E. Young Commentary: The Book of Isaiah

by Edward J. Young

A classic in conservative Old Testament scholarship, this three-volume commentary concentrates primarily on the  meaning  of the text of Isaiah rather than on specific textual problems. Volume 1 covers chapters 1-18; Volume 2 looks at chapters 19-39; Volume 3 surveys chapters 40-66.

Genres: Old Testament, Reference, Biblical Studies, Nonfiction, Religion, Theology

1729 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1972

Reviews

[Tom Brainerd · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a great tactic on the part of Eerdmans. Retire a commentary from the NICOT series, replacing it with something fairly different, then continue to sell the retired volumes. And thankfully they still print and sell this one.

In preaching through Isaiah, Young has been the first thing I read every week. He is thorough, knows and discussed competing viewpoints, makes the bridges between the 'local' context of the prophecy, our current context and the fully-realized context.

It has been interesting to me. I use Young, Oswalt and Motyer as my primary counsel for Isaiah. Calvin and Luther are my secondary resources. Where one or two might be weak in a particular section of the prophecy, others will come forward as strong.

[Charity U · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this commentary set to be indispensable as I taught Isaiah in the fall of 2019. Young does a wonderful job of making a complicated book accessible for anyone. Phenomenal book series.

[Scott Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my opinion, this is the best, most thorough commentary on the book of Isaiah (Calvin's commentary is an obvious classic as well). I also highly recommend other works by E.J. Young: "The Prophecy of Daniel" and "My Servant the Prophets." (Note: the author supposedly wrote some of his works while on sabbatical in San Francisco – at my home town and church).

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Book of Isaiah by Edward J. Young is a 1972 publication.

Reading through the Bible from start to finish, I found I could keep up with most of what happened in the Old Testament (not that I always understood it completely), until I got to Isaiah, that is. I casually mentioned this to my dad, who immediately pulled down this commentary from his shelf. This is a three- book set, and it took me over a year to get through all three.

In all honesty, the author wrote this study/commentary for those who probably already have a higher educational background in theology, grammar, or the Hebrew language. Your average person who is not in seminary school or has not already familiarized themselves with the book of Isaiah might struggle, as I very often did.

The author clearly explained the passages, but he also had to help the reader understand the original Hebrew language that the book of Isaiah used. This meant breaking down the sentences into segments grammatically. If you don’t know Hebrew, or have forgotten many of those very, very, very detailed grammar lessons in school- which I most certainly have — this process can seem tedious, and it was certainly over my head, much of the time.

Still, it was simple enough to understand the history, which is fascinating. The prophecy and the time periods that switched from present day to the future were much easier to grasp with the help of this book set.

It was incredible the amount of knowledge the author had about the book of Isaiah and the Hebrew language, of which he was obviously fluent. It was astounding.

I did not agree with the author in his devout following of Calvin, which I vehemently detest, but other than that, I found it overwhelmingly impressive.

Overall, an incredible, in-depth study of the book of Isaiah. The author was well-respected in theological circles, and other than some doctrinal differences of opinion, I trusted the author’s knowledge and interpretations of this Old Testament Scripture.

[G. Mark James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A top-notch evangelical and Reformed commentary on Isaiah that balances understanding what the text is saying, pastoral application, and linguistic studies. The author holds to the unity of authorship (Isaiah) and accepts the Masoretic Text with very little emendation.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very readable commentary by the premier OT scholar of the 20th century. Young provides verse by verse commentary and consistently makes the connections between the church in the old and new covenants. Also worthwhile are the appendices, especially the first one, on the authorship of Isaiah. Spoiler - He demonstrates that Isaiah wrote all of Isaiah.

[Will Dilbeck]

Excellent resource for Isaiah. Conservative scholar who gives compelling evidence for single authorship.

[Andy]

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