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69-499: The village's name is taken from Isaiah 5:1: Let me sing of my well-beloved, a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill. and also reflects the JNF's planting of olive trees in this area. The moshav was founded in 1905 on the land of the former Arab estate of Bayt ‘Arīf. It was one of the first villages established on Jewish National Fund land. The first Jewish National Fund forest

138-523: A newly constructed road through the wilderness was taken up by all four Gospels and applied to John the Baptist and Jesus. Christians point to Chapter 53 and its discussion of a suffering servant as a striking prediction of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the messiah predicted by Isaiah. Isaiah seems always to have had a prominent place in Hebrew Bible use, and it is probable that Jesus himself

207-572: A particular deity, usually dwelling in a cave or other secluded location away from urban areas, and, much as the oracles of ancient Greece, would deliver prophecies in an ecstatic state to visitors seeking advice. Two of their ancient oracles became especially famous during the pre-colonial period: the Agbala oracle at Awka and the Chukwu oracle at Arochukwu . Although the vast majority of Igbos today are Christian , many of them still use oracles. Among

276-470: A search for knowledge that was one of the founding events of western philosophy . He claimed that she was "an essential guide to personal and state development." This oracle's last recorded response was given in 362 AD, to Julian the Apostate . The oracle's powers were highly sought after and never doubted. Any inconsistencies between prophecies and events were dismissed as failure to correctly interpret

345-511: A separate moshav, Kerem Ben Shemen . The Ben Shemen Youth Village was established adjacent to the moshav in 1927 and is today a large agricultural boarding school . In 1945, the lands of Ben Shemen amounted to 2,176 dunams , of which 607 dunams were devoted to orchards , 947 dunams to field crops , one dunam for bananas , and 594 dunams were left uncultivated. According to Marom, "Citrus growing remained undeveloped in Ben Shemen, with

414-708: A specific person. Contemporarily, Theyyam or "theiyam" in Malayalam - a south Indian language - the process by which a Priest invites a Hindu god or goddess to use his or her body as a medium or channel and answer other devotees' questions, still happens. The same is called "arulvaakku" or "arulvaak" in Tamil , another south Indian language - Adhiparasakthi Siddhar Peetam is famous for arulvakku in Tamil Nadu . The people in and around Mangalore in Karnataka call

483-506: A summary of its contents like the following: The older understanding of this book as three fairly discrete sections attributable to identifiable authors leads to a more atomised picture of its contents, as in this example: While it is widely accepted that the book of Isaiah is rooted in a historic prophet called Isaiah , who lived in the Kingdom of Judah during the 8th century BCE, it is also widely accepted that this prophet did not write

552-412: A wooden fence and make a stand there. Others, Themistocles among them, said the oracle was clearly for fighting at sea, the metaphor intended to mean war ships. Others still insisted that their case was so hopeless that they should board every ship available and flee to Italy , where they would be safe beyond any doubt. In the event, variations of all three interpretations were attempted: some barricaded

621-547: Is also located in Ben Shemen. In 1910 Ben Shemen was the site of the Bezalel Artists' Colony (1910), a predecessor to the Ben Shemen youth village. According to a census conducted in 1922 by the British Mandate authorities , Ben Shemen had a population of 90 Jews. Which had increased in the 1931 census to 353 residents, in 30 houses. In 1923 it was split in two, with a group of trial farms eventually becoming

690-412: Is divided between verse and prose passages, and a currently popular theory is that the verse passages represent the prophecies of the original 8th-century Isaiah, while the prose sections are "sermons" on his texts composed at the court of Josiah a hundred years later, at the end of the 7th century. The conquest of Jerusalem by Babylon and the exile of its elite in 586 BCE ushered in the next stage in

759-482: Is that Kamsa (or Kansa), the evil uncle of Krishna , was informed by an oracle that the eighth son of his sister Devaki would kill him. The opening verse of the Tiruvalluva Maalai , a medieval Tamil anthology usually dated by modern scholars to between c. 7th and 10th centuries CE, is attributed to an asariri or oracle. However, there are no references in any Indian literature of the oracle being

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828-613: The Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament . It is identified by a superscription as the words of the 8th-century BC prophet Isaiah ben Amoz, but there is evidence that much of it was composed during the Babylonian captivity and later. Johann Christoph Döderlein suggested in 1775 that the book contained the works of two prophets separated by more than a century, and Bernhard Duhm originated

