Ascension of Isaiah: Encyclopedia - Ascension of Isaiah

Ascension of Isaiah

The Ascension of Isaiah is an apocryphal pseudepigraphal book dating from the 2nd century and compiled by an unknown Christian scholar. The text incorporates three distinct sections, each evidently once a separate work that is a single compilation here. Of these, one, the first, appears to have been written by a Jewish author, and the other two by Christians. The first part of the book (chapters 1-5), generally referred to as "The Martyrdom of Isaiah", recounts and expands on the events of 2 Kings chapter 21. Into the middle of this (3:13-4:22) the editor has inserted a Christian apocalypse called "The Testament of Hezekiah", describing the persecution of the Church by Nero. The second part of the book (chapters 6-11) is referred to as "The Vision of Isaiah" and describes a journey by Isaiah through the Seven Heavens.

The text exists as a whole in three Ethiopic manuscripts of around the 5th-7th centuries, but fragments have also survived in Greek, Coptic, Latin, and Old Slavonic. All three component texts appear to have been in Greek, and it is possible that the "Martyrdom of Isaiah" derives from a Hebrew or Aramaic original. Comparison of the various translations suggests that two different recensions of the Greek original must have existed; one on which the Ethiopic and one of the Latin versions was based, and the other on which the Slavonic and the other Latin version was based. Fragments of both Greek versions have survived. The work's current title is derived from the title used in the Ethiopic manuscripts ('Ergata Īsāyèyās – "The Ascension of Isaiah"). In antiquity, Epiphanius also referred to it by this title (in Greek: Τὸ Αναβατικὸν ησαΐου), as did Jerome (in Latin: Ascensio Isaiæ).

Elements of the Ascension of Isaiah are paralleled in other Jewish and Christian writings. The method of Isaiah's death (sawn in half by Manasseh) is agreed upon by both the Babylonian Talmud and Jerusalem Talmud, and is probably alluded to by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews (11:37). The demon Beliar appears in quite a number of apocryphal works, including the Book of Jubilees, the Book of Enoch, the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, and the Sibylline Books. Finally, Isaiah's journey through the Seven Heavens parallels that of Enoch's in the Second Book of Enoch.

Categories: Apocrypha | Christian eschatology

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