty-nine chapters and the second part twenty-seven. Coincidentally, the entire Bible also consists of sixty-six books: thirty-nine in the Old Testament and twenty-seven in the New Testament. More important than this structural parallel, however, is that this book reveals truth more comprehensively than any other single book: God, humanity, sin, judgment, salvation, and the Messiah. Thus, Isaiah is also called the “miniature Bible.”