897-647: The Near East as in Mari in the second millennium BC and in Assyria in the first millennium BC. In Egypt, the goddess Wadjet (eye of the moon) was depicted as a snake-headed woman or a woman with two snake-heads. Her oracle was in the renowned temple in Per-Wadjet (Greek name Buto ). The oracle of Wadjet may have been the source for the oracular tradition which spread from Egypt to Greece. Evans linked Wadjet with

966-571: The Sibylline Books acquired and consulted in emergencies by Rome wherein her prophecies were transcribed. The Cumaean Sibyl was called "Herophile" by Pausanias and Lactantius , "Deiphobe, daughter of Glaucus" by Virgil , as well as "Amaltheia", "Demophile", or "Taraxandra" by others. Sibyl's prophecies became popular with Christians as they were thought to predict the birth of Jesus Christ . Didyma near Ionia in Asia Minor in

1035-608: The Urim and Thummim breastplate, and in general any utterance considered prophetic . In Celtic polytheism , divination was performed by the priestly caste, either the druids or the vates . This is reflected in the role of "seers" in Dark Age Wales ( dryw ) and Ireland ( fáith ). In China, oracle bones were used for divination in the late Shang dynasty , (c. 1600–1046 BC). Diviners applied heat to these bones, usually ox scapulae or tortoise plastrons, and interpreted

1104-465: The libretto of Handel's Messiah to a host of such everyday phrases as " swords into ploughshares " and " voice in the wilderness ". General scholarly consensus through most of the 20th century saw three separate collections of oracles in the book of Isaiah. A typical outline based on this understanding of the book sees its underlying structure in terms of the identification of historical figures who might have been their authors: While one part of

1173-523: The sacrifice of Odin for the oracular runes whereby he lost an eye (external sight) and won wisdom (internal sight; insight ). In the migration myth of the Mexitin, i.e., the early Aztecs , a mummy -bundle (perhaps an effigy ) carried by four priests directed the trek away from the cave of origins by giving oracles. An oracle led to the foundation of Mexico-Tenochtitlan . The Yucatec Mayas knew oracle priests or chilanes , literally 'mouthpieces' of

1242-400: The " Minoan Snake Goddess ". At the oracle of Dodona she is called Diōnē (the feminine form of Diós , genitive of Zeus ; or of dīos , "godly", literally "heavenly"), who represents the earth-fertile soil, probably the chief female goddess of the proto-Indo-European pantheon . Python , daughter (or son) of Gaia was the earth dragon of Delphi represented as a serpent and became

1311-646: The 37 quotations from the prophets in the Pauline epistles , and takes pride of place in the Gospels and in Acts of the Apostles . Isaiah 7:14 , where the prophet is assuring king Ahaz that God will save Judah from the invading armies of Israel and Syria, forms the basis for Matthew 1:23 's doctrine of the virgin birth , while Isaiah 40:3–5's image of the exiled Israel led by God and proceeding home to Jerusalem on

1380-548: The Acropolis, the civilian population was evacuated over sea to nearby Salamis Island and to Troizen , and the war fleet fought victoriously at Salamis Bay . Should utter destruction have happened, it could always be claimed that the oracle had called for fleeing to Italy after all. Cumae was the first Greek colony on the mainland of Italy, near Naples , dating back to the 8th century BC. The sibylla or prophetess at Cumae became famous because of her proximity to Rome and

1449-648: The Zhou period. According to the Ancient Egyptian religion , some ancient Egyptian gods (and rarely deified humans), acted as intermediaries between humans and the divine. This was exemplified by the Ancient Egyptian title " Reporter/Herald " ( wḥmw ), whom in the religious context, reports requests and petitions to the local gods. In Hawaii , oracles were found at certain heiau , Hawaiian temples. These oracles were found in towers covered in white kapa cloth made from plant fibres. In here, priests received

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1518-535: The area, converting to Christianity and preserving the family name for generations to come. Others have argued that, despite its rarity, a Christian usage of an Old Testament name doesn't require additional explanation. Book of Isaiah The Book of Isaiah ( Hebrew : ספר ישעיהו [ˈsɛ.fɛr jə.ʃaʕ.ˈjaː.hu] ) is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the first of

1587-508: The cave wall had a Greek funerary inscription written in red, which according to its style, was probably inscribed during the 2nd or 3rd centuries CE. Di Segni suggested that the appearance of the Hebrew name " Yo'ezer " on the inscription indicates that the area had not been completely cleared of Jews after the Jewish–Roman wars . Jews who did not participate in the revolt may have survived in

