Nephi said that one reason he could understand Isaiah was that he knew “the regions round about” (2 Ne. 25:6). He had grown up in Jerusalem. He knew why Egypt was tempting, why Assyria was terrifying, and why Babylon was a byword. This guide tries to give you some of what Nephi knew.
The big picture in one paragraph
Isaiah lived in Jerusalem, capital of the small kingdom of Judah, in the second half of the 700s BC. To the north was the larger kingdom of Israel, often called Ephraim after its leading tribe, with its capital at Samaria. Both kingdoms were squeezed between two great powers: Egypt to the southwest and Assyria to the northeast. During Isaiah’s ministry, Assyria conquered Israel and scattered the ten tribes (722 BC), then invaded Judah and besieged Jerusalem (701 BC). The Lord delivered Jerusalem that time. But Isaiah also foresaw a later empire, Babylon, which would destroy Jerusalem and carry Judah into exile (587 BC), and a Persian king, Cyrus, who would let the exiles go home (538 BC).
A map of Isaiah’s world
Timeline
All dates are approximate. Scholars differ by a few years on many of them, especially the reigns of kings.
| Date (BC) | Event | Where in Isaiah |
|---|---|---|
| c. 740 | King Uzziah dies; Isaiah sees the Lord in the temple | Isa. 6 |
| 745–727 | Tiglath-pileser III makes Assyria an empire | Isa. 7:17–20 |
| 735–732 | Syro-Ephraimite war: Syria and Israel attack Judah to force it into an anti-Assyrian alliance; Ahaz appeals to Assyria | Isa. 7–8; 2 Kgs. 16 |
| 732 | Assyria conquers Damascus | Isa. 17 |
| 722–721 | Samaria falls; the ten tribes are deported | Isa. 9:8–10:4; 2 Kgs. 17 |
| c. 715 | Hezekiah begins his reforms | 2 Kgs. 18:1–7 |
| 711 | Assyria crushes a revolt at Ashdod; Isaiah walks barefoot as a sign | Isa. 20 |
| c. 703 | Envoys from Merodach-baladan of Babylon visit Hezekiah | Isa. 39 |
| 701 | Sennacherib invades Judah, takes Lachish, and besieges Jerusalem; the Lord delivers the city | Isa. 36–37 |
| c. 686 | Manasseh becomes king; by tradition Isaiah is martyred | Heb. 11:37 |
| 612 | Nineveh falls to the Babylonians and Medes | Nahum 1–3 |
| 600 | Lehi leaves Jerusalem with the brass plates, which contain Isaiah | 1 Ne. 5:10–13 |
| 587–586 | Babylon destroys Jerusalem and the temple; the Jews go into exile | Isa. 39:6–7; 2 Kgs. 25 |
| 539 | Cyrus of Persia takes Babylon | Isa. 13; Isa. 45:1–4; Isa. 47 |
| 538 | Cyrus lets the Jews return and rebuild | Isa. 44:28; Ezra 1:1–4 |
| 515 | The second temple is dedicated | Ezra 6:15–16 |
The kings on the thrones
Judah (the southern kingdom, capital Jerusalem):
- Uzziah / Azariah (c. 792–740). Long, prosperous reign; struck with leprosy for usurping priestly duties (2 Chr. 26).
- Jotham (c. 750–732). A mostly good king (2 Kgs. 15:32–38).
- Ahaz (c. 735–715). Faithless and idolatrous. Refused Isaiah’s sign and made Judah an Assyrian vassal (Isa. 7; 2 Kgs. 16).
- Hezekiah (c. 715–686). Reformer. Trusted the Lord in the Assyrian crisis; Isaiah’s friend and counselor (Isa. 36–39).
- Manasseh (c. 686–642). Undid his father’s reforms. Tradition holds that Isaiah was killed in his reign (2 Kgs. 21:1–16).
Israel (the northern kingdom, capital Samaria): In Isaiah’s day it went through six kings in about 25 years, most of them assassinated. The ones who appear in Isaiah are Pekah, “the son of Remaliah” (Isa. 7:1–9), and, by implication, Hoshea, the last king.
Assyria: Tiglath-pileser III (745–727), Shalmaneser V (727–722), Sargon II (722–705; named in Isa. 20:1), Sennacherib (705–681; Isa. 36–37), Esarhaddon (681–669; Isa. 37:38).
Babylon: Merodach-baladan (a Chaldean rebel against Assyria; Isa. 39:1), and a century later Nebuchadnezzar, who destroyed Jerusalem.
Persia: Cyrus the Great (559–530), named by Isaiah about 150 years before his birth (Isa. 44:28; Isa. 45:1).
