About the class
This course deliberately moves slowly. We usually spend an entire evening inside a single chapter so that the language, poetry, history, wordplay, theology, and competing interpretations have room to breathe. For four weeks we will also align our close reading with the current Come, Follow Me Isaiah blocks.
What we will do
We will learn to read Isaiah more closely by bringing together the Hebrew text, Isaiah's literary methods, the political world of Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt, medieval Jewish commentary such as Rashi, modern scholarship, and teachings from modern prophets.
No knowledge of Hebrew is required. Each class introduces 4–10 Hebrew focus words. We use Hebrew to deepen our insight, understanding, and knowledge of Isaiah—not simply to recover definitions that may be blurred in translation. By looking closely at Isaiah's Hebrew, we can hear wordplays and onomatopoeia, see imagery more clearly, and appreciate poetic structures and verbal connections that are difficult or impossible to reproduce fully in English.
Bring each week
- A notebook
- A pen
- A phone, tablet, or computer
- The Blue Letter Bible app or website
The in-person location is provided directly to class members. The Zoom meeting link above includes the meeting passcode for one-click joining. Class sessions will be recorded and posted on the Searching Isaiah YouTube channel.
Register for the Isaiah class
Thursdays at 7:00 PM. Register once so the instructor can send class announcements, Zoom information, slides, recordings, and other course materials.
Join the class
There is one Thursday class. Your attendance preference simply helps us know whether you usually plan to attend in person, by Zoom, or either way.
- Your contact information is not displayed on this website.
- Email is required so class information can reach you.
- Mobile phone is optional.
A first taste of Isaiah's language
The course begins by learning to notice what translation can flatten.
חזה — ḥāzâ can carry the sense of visionary seeing, while ראה — rāʾâ is the ordinary and broader verb “to see.” These distinctions are not tricks or secret meanings; they are invitations to read the text more closely.
The world behind Isaiah
The first class establishes the political world before we tackle individual chapters. The diagram is schematic rather than geographic: it shows the pressures that shape Isaiah's eighth-century setting.
Assyria
The dominant imperial power in Isaiah's immediate world. Its expansion destabilizes Syria-Palestine and eventually destroys the northern kingdom.
Israel / Ephraim
Northern kingdom. Allied with Aram-Damascus against Judah during the Syro-Ephraimite crisis; Samaria falls in 722/721 BC.
Judah / Jerusalem
Isaiah's home kingdom. Ahaz and later Hezekiah must decide where to place political and covenant trust.
Egypt
A tempting counterweight to Assyria. Isaiah repeatedly warns Judah against treating Egyptian power as a substitute for trust in the Lord.
Babylon is not the principal immediate threat in the early historical setting of Isaiah 1–12. After Assyria declines, Babylon becomes the power associated with Jerusalem's destruction in 586 BC.
Historical backbone
Keep these dates in view as the chapters unfold.
Judah lives in the shadow of rapidly expanding Assyrian power.
Aram-Damascus and the northern kingdom of Israel pressure Judah. This is essential background for Isaiah 7–8.
The northern kingdom of Israel is conquered by Assyria.
Assyria captures major Judean cities, including Lachish, and threatens Jerusalem.
Assyrian dominance collapses; Babylon rises as the new imperial power.
The city and temple are destroyed and many Judeans are exiled.
Fall 2026 calendar
Fourteen teaching sessions. From September 24 through October 15 we follow the 2026 Come, Follow Me Isaiah blocks, one chapter per week; then we return to the earlier Isaiah 1–12 sequence in a compressed schedule. There is no class on Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve.
| Date | Passage | Primary focus |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 10 | Introduction | Isaiah's literary styles, poetry, wordplay, Hebrew word construction; Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt |
| Sep 17 | Isaiah 6 | Throne theophany, holiness, unclean lips, atonement, prophetic commission |
| Sep 24 | Isaiah 13 | Come, Follow Me: Babylon, Day of the Lord, shōd/Shaddai sound-play, pride and reversal |
| Oct 1 | Isaiah 49 | Come, Follow Me: servant and Israel, light to nations, forgotten/not forgotten, engraved palms |
| Oct 8 | Isaiah 54 | Come, Follow Me: barren/restored Zion, shetzef–qetzef, ḥesed ʿolam, covenant of shalom |
| Oct 15 | Isaiah 64 | Come, Follow Me: divine presence, impurity/righteousness, clay and potter |
| Oct 22 | Isaiah 1 | One lesson: covenant lawsuit, worship and justice, purification, faithful city |
| Oct 29 | Isaiah 2 | Mountain of the Lord, Torah, peace, pride and divine exaltation |
| Nov 5 | Isaiah 5 | One lesson: vineyard wordplays, woes, moral inversions, judgment |
| Nov 12 | Isaiah 7–8 | One lesson: Ahaz, ʾaman wordplay, Immanuel, prophetic signs, sanctuary/stumbling stone |
| Nov 19 | Isaiah 9 | Light in darkness, promised child, royal titles, kingship |
| Nov 26 | No class | Thanksgiving |
| Dec 3 | Isaiah 10 | Assyria as instrument, human pride, judgment, the remnant |
| Dec 10 | Isaiah 11 | Shoot from Jesse, Spirit of the Lord, peaceful kingdom, gathering |
| Dec 17 | Isaiah 12 | Salvation, water, praise, conclusion of Isaiah 1–12 sequence |
| Dec 24 | No class | Christmas Eve |
Weekly study guides
Each lesson has its own page. The four September 24–October 15 lessons track the current Come, Follow Me Isaiah readings; after that, the class resumes the earlier chapter-by-chapter plan.
Study resources
Tools for close reading—not substitutes for reading the text itself.
Blue Letter Bible
Blue Letter Bible combines the biblical text with interlinear Hebrew/Greek tools, Strong's-number indexing, lexicons, parsing information, concordance searches, cross-references, dictionaries, and commentaries.
Suggested workflow: English verse → Interlinear → Hebrew word → transliteration → lexicon → occurrences elsewhere.
Rashi on Sefaria
Rashi's medieval Jewish commentary often preserves readings that differ substantially from modern Christian assumptions. Those differences force us back into Isaiah's wording and context.
Class recordings — Searching Isaiah
Class sessions will be recorded and posted on YouTube so you can review a lesson or catch up if you miss a week.
Weekly preparation pattern
- Read the assigned passage at least twice. First follow the argument; then mark repetitions, contrasts, images, and questions.
- Study the 4–10 Hebrew focus words. Use BLB to find at least one other interesting occurrence of two words.
- Read Rashi. Ask where his reading differs from your first reading and why.
- Read the assigned Church resource when one is listed.
- Bring two observations, one question, and one scriptural connection.