Isaiah

Isaiah son of Amoz prophesied in Jerusalem in the second half of the 8th century BCE, under kings Uzziah to Hezekiah. The book named after him is long and composite: most scholars attribute chapters 1–39 largely to the prophet and his circle, and chapters 40–66 to later writers during and after the Babylonian exile.

Several passages feature on this site. In Isaiah 6, dated to the year King Uzziah died, he sees God enthroned in the Temple with six-winged seraphim, one of whom touches his lips with a live coal. Isaiah 14 is a taunt song against the king of Babylon that shifts into cosmic language about the fall of Helel, son of the dawn, translated "Lucifer" in the Latin Bible; its link with Satan comes from later Christian reading. Isaiah 14:9 and 26:14 use the word Rephaim for the shades of the dead.

The Great Isaiah Scroll from Qumran Cave 1, now in the Israel Museum, is an almost complete copy of the book about a thousand years older than the previous oldest Hebrew manuscripts.