Prophecy braids voices tighter than any other kind of scripture. In a single column Isaiah carries the LORD speaking as “I,” the prophet answering, the people quoted in their own complacency, a seraph chorus, unnamed heralds crying in the wilderness — and, through the second half of the book, a Servant who is presented, who speaks, who suffers, and whom a grieving “we” confesses they had misjudged. None of these are labeled. This edition colors the turns and gathers the four Servant Songs as its spine, because that is where the oldest arguments in the book are still unsettled: the Servant is named “Israel” and yet sent to Israel; the “we” of chapter 53 might be the nations, or the prophet's own people, or us. The flags fall where the casting is genuinely disputed — including 40:6, where the manuscripts themselves cannot agree whether it is the prophet who answers, “What shall I cry?”
Selected passagesA selection, not the complete book: passages drawn from across the sixty-six chapters where the voices turn, gathered around the four Servant Songs.
The Voices
The Song of the Vineyard · 5:1–7
The prophet starts a love-song on his friend's behalf — and lets it turn, mid-stanza, into the friend's own voice. The friend is the LORD, and the song is a trap.
The Prophet· the prophet sings· Isaiah 5:1–2
1Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. 2He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in its midst, and also cut out a wine press therein. He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.
The LORD· the owner answers· Isaiah 5:3–6
3“Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard. 4What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes? 5Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up. I will break down its wall of it, and it will be trampled down. 6I will lay it a wasteland. It won’t be pruned nor hoed, but it will grow briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.”
The Prophet· the prophet decodes· Isaiah 5:7
7For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.
The throne and the commission · 6:1–13
The one place the prophet tells his own call — narrated by him, sung by the seraphim, sealed by a coal, and spoken by the LORD.
The Prophet· Isaiah 6:1–2
1In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. 2Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew.
The Seraphim· Isaiah 6:3
3One called to another, and said, “Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!”
The Prophet· Isaiah 6:4–5
4The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5Then I said, “Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!”
The Seraphim· the coal· Isaiah 6:6–7
6Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. 7He touched my mouth with it, and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven.”
The Prophet· the call and the answer· Isaiah 6:8
8I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am. Send me!”
The LORD· the hard commission· Isaiah 6:9–13
9He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘You hear indeed, but don’t understand; and you see indeed, but don’t perceive.’ 10Make the heart of this people fat. Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.” 11Then I said, “Lord, how long?” He answered, “Until cities are waste without inhabitant, and houses without man, and the land becomes utterly waste, 12And Yahweh has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. 13If there is a tenth left in it, that also will in turn be consumed: as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remains when they are felled; so the holy seed is its stock.”
Comfort, and the voices that cry · 40:1–11
The second half of the book opens not with the prophet but with a council of unnamed voices — a command, a herald, and a seam where the text itself loses track of who answers.
The LORD· Isaiah 40:1–2
1“Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God. 2“Speak comfortably to Jerusalem; and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of Yahweh’s hand double for all her sins.”
The Heralds· a voice cries· Isaiah 40:3–5
3The voice of one who calls out, “Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God. 4Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain. 5Yahweh’s glory shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.”
The Heralds· a voice says, “Cry!”· Isaiah 40:6–8
6The voice of one saying, “Cry!” One said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field. 7The grass withers, the flower fades, because Yahweh’s breath blows on it. Surely the people are like grass. 8The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever.”
The Prophet· good news to Zion· Isaiah 40:9–11
9You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength. Lift it up. Don’t be afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold, your God!” 10Behold, the Lord Yahweh will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 11He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.
First Servant Song · 42:1–9
The LORD presents a servant to the listening world — first describing him, then turning to address him directly.
The LORD· “Behold, my servant”· Isaiah 42:1–4
1“Behold, my servant, whom I uphold; my chosen, in whom my soul delights— I have put my Spirit on him. He will bring justice to the nations. 2He will not shout, nor raise his voice, nor cause it to be heard in the street. 3He won’t break a bruised reed. He won’t quench a dimly burning wick. He will faithfully bring justice. 4He will not fail nor be discouraged, until he has set justice in the earth, and the islands will wait for his law.”
The LORD· the LORD addresses him· Isaiah 42:5–9
5Thus says God Yahweh, he who created the heavens and stretched them out, he who spread out the earth and that which comes out of it, he who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk in it. 6“I, Yahweh, have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and will keep you, and make you a covenant for the people, as a light for the nations; 7to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoners out of the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison. 8“I am Yahweh. That is my name. I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to engraved images. 9Behold, the former things have happened, and I declare new things. I tell you about them before they come up.”
