Isaiah

Isaiah (יְשַׁעְיָהוּ Heb: Jessaiahu "Salvation of/is the Lord" or "Yahweh Saves") was the son of Amoz, and commonly considered the author of the Book of Isaiah.

The Book of Isaiah is a book of the Hebrew Bible as well as the Christian Old Testament, containing prophecies attributed to Isaiah. This book is often seen by scholars as being divided into at least two sections. The first section, consisting of chapters 1-39, is generally accepted as being written by the prophet Isaiah of Jerusalem, or by his followers who took down his words.

Isaiah prophesied during the reigns of four kings -- Uzziah (Azariah), Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Legend has it that he was martyred during the reign of Manasseh, who came to the throne in 687 BCE. That he is described as having ready access to the kings would suggest an aristocratic origin.

This was the time of the divided kingdom, with Israel in the north and Judah in the south. There was prosperity for both kingdoms during Isaiah’s youth with little foreign interference. Jeroboam II ruled in the north and Uzziah in the south. The small kingdoms of Palestine, as well as Syria, were under the influence of Egypt. However, in 745 BCE, Tiglath-Pileser III came to the throne of Assyria.

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The Prophets

In religion, a prophet is a person who has directly encountered God, of whose intentions he can then speak. Those who are not prophets must then commit themselves to the divinely inspired word as an act of faith. This can be problematic, especially as there are false prophets. When the prophet is held to be genuine, new religions may be adopted, based on the prophet's teachings, and on their interpretation.

A prophet often operates through some means of divination or channeling. The process of receiving a message from God (or the gods) is known either as prophecy or as revelation. (In this sense, the terms are synonyms.)

The Prophets

Books of the Old Testament referred to as "the prophets":

Former Prophets

• Joshua or Yehoshua [יהושע]
• Judges or Shoftim [שופטים]
• Samuel or Shmu'el [שמואל]
• Kings or Melakhim [מלכים]

Latter Prophets

• Isaiah or Yeshayahu [ישעיהו]
• Jeremiah or Yirmiyahu [ירמיהו]
• Lamentations [מגילת איכה]
• Ezekiel or Yehezq'el [יחזקאל]
• Daniel

Major Prophets

A major prophet is a book in the Major Prophets section of the Christian Old Testament in the Bible. The term "major prophet" is typically a Christian term as the Jewish Hebrew Bible does not group these books together and does not even include the deuterocanonical/apocryphal Book of Baruch. The closest analogous grouping in the Hebrew Bible is the "Prophets" or Nevi'im. The Christian major prophets in order of occurrence in the Christian Bible are:

• Isaiah
• Jeremiah
• Lamentations, also known as the Lamentations of Jeremiah
• Ezekiel
• Daniel (listed with the Ketuvim in the Hebrew Bible).

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