These selections from the book of Isaiah, named for the prophet Isaiah ben Amoz and dating from the last part of the eighth century BCE, deal in general with the political realities of the prophet’s lifetime. The book of Isaiah is often placed first among the works of the various prophets in both Jewish and Christian texts because his work is considered the oldest in the prophetic tradition. Saint Jerome (c. 342– 420), who was responsible for the translation of the Bible into Latin, known as the Vulgate, was one of the earliest of the church fathers to rank Isaiah on the same level as the four gospels; he called the prophet “the fifth evangelist.” Saint Augustine (354– 430) and his mentor and bishop Saint Ambrose also recognized the singular status of Isaiah in the story of Jesus the Messiah.