Isaiah 6–12

Williamson’s ICC is the most technically rigorous treatment of Isaiah 1–12 among the commentaries considered here. Translation, textual criticism, Hebrew philology, poetic structure, literary growth and history of interpretation are all handled with extraordinary care, and Williamson is particularly valuable when apparently simple messianic texts turn out to involve difficult linguistic or historical questions. Rather than forcing certainty where the evidence remains ambiguous, he regularly lays out the alternatives and explains exactly why a conclusion can or cannot be sustained. That methodological discipline is itself one of the commentary’s greatest contributions. Its obvious limitation is coverage: this is not a commentary on the whole of Isaiah, and even within 1–12 its density makes it more suitable for serious exegetical work than casual reading. But for anyone working closely with the Hebrew text of these chapters, Williamson is indispensable and deserves the highest rating.

Hugh Williamson's work in the renown ICC series is now the critical treatment of these chapters of Isaiah. Leaving no stone unturned, his two volumes on chapters 1–5 (2006) and 6–12 (2018), have already become essential reading for academic study of Isaiah. The completion of Williamson's work on Isaiah 1–27 is highly anticipated, and I only wish he could complete ICC volumes that cover the entire Isaianic corpus (though at this rate, he would need another lifetime to do so!).