Isaiah 4

¹ Seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread, and wear our own clothing. Just let us be called by your name. Take away our reproach.”

² In that day, the LORD’s branch will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the beauty and glory of the survivors of Israel.

³ It will happen that he who is left in Zion and he who remains in Jerusalem shall be called holy, even everyone who is written among the living in Jerusalem,

⁴ when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from within it, by the spirit of justice and by the spirit of burning.

⁵ The LORD will create over the whole habitation of Mount Zion and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night, for over all the glory will be a canopy.

⁶ There will be a pavilion for a shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a refuge and for a shelter from storm and from rain.

Around Isaiah 4

Context

Context for this book is being written. A note appears here only once it names its sources.

AI explanation

About Isaiah as a whole · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this book is about

It begins with a vision. In the year that King Uzziah died, the prophet sees the Lord on a throne, high and lifted up, and voices call, “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of Armies!” Then comes a call for someone to go, and the answer, “Here I am. Send me!”

What he is sent to say is hard and then tender. To Judah and Jerusalem, the first part of the book (chapters 1 to 39) warns of the consequences of injustice and false trust, and it promises a child who will rule on David’s throne. The second part (40 to 55) opens with “Comfort, comfort my people” and speaks to a people in exile, and it tells of a servant who suffers for others. The last part (56 to 66) looks ahead to a renewed people and to a new heavens and a new earth.

Background

Isaiah son of Amoz prophesied in Jerusalem in the second half of the eighth century before Christ, while the Assyrian threat hung over the land. Many scholars think chapters 40 to 66 come from later prophets in his tradition, speaking during and after the exile. Others hold that Isaiah wrote the whole book. Either way, the book reads as one long conversation between God and a people who swing between fear and false confidence.

How Christians read it

No prophet is quoted more in the New Testament. Readers have long weighed who the suffering servant is. Christians read the servant of chapter 53 as fulfilled in the death of Jesus, and Jewish interpretation has most often understood the servant as Israel. Passages such as 7:14 and 9:6 are read by Christians as pointing to Christ, while also having a meaning in Isaiah’s own day. These are old readings held by people who love the same pages.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 20 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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