Use this page as a lookup table while you read. Most entries point to the chapter where the name or image is explained in depth. The site search is also a good way to find every place a word appears.
People
Ahaz. King of Judah (c. 735–715 BC). He refused Isaiah’s offer of a sign and trusted Assyria instead of the Lord. → Isaiah 7
Cyrus. Persian king who conquered Babylon in 539 BC and let the Jews return. Isaiah names him as the Lord’s “shepherd” and “anointed,” making him a type of the Deliverer. → Isaiah 44, Isaiah 45
Eliakim and Shebna. Palace officials under Hezekiah. Proud Shebna is replaced by faithful Eliakim, who receives “the key of the house of David.” → Isaiah 22
Hezekiah. Righteous king of Judah (c. 715–686 BC), Isaiah’s friend, delivered from Assyria and healed of a mortal illness. → Isaiah 36–39
Immanuel. “God with us.” The sign-child of Isaiah 7:14, fulfilled in Jesus Christ. → Isaiah 7
Isaiah. “Jehovah is salvation.” Son of Amoz, prophet in Jerusalem c. 740–700 BC. His wife is called “the prophetess”; his sons are Shear-jashub and Maher-shalal-hash-baz. → Isaiah 1, Isaiah 8
Lucifer. “Shining one” or “day star.” A taunt against the king of Babylon that Latter-day Saints, with most Christians, also read as describing Satan’s fall. → Isaiah 14
Maher-shalal-hash-baz. “Quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil,” the name of Isaiah’s second son, a living prophecy that Assyria would soon plunder Damascus and Samaria. → Isaiah 8
Merodach-baladan. Babylonian king whose envoys Hezekiah foolishly showed his treasures. → Isaiah 39
Rabshakeh. The Assyrian field commander who taunted Jerusalem from outside its walls. The word is a title, “chief cupbearer,” not a name. → Isaiah 36
Rezin and Pekah (“the son of Remaliah”). Kings of Syria and Israel who attacked Judah around 735 BC. Isaiah calls them “two tails of these smoking firebrands.” → Isaiah 7
Sennacherib. King of Assyria (705–681 BC), who invaded Judah in 701 BC. → Isaiah 36–37
The Servant. Sometimes Israel as a nation, but in the four Servant Songs an individual who redeems Israel, fulfilled in Jesus Christ. → Isaiah’s Witness of Christ
Shear-jashub. “A remnant shall return,” the name of Isaiah’s first son. → Isaiah 7
Uzziah. King of Judah who died about 740 BC, the year of Isaiah’s temple vision. → Isaiah 6
Places and peoples
Ariel. “Lion of God,” or possibly “altar hearth.” A poetic name for Jerusalem. → Isaiah 29
Assyria. The Mesopotamian empire (capital Nineveh) that destroyed the northern kingdom in 722 BC and invaded Judah in 701 BC. The Lord’s “rod” of discipline, later judged for its arrogance. → Isaiah 10
Babylon. Historically, the empire that destroyed Jerusalem in 587 BC. Symbolically, the proud, wicked world in any age (D&C 1:16; D&C 133:14). → Isaiah 13–14, Isaiah 47
Bashan. Fertile highlands east of the Sea of Galilee, famous for great oaks and fat cattle, and a symbol of pride and strength. → Isaiah 2
Bozrah. A chief city of Edom, and the place the Lord comes from in red garments. → Isaiah 63
Daughter of Zion. A poetic personification of Jerusalem and its people. → Isaiah 1, Isaiah 52
Edom / Idumea. Esau’s descendants, south of the Dead Sea. In Isaiah and the D&C, a symbol of the world under judgment (D&C 1:36). → Isaiah 34, Isaiah 63
Egypt. The great power on the Nile, which Judah was always tempted to trust for military help. → Isaiah 19, Isaiah 30–31
Ephraim. The leading tribe of the northern kingdom, and so a name for that kingdom as a whole. In the latter days, Ephraim has a leading role in the gathering (D&C 133:32–34). → Isaiah 7, Isaiah 28
Jacob / Israel. Names for the whole covenant people, descended from the patriarch Jacob, whom God renamed Israel. → Isaiah 40–49
