Isaiah maps & timelines

Geographic Context

Isaiah is anchored in Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah, where the prophet ministered under four kings. From this center his oracles reach outward across the whole ancient world: north to the doomed northern kingdom of Israel and its capital Samaria, and to Syria (Damascus); to the great empires that dominate the book — Assyria, with its capital Nineveh, whose armies devastate the region and besiege Jerusalem, and Babylon, the future conqueror and place of exile; and across the nations east and west — Moab, Edom, Philistia, Arabia, Cush (Ethiopia), Egypt, and the merchant cities of Tyre and Sidon.

The book’s spiritual geography centers on Mount Zion, the city of God, which stands at once under judgment for its sin and as the object of glorious promise — the mountain to which the nations will stream, the place of God’s dwelling and salvation. The second half looks beyond the land to the far horizons of Babylon and the “ends of the earth” to which the Servant’s salvation will reach, and finally to the new heavens and new earth that will encompass all.

Timeline of Major Events

• c. 740 BC - Isaiah’s call “in the year that King Uzziah died” (chapter 6).
• c. 735 BC - The Syro-Ephraimite crisis under Ahaz and the sign of Immanuel (chapter 7).
• 722 BC - The fall of Samaria and the northern kingdom to Assyria.
• 701 BC - Sennacherib’s invasion and the miraculous deliverance of Jerusalem (chapters 36-37).
• c. 700-680 BC - Isaiah’s later ministry and the “book of comfort” (chapters 40-66).
• Foreseen: 586 BC - The Babylonian exile Isaiah foretold (chapter 39).
• Foreseen: 538 BC - The return under Cyrus, whom Isaiah names in advance (chapters 44-45).