The Book of Isaiah

Isaiah was the son of Amoz and a prophet in Jerusalem for forty years, from 740 to 701 B.C. He had great religious and political influence during the reign of Hezekiah, whose chief adviser he was. Isaiah is the most quoted of all the prophets, being more frequently quoted by Jesus, Paul, Peter, and John than any other Old Testament prophet.

There are at least three reasons the book of Isaiah is of great importance to us. First, the Savior gave a commandment to search the words of Isaiah diligently (see 3 Nephi 23:1). Second, the scriptures quote Isaiah more than any other prophet. Nineteen of Isaiah’s sixty-six chapters are quoted in their entirety in the Book of Mormon and, except for two verses, two other chapters are completely quoted. Of the 1292 verses in Isaiah, about 430 are quoted in the Book of Mormon, some of them more than once (for a total of nearly 600). If all of the quotations from Isaiah in the Book of Mormon were moved into one place and called the book of Isaiah, it would constitute the fourth largest book in the Book of Mormon, as the following chart shows:

chart of Isaiah verses

Isaiah is also quoted 137 times in the New Testament and 106 times in the Doctrine and Covenants. Because other prophets so often quoted or referred to the book of Isaiah, the scriptures are often our best source for help in understanding Isaiah. For example, more than half of the Isaiah verses quoted in the Book of Mormon differ from the King James version of the Bible. These differences help clarify or give additional insight into the meaning of Isaiah.

The third reason Isaiah’s message is so important for us is that it centers on redemption through Jesus Christ, whom the prophet saw (see Isaiah 6:5; 2 Nephi 11:2). Nephi chose to quote Isaiah’s writings to “more fully persuade [his people] to believe in the Lord their Redeemer” (1 Nephi 19:23). Monte S. Nyman, a Latter-day Saint writer, noted, “Of the 425 separate verses of Isaiah which are quoted in the Book of Mormon, 391 say something about the attributes or mission of Jesus Christ” (Great Are the Words of Isaiah [1980], 7). One major function of a prophet is to testify of Christ (see Jacob 7:11), and it is of great importance for us to study the teachings of the prophets who spoke of Christ. Isaiah’s name, appropriately, means “Jehovah saves.”

For more information about the prophet Isaiah and the book of Isaiah, see Bible Dictionary, “Isaiah” (p. 707). For specific help in understanding the book of Isaiah, see enrichment section E in Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (pp. 131–35).

• Isaiah 1–12

• Isaiah 13–23

• Isaiah 24–35

• Isaiah 36–39

• Isaiah 40–47

• Isaiah 48–66