1656-700: The chthonian Zeus Trophonius. Trophonius was a Greek hero nursed by Europa . Near the Menestheus's port or Menesthei Portus ( Greek : Μενεσθέως λιμήν ), modern El Puerto de Santa María , Spain , was the Oracle of Menestheus ( Greek : Μαντεῖον τοῦ Μενεσθέως ), to whom also the inhabitants of Gades offered sacrifices. At the Ikaros island in the Persian Gulf (modern Failaka Island in Kuwait ), there

1725-556: The chthonic deity, enemy of Apollo , who slew her and possessed the oracle. When the Prytanies' seat shines white in the island of Siphnos, White-browed all the forum—need then of a true seer's wisdom— Danger will threat from a wooden boat, and a herald in scarlet. The Pythia was the mouthpiece of the oracles of the god Apollo , and was also known as the Oracle of Delphi. The Delphic Oracle exerted considerable influence throughout Hellenic culture. Distinctively, this woman

1794-689: The coast of Anatolia , at Corinth and Bassae in the Peloponnese , and at the islands of Delos and Aegina in the Aegean Sea. The Sibylline Oracles are a collection of oracular utterances written in Greek hexameters , ascribed to the Sibyls , prophetesses who uttered divine revelations in frenzied states. Walter Burkert observes that "Frenzied women from whose lips the God speaks" are recorded in

1863-465: The country and who now owned the land, and there were further conflicts over the form of government that should be set up. This background forms the context of Trito-Isaiah. The Book of Isaiah focuses on the main role of Jerusalem in God's plan for the world, seeing centuries of history as though they were all the single vision of the 8th-century prophet Isaiah. Walter Brueggemann has described this overarching narrative as "a continued meditation upon

1932-689: The dead", such as in Argolis , Cumae , Herakleia in Pontos , in the Temple of Poseidon in Taenaron , but the most important was the Necromanteion of Acheron . The term "oracle" is also applied in modern English to parallel institutions of divination in other cultures. Specifically, it is used in the context of Christianity for the concept of divine revelation , and in the context of Judaism for

2001-573: The deity. Their written repositories of traditional knowledge , the Books of Chilam Balam , were all ascribed to one famous oracle priest who had correctly predicted the coming of the Spaniards and its associated disasters. In Tibet , oracles (Chinese: 护法) have played, and continue to play, an important part in religion and government. The word "oracle" is used by Tibetans to refer to the spirit that enters those men and women who act as media between

2070-562: The destiny of Jerusalem into and after the Exile. The Deutero-Isaian part of the book describes how God will make Jerusalem the centre of his worldwide rule through a royal saviour (a messiah ) who will destroy the oppressor ( Babylon ); this messiah is the Persian king Cyrus the Great , who is merely the agent who brings about Yahweh's kingship. Isaiah speaks out against corrupt leaders and for

2139-482: The destiny of Jerusalem". God's plan for the world is based on his choice of Jerusalem as the place where he will manifest himself, and of the line of David as his earthly representative – a theme that may possibly have originated with Jerusalem's reprieve from Assyrian attack in 701 BCE. God is "the holy one of Israel"; justice and righteousness are the qualities that mark the essence of God, and Israel has offended God through unrighteousness. Isaiah speaks out for

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2208-577: The disadvantaged, and roots righteousness in God's holiness rather than in Israel's covenant. Isaiah was one of the most popular works among Jews in the Second Temple period (c. 515 BCE – 70 CE). In Christian circles, it was held in such high regard as to be called "the Fifth Gospel", and its influence extends beyond Christianity to English literature and to Western culture in general, from

2277-486: The domain of the famous city of Miletus . Dodona in northwestern Greece was another oracle devoted to the Mother Goddess identified at other sites with Rhea or Gaia , but here called Dione . The shrine of Dodona, set in a grove of oak trees, was the oldest Hellenic oracle, according to the fifth-century historian Herodotus, and dated from pre-Hellenic times, perhaps as early as the second millennium BC, when

2346-425: The entire book of Isaiah. The composition history of Isaiah reflects a major difference in the way authorship was regarded in ancient Israel and in modern societies; the ancients did not regard it as inappropriate to supplement an existing work while remaining anonymous. While the authors are anonymous, it is plausible that all of them were priests, and the book may thus reflect Priestly concerns, in opposition to

2415-755: The following: Isaiah was one of the most popular works in the period between the foundation of the Second Temple c. 515 BCE and its destruction by the Romans in 70 CE. Isaiah's "shoot [which] will come up from the stump of Jesse" is alluded to or cited in the Psalms of Solomon and various apocalyptic works including the Similitudes of Enoch , 2 Baruch , 4 Ezra , and the third of the Sibylline oracles , all of which understood it to refer to a/the messiah and

