Isaiah

Biblical material locates Isaiah as the son of Amoz (Hebrew tradition) and as a prophet active in Jerusalem during the reigns of Uzziah (Azariah), Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah; estimates place the start of his ministry in the 740s BCE with a ministry possibly lasting several decades. The Book of Isaiah is traditionally attributed to him, though modern scholarship (noted in the supplied sources) regards the book as possibly composite, containing later editorial layers spanning centuries. Rabbinic traditions recorded after the biblical texts add narrative details: an account of his prophetic call (responding to God's question “Whom shall I send?” with “Here am I; send me!”), descriptions of him as exceptionally forbearing and intercessory for Israel, genealogical speculations linking him into dynastic contexts, and a Talmudic tradition that he suffered martyrdom—said to have been sawn in two under Manasseh—though the Hebrew Bible itself does not specify his death.

The supplied sources do not provide a physical description of Isaiah; biblical and rabbinic texts referenced are silent about his stature, clothing, or other corporeal features. Where later iconography or artistic depictions exist outside the provided material, they are not documented in these sources and thus are not reported here.

Isaiah's role is prophetic: he receives and transmits divine messages, serves as an intermediary between Yahweh and the people/kingdom of Judah, urges repentance, pronounces divine judgment, and offers consolation and promises of restoration. He is depicted as an intercessor who pleads for Israel and as a counselor to kings (for example, advising Hezekiah during the Assyrian threat). The biblical narrative links his pronouncements with divine action in history (for instance, the account in 2 Kings/Isaiah of an angel of God striking down part of the Assyrian army after God's intervention), but the sources attribute the miraculous act to God/the biblical narrative rather than to Isaiah himself.