The
Book of Isaiah (
Hebrew: ספר ישעיה, "
Sefer Yeshayahu") is the first of the
Latter Prophets in the
Hebrew Bible and the first of the Major Prophets in English Bibles. The book identifies itself as the words of the 8th century BCE prophet
Isaiah ben Amoz, but there is ample evidence that much of it was composed during the
Babylonian captivity and later. The scholarly consensus which held sway through most of the 20th century saw it as three separate collections of oracles:
Proto-Isaiah (chapters 1–39), containing the words of Isaiah;
Deutero-Isaiah (chapters 40–55), the work of an anonymous 6th-century author writing during the Exile; and
Trito-Isaiah (chapters 56–66), composed after the return from exile. While virtually no-one today maintains that the entire book, or even most of it, was written by one person, a great deal of current research concentrates on the book's essential unity, with Isaiah 1–33 projecting judgement and restoration for Judah, Jerusalem and the nations, and chapters 34–66 presupposing that judgement has already taken place and restoration is at hand. It can thus be read as an extended meditation on the destiny of Jerusalem into and after the Exile.
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While it is widely accepted that the book of Isaiah is rooted in a historic prophet called Isaiah, who lived in the
Kingdom of Judah during the 8th century BCE, it is also widely accepted that this prophet did not write the entire book of Isaiah. The observations which have led to this are as follows:
- Historical situation → Chapters 40–55 presuppose that Jerusalem has already been destroyed (they are not framed as prophecy) and the Babylonian exile is already in effect – they speak from a present in which the Exile is about to end. Chapters 56–66 assume an even later situation, in which the people are already returned to Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the Temple is already under way.
- Anonymity → Isaiah's name suddenly stops being used after chapter 39.
- Style → There is a sudden change in style and theology after chapter 40; numerous key words and phrases found in one section are not found in the other.
These observations led scholars to the conclusion that the book can be conveniently divided into three sections, labelled Proto-Isaiah, Deutero-Isaiah, and Trito-Isaiah. Early modern-period scholars treated Isaiah as independent collections of sayings by three individual prophets, brought together at a much later period, about 70 BCE, to form the present book. The second half of the 20th century saw a marked change in approach, and scholars have begun to detect a deliberate arrangement of materials to give the book an overarching theological message.
The composition history of Isaiah reflects a major difference in the way authorship was regarded in ancient Israel and in modern societies: the ancients did not regard it as inappropriate to supplement an existing work while remaining anonymous. While the authors are anonymous, it is plausible that all of them were priests, and the book may thus reflect
Priestly concerns, in opposition to the increasingly successful reform movement of the
Deuteronomists.
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