It is not unusual for the Book of Isaiah to be divided into three parts: First Isaiah, Deutero-Isaiah, and Trito-Isaiah. First Isaiah holds the prophecies of Isaiah. Isaiah or his followers in Jerusalem wrote it between about 740 BC and 700 BC. A few chapters were written after 586 BC, and several others were written after 500 BC. Isaiah or his early followers could not have written these chapters. Deutero-Isaiah and Trito-Isaiah were written by the ‘school’ of Isaiah in Babylon, with chapters 56-66 being written after the return from the Babylonian Exile in 538 BC. The Book of Isaiah probably achieved its present form during the 4th century BC. Isaiah lived during the last years of the northern kingdom of Israel and during the rule of four kings of Judah: Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Isaiah felt called to be a prophet when he had a vision (of winged creatures) in the Temple in 742 BC. From that time until about 687 BC Isaiah’s prophecies influenced the course of Judah’s history. Isaiah considered the Hebrews had rebelled against YHWH, and he likened Jerusalem to a harlot. The coming ‘day of the Lord’ is a motif found in Isaiah, as is the Davidic Messiah motif. Deutero-Isaiah contains material about the Suffering Servant, which in Christian tradition is viewed as a prophecy about Jesus Christ. Some scholars insist the Suffering Servant is the nation of Israel. In Trito-Isaiah emphasis is placed upon the correct motivation in the worship of YHWH.
The prophet Jeremiah was born in Anathoth near Jerusalem in 650 BC. He was convinced YHWH had chosen him, and that he was predestined to be a ‘prophet to the nations’. He began to prophesy about 626 BC. The Book of Jeremiah is often divided into four sections: prophecies against Judah and Jerusalem, narratives about Jeremiah, prophecies against other nations, and a historical appendix. Jeremiah is probably responsible for the prophecies in the first part of the book (chapters 1-25). Baruch, Jeremiah’s secretary, is traditionally seen as the composer of the second section. It is thought the third section may derive from Jeremiah. The last section was, in large part, taken from 2 Kings. Jeremiah told the Jewish people that YHWH would destroy the Temple (the house of YHWH) unless they changed their ways. He claimed the people had filled the land with false gods and useless idols. Jeremiah predicted Jerusalem would suffer the fate of a rejected whore. In chapter 25 Jeremiah introduces the wine cup of the fury of YHWH that all kingdoms on the face of the earth must drink from. He predicted a world conflict in which YHWH ‘will plead with all flesh’. After the conflict the dead will lay ‘from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth’. The dead will not be mourned or buried - ‘they shall be as dung upon the ground’. After the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC, Jeremiah was taken to Egypt. One tradition has it that fellow countrymen stoned Jeremiah to death there in 570 BC.
Ezekiel conducted his mission in Jerusalem and Babylon during the first three decades of the 6th century BC. Ezekiel was deported to Babylon in 597 BC. He was situated near Nippur (city of Enlil: father of the Sumerian moon god Sin). It was in July 592 BC, after having a vision of the ‘throne-chariot’ of YHWH, that Ezekiel became a prophet. His vision involved winged creatures, a crystal firmament, rainbow light, and rings so high they were ‘dreadful’. He prophesied from 592 BC until 585 BC, and again from 572 BC until 570 BC. The Book of Ezekiel may be divided into three parts: prophecies against Judah and Jerusalem (chapters 1-24), prophecies against other nations (chapters 25-32), and prophecies about Israel’s future (chapters 33-48). Ezekiel called Jerusalem an insatiable whore and adulterous wife against whom YHWH had drawn his sword in order to cut off ‘the righteous and the wicked’. After the fall of Jerusalem Ezekiel changed his theme to one in which Judah and Israel return to the Promised Land and reunify. Gog and Magog are features of Ezekiel’s work - Gog and Magog became significant in Christian eschatology.
Some elements of Ezekiel’s vision (crystal, rainbow, and rings) appear to connect with mystical traditions as disparate as the ancient Greeks, Australian Aboriginals, and the Cro-Magnon peoples.