2484-465: The foolishness of the carpenter who worships the idol that he himself has carved. While Yahweh had shown his superiority to other gods before, in Second Isaiah he becomes the sole God of the world. This model of monotheism became the defining characteristic of post-Exilic Judaism and provided the basis for Christianity and for Islam . A central theme in Second Isaiah is that of a new Exodus –

2553-553: The formation of the book. Deutero-Isaiah addresses himself to the Jews in exile, offering them the hope of return. This was the period of the meteoric rise of Persia under its king Cyrus the Great – in 559 BCE he succeeded his father as ruler of a small vassal kingdom in modern eastern Iran, by 540 he ruled an empire stretching from the Mediterranean to Central Asia, and in 539 he conquered Babylon. Deutero-Isaiah's predictions of

2622-492: The future, inspired by deities . If done through occultic means, it is a form of divination . The word oracle comes from the Latin verb ōrāre , "to speak" and properly refers to the priest or priestess uttering the prediction. In extended use, oracle may also refer to the site of the oracle , and the oracular utterances themselves, are called khrēsmoí (χρησμοί) in Greek. Oracles were thought to be portals through which

2691-457: The general consensus still holds, this perception of Isaiah as made up of three rather distinct sections underwent a radical challenge in the last quarter of the 20th century. The newer approach looks at the book in terms of its literary and formal characteristics, rather than authors, and sees in it a two-part structure divided between chapters 33 and 34: Seeing Isaiah as a two-part book (chapters 1–33 and 34–66) with an overarching theme leads to

2760-485: The gods spoke directly to people. In this sense, they were different from seers ( manteis , μάντεις) who interpreted signs sent by the gods through bird signs, animal entrails , and other various methods. The most important oracles of Greek antiquity were Pythia (priestess to Apollo at Delphi ), and the oracle of Dione and Zeus at Dodona in Epirus . Other oracles of Apollo were located at Didyma and Mallus on

2829-484: The imminent fall of Babylon and his glorification of Cyrus as the deliverer of Israel date his prophecies to 550–539 BCE, and probably towards the end of this period. The Persians ended the Jewish exile, and by 515 BCE the exiles, or at least some of them, had returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the Temple. The return, however, was not without problems: the returnees found themselves in conflict with those who had remained in

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2898-540: The increasingly successful reform movement of the Deuteronomists . The historic Isaiah ben Amoz lived in the Kingdom of Judah during the reigns of four kings from the mid to late 8th-century BCE. During this period, Assyria was expanding westward from its origins in modern-day northern Iraq towards the Mediterranean, destroying first Aram (modern Syria) in 734–732 BCE, then the Kingdom of Israel in 722–721, and finally subjugating Judah in 701. Proto-Isaiah

2967-647: The messianic age. Isaiah 6, in which Isaiah describes his vision of God enthroned in the Temple, influenced the visions of God in works such as the "Book of the Watchers" section of the Book of Enoch , the Book of Daniel and others, often combined with the similar vision from the Book of Ezekiel . A very influential portion of Isaiah was the four so-called Songs of the Suffering Servant from Isaiah 42, 49, 50 and 52, in which God calls upon his servant to lead

3036-535: The messianic interpretation of Enoch, interpreted Isaiah 52:13–53:12, the fourth of the songs, as a prophecy of the death and exaltation of Jesus , a role which Jesus himself accepted according to Luke 4:17–21. The Book of Isaiah has been immensely influential in the formation of Christianity, from the devotion to the Virgin Mary to anti-Jewish polemic, medieval passion iconography, and modern Christian feminism and liberation theology . The regard in which Isaiah

3105-423: The moshav in 1952. Some houses were built by Bezalel Academy of Art and Design founder Boris Schatz . During road-work near Ben Shemen in 1975, a burial cave containing three ossuaries was found. An Aramaic funerary inscription on one of them mentions "Levi son of Menashe" and is dated to the late Second Temple period , probably during the first century BCE or CE. Additionally, a boulder that collapsed from

3174-547: The nations (the servant is horribly abused, sacrifices himself in accepting the punishment due others, and is finally rewarded). Some Second Temple texts, including the Wisdom of Solomon and the Book of Daniel identified the Servant as a group – "the wise" who "will lead many to righteousness" (Daniel 12:3) – but others, notably the Similitudes of Enoch , understood it in messianic terms. The earliest Christians, building on

