or the Prophecy of ISAIAH, a canonical book of the Old Testament. Isaiah is the first of the four greater prophets; the other three being Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. This prophet was of royal descent, his father Amos being brother to Azariah king of Judah. The first five chapters of his prophecy relate to the reign of Uzziah; the vision in the sixth chapter happened in the time of Jotham; the following chapters, to the fifteenth, include his prophecies under the reign of Ahaz; and those which were made under the reigns of Hezekiah and Manasseh, are related in the subsequent chapters to the end. Isaiah foretold the deliverance of the Jews from their captivity in Babylon by Cyrus, one hundred years before it came to pass. But the most remarkable of his predictions are those concerning the Messiah, which describe not only his descent, but all the remarkable circumstances of his life and death. The style of this prophet is noble, nervous, and sublime, insomuch that Grotius calls him the Demosthenes of the Hebrews. However, the profoundness of his thoughts, the loftiness of his expressions, and the extent of his prophecy, render him one of the most difficult of all the prophets; and the commentaries which have been hitherto written on his prophecy fall short of a full explication of it. Bishop Lowth's translation, published in 1778, throws considerable light on the composition and meaning of Isaiah.

ISAURA, or ISAURUS, in Ancient Geography, a strong city of Mount Taurus, in Isauria, which was twice demolished; first by Perdiccas, or at least by the inhabitants, who, through despair, destroyed themselves by fire, rather than fall into the hands of the enemy; again by Servilius, who thence took the surname Isauricus. Strabo says there were two Isauras, the old and the new, but so near that they were often confounded.