The book of Lenish reveals God's inauguration of a new age for his people, argues Dr. John D. W. Warts in this thorough and innovative commentary. Now fully revised and updated to reflect the voluminous research done on this book in the last twenty years, Dr. Watts strengthens his argument for the unity of Isaiah in all of its sixty-six chapters. Based on evidence that this epic example of "vision" genre may well have been intended for oral presentation, this commentary offers a translation in the dramatic form of acts, scenes, and episodes, with suggestions of dramatis personne and stage directions that bring alive the vibrancy and urgency of the book's prophetic message.

This "Vision" of Isaiah points out God's plan behind the political history of Israel and Judah from the eighth to the fifth centuries. It announces God's strategy to bring about a new age in which God's people will be defined as God's servants, rather than as rulers of sovereign states, and in which rule was left in the hands of the empires. In this new edition, Dr. Watts has revised his understanding of the book's structure to focus less on historical details and more on thematic elements, and provides frequent excursuses and strand tables that show vividly how the book uses distinctive vocabulary and particular themes throughout its chapters. The discussion encompasses the book's form and structure; its significance as literature and as theology, its plot, characters, style, and motifs; the religious, political, and social nature of its earliest audiences; the changing role of prophecy in ancient Israel's society; and its influence in early Judaism and the New Testament, in church history, and in Western literature.

This commentary highlights Isaiah's message that Israel's God is the Lord of history who calls and dismisses the nations, determines their destinies, divides the ages into old and new, and determines the eventual course of humankind. It also emphasizes Isaiah's message that God's greatest challenge always lies in convincing God's people to accept their role in the divine plan.