3243-570: The natural and the spiritual realms. The media are, therefore, known as kuten , which literally means, "the physical basis". In the 29-Article Ordinance for the More Effective Governing of Tibet ( Chinese : 欽定藏內善後章程二十九條 ), an imperial decree published in 1793 by the Qianlong Emperor , article 1 states that the creation of Golden Urn is to ensure prosperity of Gelug , and to eliminate cheating and corruption in

3312-523: The only primary oracle. Another oracle the Dalai Lama consults is the Tenma Oracle , for which a young Tibetan woman by the name of Khandro La is the medium for the mountain goddesses Tseringma along with the other 11 goddesses. The Dalai Lama gives a complete description of the process of trance and spirit possession in his book Freedom in Exile . Dorje Shugden oracles were once consulted by

3381-484: The oracles of the world to discover which gave the most accurate prophecies. He sent out emissaries to seven sites who were all to ask the oracles on the same day what the king was doing at that very moment. Croesus proclaimed the oracle at Delphi to be the most accurate, who correctly reported that the king was making a lamb-and-tortoise stew, and so he graced her with a magnitude of precious gifts. He then consulted Delphi before attacking Persia , and according to Herodotus

3450-421: The poor and the oppressed and against corrupt princes and judges, but unlike the prophets Amos and Micah he roots righteousness not in Israel's covenant with God but in God's holiness. Isaiah 44:6 contains the first clear statement of Yahwist monotheism : "I am the first and I am the last; beside me there is no God". In Isaiah 44:09–20, this develops into a satire on the making and worship of idols, mocking

3519-577: The related Yoruba peoples of the same country, the Babalawos (and their female counterparts, the Iyanifas) serve collectively as the principal aspects of the tribe's world-famous Ifa divination system. Due to this, they customarily officiate at a great many of its traditional and religious ceremonies. In Norse mythology , Odin took the severed head of the god Mimir to Asgard for consultation as an oracle. The Havamal and other sources relate

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3588-431: The responses, not an error of the oracle. Very often prophecies were worded ambiguously, so as to cover all contingencies – especially so ex post facto . One famous such response to a query about participation in a military campaign was "You will go you will return never in war will you perish". This gives the recipient liberty to place a comma before or after the word "never", thus covering both possible outcomes. Another

3657-445: The resulting cracks. A different divining method, using the stalks of the yarrow plant , was practiced in the subsequent Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BC). Around the late 9th century BC, the divination system was recorded in the I Ching , or "Book of Changes", a collection of linear signs used as oracles. In addition to its oracular power, the I Ching has had a major influence on the philosophy, literature and statecraft of China since

3726-415: The return from Exile. Isaiah 1– 33 promises judgment and restoration for Judah, Jerusalem and the nations, and chapters 34 –66 presume that judgment has been pronounced and restoration follows soon. While few scholars today attribute the entire book, or even most of it, to one person, the book's essential unity has become a focus in more recent research. The book can be read as an extended meditation on

3795-407: The return of the exiled people Israel from Babylon to Jerusalem. The author imagines a ritualistic return to Zion (Judah), led by Yahweh. The importance of this theme is indicated by its placement at the beginning and end of Second Isaiah (40:3–5, 55:12–13). This new Exodus is repeatedly linked with Israel's Exodus from Egypt to Canaan under divine guidance, but with new elements. These links include

3864-543: The rustling of the leaves of the oak tree that stood on this spot as Zeus' sanctuary to determine the correct actions to be taken. The oracle of Abae was one of the most important oracles. It was almost completely destroyed by the Persians during the Second Persian invasion of Greece . Erythrae near Ionia in Asia Minor was home to a prophetess. Trophonius was an oracle at Lebadea of Boeotia devoted to

3933-458: The same, Buta Kola , "paathri" or "darshin"; in other parts of Karnataka, it is known by various names such as, "prashnaavali", "vaagdaana", "asei", "aashirvachana" and so on. In Nepal it is known as, "Devta ka dhaamee" or " jhaakri ". The Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria in Africa have a long tradition of using oracles. In Igbo villages, oracles were usually female priestesses to

4002-682: The selection process performed by oracles. The Dalai Lama , who lives in exile in northern India, still consults an oracle known as the Nechung Oracle , which is considered the official state oracle of the government of Tibet. The Dalai Lama has, according to centuries-old custom, consulted the Nechung Oracle during the new year festivities of Losar . Nechung and Gadhong are the primary oracles currently consulted; former oracles such as Karmashar and Darpoling are no longer active in exile. The Gadhong oracle has died leaving Nechung to be

