The Burning Coal
When Isaiah arrives at God's throne, he is commissioned to go speak to the people of Judah and Israel. Isaiah says that he can't because he is "a man of unclean lips" plucked from "a people of uncl...
The Cornerstone
This isn't referenced all that much in Isaiah. It appears quickly and then it disappears. It's not one of Isaiah's main symbols, but it's important because it's used later on in a famous New Testam...
Grass
Isaiah constantly compares human beings to vegetation—growing, flourishing and dying. And aside from vineyards, grass is one of the central examples. Isaiah 40:6-7 reads, All flesh is grass, and...
The Holy Mountain
The Holy Mountain is something like the center of the world—it's where the magic happens. Technically, in a time and space sense, it's Jerusalem, Mount Zion, location of the Temple. But in the co...
Immanuel
Immanuel ("God is with Us") is another figure interpreted as being the same as Jesus by Christian readers. Isaiah tells King Ahaz that a sign will come to the Judah: a child will be born to a virgi...
Lucifer—The "Day Star"
Isaiah 14:12-14 is where the Devil shows up under the name "Lucifer" (or "Day Star") for the first time—though, actually, this passage probably doesn't refer to the Devil. It seems to be referrin...
Parting the Sea
Isaiah continually brings up the memory of how God saved the Israelites from their Egyptian persecutors during the Exodus—parting the Red Sea (or "Sea of Reeds," if you want to get all technical)...
Potter and Clay
Isaiah usually brings up the potter and clay image when God is making a tough point about his people's disobedience, stating that they can't refute him or go against his will any more than a clay p...
Rahab and Leviathan
Leviathan is the sea-monster who most famously shows up in the book of Job—ruler "over all the Children of Pride." But here he reappears again as a power that (like in Job) represents the various...
The Shoot
This is yet another symbol often interpreted (by Christians) as referring to Jesus: A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord...
The Vineyard
A lot of churches and Christian fellowships are named "The Vineyard." The lead singer of Mumford and Sons—Marcus Mumford—is the son of pastors who run a huge and influential ministry called "Th...
The Watchtower
The watchtower appears most memorably in Isaiah 21:8-10. A sentinel posted on a watchtower waits to for some unknown event. Finally, pairs of riders show up bringing the news, "Fallen, fallen is Ba...
Wild Animals, Demons, and Lilith
After cities get destroyed in Isaiah—or if God says that they will get destroyed—it's time for the wild animals and evil supernatural powers to move in: hedgehogs, ostriches, goat-demons… the...
Woman with Child
Isaiah uses the relationship between a mother and her child as a metaphor in different ways. First, he compares God to a mother, and Israel to his child: Can a woman forget her nursing child. And h...