Lebanon. The mountain range north of Israel, famous for towering cedars, and a symbol of pride and grandeur. → Isaiah 2, Isaiah 10
Moab. A kingdom east of the Dead Sea, descended from Lot. → Isaiah 15–16
Sharon and Carmel. Lush coastal plain and forested mountain, and symbols of fertility and beauty. → Isaiah 35
Sodom and Gomorrah. The cities destroyed in Abraham’s day, a byword for wickedness and for total destruction. → Isaiah 1
Tarshish. A distant port, probably in the western Mediterranean. “Ships of Tarshish” are great merchant ships, symbols of trade and wealth. → Isaiah 2, Isaiah 23, Isaiah 60
Tyre. A wealthy Phoenician port city, and a symbol of commercial pride. → Isaiah 23
Zion. Originally the hill of Jerusalem where the temple stood; then Jerusalem itself; and ultimately the Lord’s pure people and the place they gather (Moses 7:18; D&C 97:21). → Isaiah 2, Isaiah 52, Isaiah 60
Images and symbols
Arm of the Lord. His power in action, especially to save. “The LORD hath made bare his holy arm” (Isa. 52:10). → Isaiah 53
Blind and deaf. Spiritual insensitivity: people who see but do not perceive. → Isaiah 6, Isaiah 42
Branch. A shoot from a stump, a messianic title for the Davidic King. → Isaiah 4, Isaiah 11
Burden. Hebrew massaʾ, a prophetic oracle, often of judgment, “lifted up” against a nation. → Isaiah 13
Cup of trembling / cup of fury. The Lord’s judgment pictured as a drink that makes the drinker stagger. → Isaiah 51
Drunkenness. Spiritual stupor, as well as literal debauchery. → Isaiah 28–29
Ensign. A banner on a hill that signals where to gather. In the latter days, the restored gospel and the Church (D&C 45:9; D&C 64:42). → Isaiah 5, Isaiah 11
Garments. Salvation, righteousness, and holiness put on like clothing. → Isaiah 52, Isaiah 61
Highway. A raised road through the wilderness for the returning exiles, and the path of holiness home to God. → Isaiah 35, Isaiah 40
Hand stretched out still. A refrain of continuing judgment: “his hand is stretched out still.” Read in context, it also holds out mercy to all who will turn (2 Ne. 28:32; Jacob 6:4). → Isaiah 9
Mountain. The temple, the place where heaven and earth meet. → Isaiah 2, Isaiah 25
Remnant. The survivors of judgment, from whom the Lord rebuilds His people. → Isaiah 1, Isaiah 10
Rock. The Lord as a sure foundation and refuge. → Isaiah 26, Isaiah 28
Stakes and cords. The pegs and ropes of a tent, and the source of the Church’s term “stake.” → Isaiah 33, Isaiah 54
Stone of stumbling. The Lord Himself is a sanctuary to those who trust Him and a stumbling block to those who don’t. → Isaiah 8
Tall trees (cedars, oaks). Proud people and nations who will be felled. → Isaiah 2, Isaiah 10
“That day.” The day of the Lord, a time of judgment and deliverance, often in the last days. → Isaiah 2, Isaiah 4
Vineyard. Israel, planted and tended by the Lord. Compare Zenos’s allegory of the olive tree in Jacob 5. → Isaiah 5, Isaiah 27
Water in the desert. Renewal, the Spirit, and the Lord’s provision. → Isaiah 35, Isaiah 41, Isaiah 44, Isaiah 55
Watchmen. Prophets and leaders who warn the people. → Isaiah 21, Isaiah 52, Isaiah 56, Isaiah 62
Winepress. Treading grapes, a picture of judgment and of the Savior’s atoning suffering. → Isaiah 63
Wings / eagle. Renewed strength that comes from waiting on the Lord. → Isaiah 40
Sources & further reading
- “Isaiah”, Bible Dictionary.
- Enrichment E: Understanding Isaiah, Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (Church Educational System, 2003).
- Donald W. Parry, Jay A. Parry, and Tina M. Peterson, Understanding Isaiah, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1998.
- Victor L. Ludlow, Isaiah: Prophet, Seer, and Poet, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1982.
- Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.