4071-537: The tradition may have spread from Egypt. By the time of Herodotus, Zeus had displaced the Mother Goddess, who had been assimilated to Aphrodite , and the worship of the deified hero Heracles had been added. Dodona became the second most important oracle in ancient Greece, after Delphi . At Dodona, Zeus was worshipped as Zeus Naios or Naos (god of springs Naiads , from a spring under the oaks), or as Zeus Bouleos (chancellor). Priestesses and priests interpreted

4140-477: The view, held as a consensus through most of the 20th century, that the book comprises three separate collections of oracles : Proto-Isaiah ( chapters 1 – 39 ), containing the words of the 8th-century BC prophet Isaiah; Deutero-Isaiah , or "the Book of Consolation", ( chapters 40 – 55 ), the work of an anonymous 6th-century BCE author writing during the Exile; and Trito-Isaiah ( chapters 56 – 66 ), composed after

4209-550: The will of gods. These towers were called 'Anu'u . An example of this can be found at Ahu'ena heiau in Kona . In ancient India , the oracle was known as ākāśavānī "voice/speech from the sky/ aether " or aśarīravānī "a disembodied voice (or voice of the unseen)" ( asariri in Tamil), and was related to the message of a god. Oracles played key roles in many of the major incidents of the epics Mahabharata and Ramayana . An example

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4278-502: The youth village specializing in orchards and field crops". During World War II , Ben Shemen was the site of a British search for weapons. Similar searches were a common British response to Jewish opposition to the White Paper of 1939 . In 1947 Ben Shemen had a population of 75. The village experienced extensive damage during the early days of the 1948 Arab–Israeli war and had to be reconstructed. Immigrants from Romania joined

4347-426: Was advised: "If you cross the river, a great empire will be destroyed". Believing the response favourable, Croesus attacked, but it was his own empire that ultimately was destroyed by the Persians. She allegedly also proclaimed that there was no man wiser than Socrates , to which Socrates said that, if so, this was because he alone was aware of his own ignorance. After this confrontation, Socrates dedicated his life to

4416-534: Was also another oracle of Zeus Ammon at Aphytis in Chalkidiki . The oracle of Zeus at Olympia . In the city of Anariace (Ἀναριάκη) at the Caspian Sea , there was an oracle for sleepers. Persons should sleep in the temple in order to learn the divine will. The oracle of Apollo at Eutresis and the oracle of Apollo at Tegyra . Oracle of Aphrodite at Paphos . There were many "oracles of

4485-428: Was an oracle of Artemis Tauropolus. At Claros , there was the oracle of Apollo Clarius. At Ptoion , there was an oracle of Ptoios and later of Apollo . At Gryneium , there was a sanctuary of Apollo with an ancient oracle. At Livadeia there was the oracle of Trophonius . The oracle of Zeus Ammon at Siwa Oasis was so famous that Alexander the Great visited it when he conquered Egypt. There

4554-567: Was deeply influenced by Isaiah. Thus many of the Isaiah passages that are familiar to Christians gained their popularity not directly from Isaiah but from the use of them by Jesus and the early Christian authors – this is especially true of the Book of Revelation , which depends heavily on Isaiah for its language and imagery. Translations Oracle An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions , most notably including precognition of

4623-473: Was essentially the highest authority both civilly and religiously in male-dominated ancient Greece . She responded to the questions of citizens, foreigners, kings, and philosophers on issues of political impact, war, duty, crime, family, laws—even personal issues. The semi-Hellenic countries around the Greek world, such as Lydia , Caria , and even Egypt also respected her and came to Delphi as supplicants . Croesus , king of Lydia beginning in 560 BC, tested

4692-431: Was held was so high that the book was frequently called "the Fifth Gospel": the prophet who spoke more clearly of Christ and the Church than any others. Its influence extends beyond the Church and Christianity to English literature and to Western culture in general, from the libretto of Handel's Messiah to a host of such everyday phrases as "swords into ploughshares" and "voice in the wilderness". Isaiah provides 27 of

4761-401: Was the response to the Athenians when the vast army of king Xerxes I was approaching Athens with the intent of razing the city to the ground. "Only the wooden palisades may save you" , answered the oracle, probably aware that there was sentiment for sailing to the safety of southern Italy and re-establishing Athens there. Some thought that it was a recommendation to fortify the Acropolis with

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