Second Servant Song · 49:1–7
Now the Servant speaks for himself — and says something that has never stopped puzzling readers.
The Servant· the Servant speaks· Isaiah 49:1–4
1Listen, islands, to me; and listen, you peoples, from far: Yahweh has called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother has he made mention of my name: 2and he has made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand, he has hidden me: and he has made me a polished shaft; in his quiver has he kept me close: 3and he said to me, “You are my servant; Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” 4But I said, “I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely the justice due to me is with Yahweh, and my reward with my God.”
The LORD· the LORD answers him· Isaiah 49:5–7
5Now says Yahweh who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, and that Israel be gathered to him (for I am honorable in the eyes of Yahweh, and my God has become my strength); 6yes, he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give you for a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.” 7Thus says Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall worship; because of Yahweh who is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
Third Servant Song · 50:4–11
The Servant again, in his own voice — now under blows, and unbroken.
The Servant· the Servant's resolve· Isaiah 50:4–9
4The Lord Yahweh has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him who is weary: he wakens morning by morning, he wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. 5The Lord Yahweh has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away backward. 6I gave my back to the strikers, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair; I didn’t hide my face from shame and spitting. 7For the Lord Yahweh will help me; therefore I have not been confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be disappointed. 8He is near who justifies me; who will bring charges against me? Let us stand up together: who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. 9Behold, the Lord Yahweh will help me; who is he who shall condemn me? Behold, all they shall wax old as a garment, the moth shall eat them up.
The Prophet· the call to heed him· Isaiah 50:10–11
10Who is among you who fears Yahweh, who obeys the voice of his servant? He who walks in darkness, and has no light, let him trust in Yahweh’s name, and rely on his God. 11Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who adorn yourselves with torches around yourselves; walk in the flame of your fire, and among the brands that you have kindled. You shall have this of my hand; you shall lie down in sorrow.
Fourth Servant Song · 52:13–53:12
The book's summit, and its sharpest piece of casting. The LORD frames it at both ends; in the long middle a grieving “we” confesses they had read the Servant wrong — and most readers never notice the speaker has changed.
The LORD· the LORD: “my servant”· Isaiah 52:13–15
13Behold, my servant shall deal wisely, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. 14Like as many were astonished at you (his appearance was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men), 15so shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they understand.
The People· the “we” begins· Isaiah 53:1–3
1Who has believed our message? To whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed? 2For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no good looks or majesty. When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3He was despised, and rejected by men; a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t respect him.
The People· the confession· Isaiah 53:4–6
4Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted. 5But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed. 6All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
The People· the silent lamb· Isaiah 53:7–9
7He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is mute, so he didn’t open his mouth. 8He was taken away by oppression and judgment; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living and stricken for the disobedience of my people? 9They made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
The LORD· the LORD vindicates him· Isaiah 53:10–12
10Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of Yahweh shall prosper in his hand. 11After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light and be satisfied. My righteous servant will justify many by the knowledge of himself; and he will bear their iniquities. 12Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the plunder with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
The Spirit-anointed herald · 61:1–4
An “I” steps forward, anointed and sent — the lines Jesus would one day read in a synagogue and close the scroll upon.
The Servant· “The Spirit of the Lord is on me”· Isaiah 61:1–4
1The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is on me; because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to those who are bound; 2to proclaim the year of Yahweh’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3to appoint to those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh, that he may be glorified. 4They shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.
The warrior from Edom · 63:1–6
A watchman's startled question at the gate, and the answer of a figure coming back from battle with his garments stained.
The People· the watchman asks· Isaiah 63:1–2
1Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this who is glorious in his clothing, marching in the greatness of his strength? “It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” 2Why are you red in your clothing, and your garments like him who treads in the wine vat?
The LORD· the LORD answers· Isaiah 63:3–6
3“I have trodden the wine press alone; and of the peoples there was no man with me: yes, I trod them in my anger, and trampled them in my wrath; and their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments, and I have stained all my clothing. 4For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redeemed has come. 5I looked, and there was no one to help; and I wondered that there was no one to uphold: therefore my own arm brought salvation to me; and my wrath, it upheld me. 6I trod down the peoples in my anger, and made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”
Scripture: World English Bible · Public Domain · Wroot Press