The
Book of Isaiah (, ) is the first of the
Latter Prophets in the
Hebrew Bible and the first of the
Major Prophets in
English Bibles. The book is identified by a superscription as the works 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.
Bernhard Duhm originated the view, held as a consensus through most of the 20th century, that the book comprises 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 attributes the entire book, or even most of it, to one person, the book's essential unity has become a focus in current research. Isaiah 1–33 promises judgment and restoration for Judah, Jerusalem and the nations, and chapters 34–66 presume that judgment has been pronounced and restoration follows soon. It can thus be read as an extended meditation on the destiny of Jerusalem into and after the Exile.
