Who was the Third Isaiah in the Bible?

Answer 1

Answer

Most scholars believe that the Book of Isaiah was written by at least two authors - Isaiah, son of Amoz, who lived during the late monarchical period, and "Second Isaiah", an anonymous author who lived more than a hundred years later, from the time of the Babylonian Exile. Some scholars see a third author, "Third Isaiah", who may have written chapters 56-66, while others attribute these chapters to Second Isaiah. This debate is not yet resolved.

Answer 2

Analysis of the Book of Isaiah has shown that chapters 1-39 contain, with numerous additions, the work of Isaiah, son of Amoz, who introduces himself in Isaiah 1:1 and who wrote at the beginning of the period known as the late monarchy. Chapters 40-55 are written in a very different style and deal with events during the Babylonian Exile, while chapters 56-66 contain a somewhat different style to the second and deal with events after the Return from Exile.

For convenience, Isaiah, son of Amoz, is sometimes known as First Isaiah or Proto-Isaiah, while the anonymous author of chapters 40-55 is known as Second Isaiah or Deutero-Isaiah. The author of Isaiah chapters 56-66 was also anonymous and is therefore known as Third Isaiah or Trito-Isaiah.

Unlike Isaiah, son of Amoz, Second Isaiah and Third Isaiah did not sign their works, so we do not know their real names, although we clearly know the time periods and places in which they wrote. It is likely that these authors did not originally intend to add to the Book of Isaiah, but that they wrote separate books that were later appended to the original book.

Answer 3

The Book of Isaiah was written by just one prophet, by that name. Non-traditional theories claiming more than one author of the Book of Isaiah are based upon zero physical evidence. The Septuagint and the Dead Sea scrolls (and all other ancient sources) include the complete text of Isaiah, refuting the "Deutero Isaiah" theory.See:

One Isaiah (a Christian post)

Refuting the JEPD Documentary Hypothesis

The authorship of the Hebrew Bible

Archaeology