Isaiah, the prophet who spoke to Judah's kings and people

Isaiah was a prophet who brought God's messages to Judah and Jerusalem. His father was Amoz. The opening of Isaiah places his visions in the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. He warned of the nation's sin and also announced God's promises of restoration.

Isaiah rebuked people who offered many sacrifices and prayers while harming others. He called them to stop doing evil and defend the oppressed, orphans and widows. A song about a carefully tended vineyard producing wild grapes described Israel and Judah's failure. He also condemned those who accumulated houses and land, devoted themselves to drunken feasts, or called evil good.

In the year Uzziah died, Isaiah saw God on a high throne in the temple. Heavenly beings called seraphim had six wings: two covered their faces, two covered their feet and two were used to fly. As they proclaimed God's holiness, the thresholds shook and smoke filled the temple. Isaiah confessed that his lips and those of his people were unclean. A seraph touched his mouth with a coal from the altar and said his guilt was removed.

When God asked whom to send, Isaiah offered to go. He was to tell people who would hear without understanding and see without perceiving. Asked how long, God answered that cities, houses and the land would become desolate and people would be taken far away. Yet a holy seed would remain, like the stump of a felled tree.

During Ahaz's reign, Rezin of Aram and Pekah of northern Israel attacked Jerusalem. God told Isaiah to take his son Shear-Jashub and meet Ahaz at the end of the upper pool's conduit. Isaiah said the two kings' plan would fail and told Ahaz not to fear. The king needed to stand firm in trusting God.

Ahaz refused the invitation to ask God for a sign. Isaiah said God would give one: a virgin would bear a son called Immanuel. Before the child could reject evil and choose good, the lands of the two kings would be abandoned. Isaiah also warned of disaster from Assyria. The account in 2 Kings records that Ahaz sought the Assyrian king's help.

God instructed Isaiah to write Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz on a large tablet, with Uriah the priest and Zechariah appearing as witnesses. Isaiah's wife, described as a prophetess, bore a son whom God told him to give the same name. Before the child could call father or mother, the wealth of Damascus and Samaria would be carried away to Assyria. Isaiah said he and his children were signs to Israel.

Isaiah instructed that the testimony and teaching be preserved among his disciples. He said he would wait for God even while God hid his face. When people suggested consulting mediums or the dead, he taught that they should inquire of their own God. His recorded work includes teaching disciples and the people as well as speaking to kings.

Isaiah warned Judah and neighboring nations of judgment but also promised restoration. Assyria would be judged for its pride, and a remnant would return to God. He described a ruler from the family of Jesse, David's father, who would judge fairly for the poor. Images of a wolf living with a lamb portrayed a peaceful world.

In the year Sargon's Assyrian forces captured Ashdod, God told Isaiah to remove his sackcloth and sandals. He went stripped and barefoot for three years. This was a sign of the humiliation awaiting captives from Egypt and Cush. It warned against relying on those countries for escape from Assyria.

Isaiah also confronted Shebna, a palace official. He rebuked Shebna for carving a grand tomb for himself and announced his removal from office. Eliakim son of Hilkiah would receive his robe, sash and authority, including the key of David's house. Isaiah's warnings addressed powerful people inside Jerusalem as well as foreign armies.

Isaiah warned against seeking Egypt's protection without asking God. Egypt's horses and chariots might look strong, but its people were not God. He said strength came through returning to God and quiet trust. The people instead wanted to flee on swift horses.

In Hezekiah's fourteenth year, Sennacherib of Assyria captured cities in Judah and threatened Jerusalem. Hezekiah sent officials and senior priests to ask Isaiah for prayer. Isaiah told the king not to fear the Assyrian insults. He said Sennacherib would hear a report, return to his own land and die there.

When Sennacherib sent another threat in a letter, Hezekiah spread it out in the temple and prayed. Isaiah sent word that God had heard him and that the Assyrian king would not enter or attack Jerusalem. God's messenger struck one hundred eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. Sennacherib returned to Nineveh and was later killed by his sons in his own temple.

Isaiah also records Hezekiah's life-threatening illness. Isaiah told the king to prepare for death, and Hezekiah wept and prayed. God then told Isaiah that he had heard the prayer, seen the tears and would add fifteen years to the king's life. Isaiah instructed that a fig poultice be applied to the boil. A sign was also given as the shadow moved backward.

After hearing of Hezekiah's recovery, the king of Babylon sent a letter and gifts. Hezekiah showed the envoys his treasury and armory. Isaiah asked what they had seen, then warned that the palace's wealth would one day be carried to Babylon and some of the king's descendants would be taken to serve there. Hezekiah accepted the message, observing that there would be peace in his own days.

Chronicles says Isaiah recorded Uzziah's acts and names Isaiah's vision among the records concerning Hezekiah. It does not explain exactly how those records correspond to the present book of Isaiah. Isaiah is therefore introduced as someone who left records as well as delivering messages.

Scripture gives little detail about Isaiah's childhood or royal connections and does not record when or how he died. His last narrated conversation with a king concerns the future Babylonian exile. The later prophecies cannot all be arranged as events in his final days. The recorded life shows a prophet serving across several reigns through messages, family signs, public actions and written records.