Who’s who among the nations
| Name in Isaiah | Who they were | Why they matter |
|---|---|---|
| Ephraim, Israel, Samaria | The northern kingdom (ten tribes) | Isaiah’s own brothers in the covenant, destroyed by Assyria in 722 BC |
| Syria, Aram, Damascus | Aramean kingdom north of Israel; king Rezin | Allied with Ephraim against Judah (Isa. 7) |
| Assyria, Asshur | The superpower, capital Nineveh | The Lord’s “rod” of discipline (Isa. 10:5), then judged for its pride |
| Babylon, Chaldeans | Mesopotamian power that succeeded Assyria | Destroyed Jerusalem; becomes the symbol of the proud world |
| Egypt | Ancient power on the Nile, ruled by Cushite pharaohs in Isaiah’s day | The tempting but useless ally (Isa. 30:1–7; Isa. 31:1) |
| Cush, Ethiopia | Kingdom south of Egypt (modern Sudan) | Its king Tirhakah marched against Sennacherib (Isa. 37:9) |
| Philistia, Palestina | Coastal cities (Gaza, Ashdod, and others) | Old enemies of Israel (Isa. 14:29–32) |
| Moab | East of the Dead Sea | Proud neighbor; Isaiah weeps over its fall (Isa. 15–16) |
| Edom, Idumea, Seir, Bozrah | South of the Dead Sea; descendants of Esau | A symbol of the world under judgment (Isa. 34; Isa. 63:1; D&C 1:36) |
| Tyre and Sidon | Phoenician port cities | Wealthy traders, a picture of commercial pride (Isa. 23) |
| Tarshish | A distant port, probably in the far west Mediterranean | “Ships of Tarshish” are the great ocean-going merchant ships |
| Media, Elam | Peoples east of Mesopotamia | Joined in Babylon’s overthrow (Isa. 13:17; Isa. 21:2) |
| Persia | Empire of Cyrus | Liberated the Jewish exiles |
Everyday things Isaiah assumes you know
- Vineyards. Hillside plots cleared of stones, terraced, walled, and guarded from a watchtower, with a winepress cut into the rock (Isa. 5:1–2). Isaiah’s audience knew exactly how much work a vineyard was.
- Threshing floors. Flat, windy places where grain was beaten and tossed into the air so the chaff blew away (Isa. 41:15–16).
- City gates. Where elders sat to judge cases. Justice in the gate was the measure of a city (Isa. 29:21; Amos 5:15).
- Watchmen. Men on walls or towers who watched for enemies or messengers (Isa. 21:6–12; Isa. 52:8; Isa. 62:6).
- Cisterns and pools. Jerusalem’s water supply was a matter of life and death in a siege. Hezekiah carved a tunnel through bedrock to bring water inside the city walls (2 Kgs. 20:20), and an inscription carved by the workmen still survives.
- High places and groves. Local shrines on hilltops, often with a sacred pole or tree, where Israelites mixed the worship of Jehovah with fertility gods.
- Ensigns. Banners or poles raised on a hill so scattered people could see where to gather (Isa. 5:26; Isa. 11:12; Isa. 18:3).
Archaeology that illuminates Isaiah
- Sennacherib’s Prism records the Assyrian king’s version of the 701 BC campaign. He boasts of taking forty-six walled cities of Judah and shutting Hezekiah in Jerusalem “like a bird in a cage.” He does not claim to have taken Jerusalem, which fits Isa. 37:33–37.
- The Lachish reliefs in Sennacherib’s palace at Nineveh show the siege and capture of Lachish, the Judean fortress mentioned in Isa. 36:2.
- Hezekiah’s Tunnel and its Siloam Inscription preserve the water tunnel of 2 Kgs. 20:20.
- The Cyrus Cylinder records Cyrus’s policy of returning displaced peoples and restoring their sanctuaries, the policy that let the Jews go home.
- The Great Isaiah Scroll, found among the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, is a complete copy of Isaiah made in the second century BC. It is about a thousand years older than the previously oldest Hebrew manuscripts, and it is remarkably close to the text behind our Bible. You can page through it online at the Israel Museum’s Digital Dead Sea Scrolls site.
Sources & further reading
- Enrichment F: The World of Isaiah, Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).
- “Chronology”, Bible Dictionary.
- “Assyria and Babylonia”, Bible Dictionary.
- “Babylon or Babel”, Bible Dictionary.
- “Persia”, Bible Dictionary.
- “Hezekiah”, Bible Dictionary.
- “Ahaz”, Bible Dictionary.
- “Uzziah”, Bible Dictionary.
- Sennacherib’s Prism (the “Taylor Prism”), British Museum, London, museum no. 91032.
- The Cyrus Cylinder, British Museum, London, museum no. 90920.
- The Siloam Tunnel Inscription, Istanbul Archaeology Museums.
- Kent P. Jackson, ed., Studies in Scripture, Vol. 4: 1 Kings to Malachi, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1993.