Hebrew Bible

The Book of Isaiah, one of the longest in the Hebrew Bible, records the messages delivered by its eponymous prophet, who served in Judah during the eighth century BCE, at the height of the Assyrian crisis. Isaiah is largely poetic, containing only a few narrative sections, which correlate strongly to parallel material from 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles.  Although the text of Isaiah bears no structural indications of internal divisions, there is a major transition in tone that marks the first part of the book (Chapters 1-39) from the second (Chapters 40-66). The first section carries overtones of warning and judgment, delivering oracles against Israel and other nations, while the second section is replete with assurances of G-d’s love and hope-filled prophecies of the future. Isaiah closes with a set of prophecies foreshadowing a coming age of restoration in which a new heaven and a new earth will be instituted and the presence of G-d will bring all things to their fulfillment of peace and joy.