5 Tips for Studying Isaiah

Isaiah’s writings are so beautiful – and often, so challenging to understand. I am definitely not an Isaiah expert, but I do enjoy trying to understand what Isaiah taught. If you’re like me, not an Isaiah scholar but really wanting to learn something from his writings, these tips are for you. 

Recently, I read a couple of chapters of Isaiah, and when I read them, I felt like they made less sense than usual. Honestly, how does Isaiah make less sense than before?? You’d think I’d keep building in previous readings of it.  

Anyway, because I felt like I wasn’t getting as much out of it, I started wondering how to get more out of Isaiah even when the symbolism and all that isn’t clicking in my mind. 

So here are five ideas I came up with. If you have others, I’d LOVE to hear them since I think we can all benefit from each other’s study tips. 

Start Where You Are

I think we sometimes get really hard on ourselves. Like we should be getting way more out of our scripture study than we are. And because we know Isaiah has so much depth, I think that the expectation of learning a lot is even higher. 

But we don’t need to have that high of an expectation for ourselves. Should we expect to learn? Yes. But that doesn’t mean we should expect to be scholars when we aren’t. We need to let ourselves go through the process of learning.

And sometimes where we are now is right where we need to be. As we read, we receive insights and revelation specific to our lives. Whatever that revelation is, we shouldn’t discount it as not deep enough or big enough. Even the little revelations we have can play a significant role in our lives. And even if we don’t understand everything in Isaiah, we still learn things for our individual needs as we read his writings. 

The other thing to remember about this is that even if you don’t understand the symbolism or the historical context of Isaiah, there’s still a lot you can learn from him. 

Some of Isaiah’s writings aren’t symbolic after all. We can take them literally sometimes. And just because you have an insight that’s different from what most people have doesn’t mean it’s wrong. 

There’s no one right way to interpret a text. If your insight is different from other interpretations, that just means it’s what you need at that time. As long as it’s doctrinally correct, embrace the insight and revelation.

Compare Isaiah’s Teachings to Your Life

A lot of what Isaiah wrote was about the future – AKA our modern times. That means that a good chunk of his teachings are directly relevant to us and our world.

As you read, consider which parts of Isaiah’s teachings might help you gain more insight into the times we live in. What does he say about society, individuals, sin, hope, and so on? Does he give any warnings or encouragement?

You can also think about how his teachings might be directly relevant to you. What are you struggling with right now? What questions do you have? Maybe as you read, you’ll find that Isaiah’s words are exactly what you need to hear to help you at this time of your life. His words might not be as incomprehensible as you think.

Go to the Scholars

If you’re really stuck on something Isaiah teaches, you can always find a scholar or teacher who has researched Isaiah’s writings. We all need to learn from each other sometimes, and using other resources to understand the scriptures can be a really good thing.

There are lots of books and websites that talk about Isaiah. For example, John Bytheway has a book called Isaiah for Airheads that you could try reading. Or you could head over to Scripture Central and take a look at all their resources (they have tons of resources you can use to learn more about the scriptures).

Of course, there are always the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to learn from as well. Try looking at talks from General Conference that reference Isaiah, and I bet you’ll learn a lot.

Find How Isaiah Talks about Christ

This is probably the thing that has helped me most with Isaiah. Nephi, in 1 Nephi says this about Isaiah:

23 … but that I might more fully persuade them to believe in the Lord their Redeemer I did read unto them that which was written by the prophet Isaiah; for I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning.

1 Nephi 19:23

Nephi taught the words of Isaiah to his people for the specific purpose of persuading them to believe in Christ and to believe that Christ is their Redeemer. We can read Isaiah with this lens as well. 

As you read Isaiah, ask yourself, “How does this section of Isaiah persuade me to believe in Christ?” In some cases, this might give you insight into symbolism. But more importantly, it will focus your attention on Christ. You’ll understand the prophecies about Him better and see the role He plays in all of our lives – and in your life specifically. 

For me, asking this question has helped me come away from Isaiah with a better understanding. I felt that there was more of a purpose to reading Isaiah’s teachings. And it helped me pay better attention to the verses I was reading because I was looking for Christ in the verses.

After I read each chapter, I took a minute to write a brief summary of how that chapter had persuaded me to believe in Christ. I’m hoping to refine this summary process a bit when we read more Isaiah in the next few weeks, but putting the little summary together did help me see the value of looking for Christ in Isaiah’s writings.

So if you feel like you need to get more out of your Isaiah reading, try this. See if it works for you. See what you learn about your Savior by searching closely for Him while you study Isaiah’s writings.

Pray It Out

Here’s my last tip, and it’s kind of an obvious one. But I think that it’s worth repeating. Before and/or after reading Isaiah, take a minute to pray for more understanding. 

See, you can learn all you want about the scriptures on an intellectual level, but you won’t have your best understanding of them unless you gain spiritual learning as well. After all, the scriptures are intended to help us come closer to God so we can follow Him and become like Him. 

Also, if we want answers, especially about the things in the scriptures, we need to ask God for help. We need the Holy Ghost to guide us when we study, and we need God’s wisdom and knowledge to really see what the scriptures teach us. 

God is happy to give us answers and understanding, but often He waits for us to ask for those answers before He gives them to us. 

This really goes back to how our relationship with God works. He’s like our partner – He agrees to do certain things for us if we agree to do certain things for Him. So we can’t get something without putting forward effort. 

And honestly, it usually isn’t a lot of effort. Sometimes, for the partnership to work, all we have to do is ask a question. And other times we need to put more time and study into the question before we can receive the answer. 

So pray about your scripture study, especially if you struggle with Isaiah. It might take time to understand it the way you want to, but allow yourself the process. Ask questions and look for ways to study it that you haven’t tried before.

And share your ideas in the comments below!

Want to Read More on Seeking Christ? 

5 Examples of the Ways God Delivers His Children in the Book of Mormon

7 Tips for Studying Christ in Your Scriptures

3 Book of Mormon Testimonies of Jesus Christ