Foreword

Orientation
I. Four Centuries of a Prophetic Heritage

The First Isaiah
II. God is High and Holy, and Isaiah is his Prophet
III. The Breakdown of Community
IV. Nations on the March
V. Renewal After Disaster?

[93] We have found no room yet in our picture of Isaiah for a figure who projects events 700 years into the future.

Part of our difficulty […]

Further, we vaguely assume that we are striding forward into the future but that the landscape is foggy and we [94] can't see ahead very well. The Israelite image, on the other hand, was that what is “ahead” of us in space is what has happened formerly, in the past; while what is “behind” us in space is what will happen hereafter, in the future. […] The mental picture, then, is that we are moving backwards into the future, as when we row a boat on a lake — we row backwards and thus see where we have been but see new trees and inlets only as we come abreast of them. This view of past and future seems thoroughly realistic, and it also emphasizes the twofold division of time about which we have been speaking: the past (what can be seen) and the future (what cannot yet be seen).

“Second Isaiah”
VI. A Return fro Exiles
VII. The Folly of Idols and th Call to Suffer

“Third Isaiah”
VIII. The Grandeur and Misery of those who Returned

Other “Isaiahs”
IX. Visions for a People Forgotten

Summation
X. Prophets for the Centuries

Further Readings
Notes
Index of Passages