PERSON · PROPHET

Isaiah

Isaiah is identified in Scripture as a prophet who ministered across at least four Judahite reigns and who interceded alongside King Hezekiah at the time of the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem, after which the angel of the LORD struck down 185,000 Assyrian soldiers (Isaiah 37:36; 2 Kings 19:35). He recorded historical acts of kings Uzziah and Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 26:22; 2 Chronicles 32:32). The New Testament writers cite Isaiah extensively in connection with John the Baptist, Jesus of Nazareth, and the inclusion of Gentiles (Matthew 3:3; Luke 4:17–21; Acts 8:28–35).

Isaiah 1:1

Ministry: During the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah

The Story

He ministered in Jerusalem across the reigns of four kings — Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah — and the book that bears his name opens by telling us exactly that.

¹The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Isaiah 1:1·KJV

The span those names represent is not a footnote; it is a measure of the weight this one man carried for the better part of half a century. Empires rose and threatened. Kings faltered and sometimes returned. Jerusalem lurched between faithfulness and idolatry. And through it all, Isaiah son of Amoz kept speaking.

The moment that set everything in motion is recorded in the sixth chapter of his book: the year King Uzziah died, Isaiah saw the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up. The seraphim cried out to one another in the temple. The doorposts shook. The house filled with smoke. Before that vision, Isaiah was a prophet; after it, he was something altogether different — a man who had glimpsed what no human eye should survive, and who knew it. His response was not worship. It was collapse. "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips." Scripture records the confession precisely, and it rings with honesty rather than performance. This was not false modesty. It was the only thing a truthful man could say.

Then a seraph flew to him with a live coal taken from the altar and laid it to his lips. The iniquity, he was told, was taken away. The sin, purged. And immediately — with the wound still fresh, one senses — the LORD asked, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?"

⁸Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
Isaiah 6:8·KJV

Isaiah did not hesitate. He volunteered. That readiness, coming directly on the heels of his own confession of unworthiness, says everything about the kind of man this was: broken by the vision, restored by grace, and then instantly useful.

Life & Legacy

Death

Tradition

Scripture does not record the death of Isaiah. Church tradition, citing the Lives of the Prophets attributed to Epiphanius, holds that Isaiah was sawn in two by order of King Manasseh; the New Testament letter to the Hebrews may allude to this fate in Hebrews 11:37.

Lives of the Prophets (Epiphanius); cf. Hebrews 11:37

Legacy

Scripture

Isaiah son of Amoz produced the longest prophetic book in the Hebrew Bible, containing oracles addressed to Judah, Jerusalem, and surrounding nations, as well as pronouncements of future restoration (Isaiah 1:1; 2 Chronicles 26:22). His written record of the acts of King Uzziah is also noted in 2 Chronicles 26:22. New Testament authors quote Isaiah more than any other prophet, as evidenced throughout the Gospels and Epistles.

Isaiah 1:1; 2 Chronicles 26:22; 2 Chronicles 32:32

Character

Scripture

Isaiah responded to a vision of the LORD seated on his throne in the temple with an immediate confession of his own uncleanness and that of his people, and then volunteered himself when the LORD called for a messenger (Isaiah 6:1–8). He named his sons with symbolic prophetic names and used his own family as living signs to Israel (Isaiah 7:3; Isaiah 8:3–4). He confronted King Hezekiah with a word of judgment and later with a word of healing, demonstrating directness in his prophetic office (Isaiah 38:1–5; 2 Kings 20:1–6).

Isaiah 6:1–8; Isaiah 7:3; Isaiah 8:3–4; Isaiah 38:1–5

Significance

Scripture

Isaiah 1:1; Isaiah 37:36; 2 Kings 19:35; 2 Chronicles 26:22; Matthew 3:3

DeathTradition

Lives of the Prophets (Epiphanius); cf. Hebrews 11:37

LegacyScripture

Isaiah 1:1; 2 Chronicles 26:22; 2 Chronicles 32:32

CharacterScripture

Isaiah 6:1–8; Isaiah 7:3; Isaiah 8:3–4; Isaiah 38:1–5

SignificanceScripture

Isaiah 1:1; Isaiah 37:36; 2 Kings 19:35; 2 Chronicles 26:22; Matthew 3:3

Roles

Prophet

In Scripture

Isaiah 1:1key

¹The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

KJV

Isaiah 6:1–13key

¹In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. ²Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. ³And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. ⁴And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. ⁵Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. ⁶Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: … (7 more)

KJV

2 Kings 19:1–37

¹And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. ²And he sent Eliakim, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. ³And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. ⁴It may be the Lord thy God will hear all the words of Rab–shakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the Lord thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left. ⁵So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. ⁶And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. … (31 more)

KJV

2 Kings 20:1–19

¹In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. ²Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, saying, ³I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. ⁴And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ⁵Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord. ⁶And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake. … (13 more)

KJV

2 Chronicles 26:22

²²Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, did Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, write.

KJV

2 Chronicles 32:20–32

²⁰And for this cause Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, prayed and cried to heaven. ²¹And the Lord sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword. ²²Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all other, and guided them on every side. ²³And many brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah: so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth. ²⁴In those days Hezekiah was sick to the death, and prayed unto the Lord: and he spake unto him, and he gave him a sign. ²⁵But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem. … (7 more)

KJV

Isaiah 7:1–17

¹And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it. ²And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind. ³Then said the Lord unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shear–jashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field; ⁴And say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah. ⁵Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, saying, ⁶Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal: … (11 more)

KJV

Isaiah 38:1–22

¹In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live. ²Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, ³And said, Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. ⁴Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying, ⁵Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years. ⁶And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city. … (16 more)

KJV

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