Ascension of Isaiah | Apocalyptic, Jewish-Christian, Visionary

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Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). </div> <div class="type-menu"> <label for="feedback-type" class="label mb-10">Feedback Type</label> <select id="feedback-type" class="form-select mb-30" name="feedbackTypeId" required> <option value="" selected="selected">Select a type (Required)</option> <option value="1">Factual Correction</option> <option value="2">Spelling/Grammar Correction</option> <option value="3">Link Correction</option> <option value="4">Additional Information</option> <option value="5">Other</option> </select> </div> <label for="feedback" class="label mb-10">Your Feedback</label> <textarea id="feedback" class="form-control mb-30" name="feedback" maxlength="3000" rows="7" required></textarea> <button class="btn btn-blue" type="submit">Submit Feedback</button> </form> <div class="success-messaging d-none mt-30"> <div class="title">Thank you for your feedback</div> <p>Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.</p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="md-websites-modal size-lg d-none"> <div class="md-modal-body"> <div class="h2 font-serif pb-15 border-bottom font-weight-bold"> External Websites </div> <div class="pb-20"> <ul class="list-unstyled mt-20 lh-lg"> <li><a class="external" href="http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=263&letter=I" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">JewishEncyclopedia.com - Ascension of Isaiah</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="toc-header-marker"></div> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 js-header-ai-ask-button d-none btn-sm btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 mr-0 mr-lg-10 ml-5 ml-sm-10 ml-lg-0 p-10"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> <div class="caption alternate-titles">Also known as: “The Martyrdom of Isaiah”</div> <div class="md-byline module-spacing "> <div class="font-serif font-12"> <span class="written-by text-gray-700"> Written and fact-checked by </span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor" href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 text-black">Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div> <div class="last-updated font-12 font-serif"> <a class="byline-edit-history" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ascension-of-Isaiah-pseudepigraphal-work/additional-info#history" rel="nofollow">Article History</a> </div></div> </div> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button d-none d-sm-block js-sections-inline-button module-spacing btn d-lg-none"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <div class="d-flex d-sm-none flex-row"> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button js-sections-inline-button module-spacing"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 ai-ask-button btn border-2 module-spacing btn-sm js-inline-ai-ask-button btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 p-10 ml-5"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> </div> <span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref1"><span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><strong><span id="ref24259"></span>Ascension of Isaiah</strong>, pseudepigraphal work surviving intact only in a 5th–7th-century-<span class="text-smallcaps">ad</span> Ethiopic edition. Fragments exist in Greek, Coptic, Latin, and Old Slavonic. Three separate works <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="comprise" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/comprise" data-type="MW">comprise</a> the total book, the final version by a Christian editor, which appeared in the 2nd century <span class="text-smallcaps">ad</span>. The first section is entitled “The Martyrdom of Isaiah,” a Midrash on the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Manasseh-king-of-Judah" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Manasseh</a> story in II Kings 21, possibly written originally in Hebrew or Aramaic in the early 1st century <span class="text-smallcaps">ad</span>. It includes a legendary <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="martyr" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/martyr" data-type="MW">martyr</a> motif and extensive passages on demonology. The second is the “Testament of Hezekiah,” a Christian work, dating from the late 1st century <span class="text-smallcaps">ad</span>, that contains a concept of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Antichrist" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Antichrist</a> as a spirit dwelling in the Roman emperor Nero (<span class="text-smallcaps">ad</span> 54–68), whose persecution of Christians in 64–65 was thought to be the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="chaos" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chaos" data-type="MW">chaos</a> preceding the advent of the messianic age. The third work is called the “Ascension (or Vision) of Isaiah,” also written by a Christian at the beginning of the 2nd century. It contains a description of the seven tiers of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/heaven" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">heaven</a> paralleling that found in the <em>Second Book of Enoch</em> and in the New Testament.</p><div class="one-good-fact-module"> </div><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Both of the Christian sections are <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="apocalypses" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apocalypses" data-type="MW">apocalypses</a>, although they contain certain historical details on the state of the church at the end of the 1st century that coincide with descriptions given in the Second Letter of Peter, Second Letter of Paul to Timothy, and the letters of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Clement-I" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Clement of Rome</a>. The martyr <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="legend" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/legend" data-type="MW">legend</a> in the Jewish section has been linked with the tradition of royal persecutors associated with <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Antiochus-IV-Epiphanes" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Antiochus IV Epiphanes</a> of Syria (175–164/163 <span class="text-smallcaps">bc</span>), although the details of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Isaiah" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Isaiah’s</a> martyrdom may represent the incorporation into <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Judaism" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Judaism</a> of the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="myth" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/myth" data-type="MW">myth</a> of Adonis, the Near Eastern (later Greek) god. It has also been suggested that <em>The Martyrdom of Isaiah</em> was written by a member of the Qumrān sect of Essene Jews, who saw Isaiah as a type figure of their leader, the Teacher of Righteousness.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span></section> <span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article></div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":1,"pageId":295144,"pageLength":320,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"C","adLeg":"C","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"MEDIUM","gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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Ascension of Isaiah | Apocalyptic, Jewish-Christian, Visionary | Britannica