Isaiah by the Day: A New Devotional Translation (Devotionals)

He is perhaps one of the most qualified and sound writer about Isaiah ( and I also have much respect for Dr. John N. Oswalt,) However, I truly praise our Lord and savior for such an amazing and powerful theologian, teacher and writer in our current area! I loved his master piece "the Prophecy of Isaiah," now, I am reading this devotional; I embrace even more the beauty and power of our God and savior. I am just in a few page of this book and already fall in awe and adoration for our Lord through this humble and loving servant of his, Dr. Alec Motyer. This is the faithful servant! This is why I love even more my Savior Jesus Christ; where he is not depending me on his pen and writing but taking me to the Emmaus way(Lk 24:31-32),"the only way the risen Lord allowed," (p.24) where he resting with his risen Lord today!May his legacy bring more knees to worship our savior, Jesus Christ!

Motyer thoughtfully and carefully leads you through Isaiah, a challenging, poetic, prophetic book that is absolutely essential to read and know as you come to love the Lord even more. The readings are reasonably paced and the notes are helpful not just for clarifying the text but for situating it historically. Motyer’s ability to connect Scripture to other Scriptures and to draw out practical meaning for us today has helped me understand what Isaiah has to say and beautifully highlights why the Bible continues to be relevant today. Motyer was a brilliant scholar and also a strong believer, and the latter makes all the difference in the tone and respect he has for the Lord and the centrality of Jesus Christ in Isaiah.Motyer’s devotional on Psalms is also highly worthwhile!

I am currently studying Isaiah this Summer and this is a wonderful book. Offers excellent advice and insights into this amazing and complex book

The devotional side of this book is excellent, with many inspiring and insightful points that arise from Isaiah in relation to the Christian walk. The footnotes on the text of Isaiah are interesting, although there's such a lot of them that in the Kindle version the page seems dotted with little numbers. Some of the notes are merely references to an earlier use of the same phrase, some are explanations as to why nobody quite knows what a certain line in Isaiah means, and some of helpful in terms of clarifying what's being said. Sometimes it's hard to get the numbers to flick through to the note on the Kindle; fortunately these notes come straight after the chapter in question, so it's not hard to refer to them.Motyer's aim to provide an accurate translation of the original Isaiah texts works against its readability. He talks about Isaiah's poetry but there's little evidence of poetry in this translation; it comes out as rather clunky. Which is a great pity given the work that's put into the rest of the book.

This is a beautiful book wonderfully printed and bound. This scholar, who has spent his life learning Isaiah wrote a wonderful commentary on Isaiah in 1993 although the it was printed in very small print, difficult to read with these 76 year old eyes. In 1996, Moatyer wrote Look to the Rock that shows how Isaiah saw Christ and others in the OT saw him. Now in 2011, he writes this wonderful book dividing the book of Isaiah into 71 oracles with is own translation, footnotes that explain items that need explanation and a note for each 71 day called Thought for the Day that discusses the Scripture passage. For a person like me whose second favorite book in the Bible next to the Gospel of John is Isaiah, this is a rich feast. I am now anxiously awaiting his video teaching series on Isaiah. Motyer sees the Vision of Isaiah divided into three parts: A prelude chaps 1-5, The Book of the King chaps 6-37, Book of the Servant, chapts 38-55, and Book of the Conquering King, chapts 56-66, the same as his commentary. A great book by a very capable scholar who loves what he studies..

I am always skeptical of daily devotional books. A lot of time they are just a lot of fluff and little on meat.This book will blow you away! The main text is Isaiah itself with a great short paragraph to outline how this chapter fits into the ongoing timeline and state of justice, growth, and restoration of the people of God within the book and life of Isaiah. The whole time I felt the author (whose books are excellent) seems to be leaning over your shoulder teaching you the text, the need for this section, and how God used Isaiah to teach us.I could not recommend a daily devotional higher than this one. Isaiah can be a hard book. The author's brief opening notes and some margin notes to explain older terms is superb. I found myself almost ignoring the explanatory side/margin notes and simply enjoying the author's information and the text of Isaiah. As you read this, Alec Moyter, seems to be guiding you through the heart of God into the life of Isaiah. It is a my daily book. I recommend it highly as a book for your year of reading (although I am finding I am doing about 3 chapters per day...it is that powerful)!

I am not a pastor or theologian or teacher. Just a stay-at-home mom who tries to faithfully "do devotions" and who recently found the courage to tackle the beautiful words of Isaiah. I am just getting into this book, but I find it very helpful as a supplement to my study, particularly as Brother Motyer helps the reader to understand some of the odd Hebrew phrases and words and also the cultural understanding of the oddities. I love words and I love it when a teacher explains the history of a word and how that influences what the author is trying to convey. The book is broken down into easy chunks for a quick devotion each day. No more than about 3 pages each. The Scripture is Brother Motyer's own translation of the text and then beside it are footnotes of the terms, phrases, etc., he brings out to give understanding. A really fun side effect is getting to know Isaiah as a personality! Again, I am just getting into the book, but I like the layout, Brother Motyer's pastoral style, and I am certainly enjoying getting to know Isaiah. All that aside, I am also feeling the effects of the Scripture itself.

Since April last year, this book has been my spiritual companion. It’s called “Isaiah by the Day” and there are 70 readings, but as you can tell, I have certainly not completed it in 70 days. Most of the readings I took 2/3 days over, then of course there was the odd day missed for one reason or another. But what a joyful experience it has been. 9 months spent deeply diving into the phenomenal, poetic masterpiece that is the book of Isaiah.This little hardback essentially just presents you with the text, but in Motyer’s own translation. In the side column, he gives you reasons behind the words he chooses, background and insights into the original language.For example, he explains how ‘to judge’ doesn’t mean ‘to condemn’ but to make whatever decision settles a matter, to ‘put things to rights’. Judgement then, is the revelation of the Lord’s right settlement, his truth, and justice, a state where righteous rule prevails.When we speak of judgement it can carry such negative connotations; to judge, by human standards, is so fraught with difficulty. But with the Lord, judgement is always fair and true and settling. To read it this way in the text changes the angle of what you read.There is also a thought for the day each day, but I didn’t underline many of these. It was the beauty of the text that I fell in love with and indulged myself in. I have struggled not to plaster all my walls in quotes from Isaiah! It has been life changing. I would thoroughly recommend using this journal (and reading each day several times!) I read it like this: Prepare, pause, pray, ponder, praise. (Repeat)

Love motyer's effortless insights and application to the modern day. Great insights into the original, language as side notes if you want them, but the translation is well balanced in its accuracy and accessibility and the 'thought of the day' application at the end is so helpful.

Mother gives us a readable and scholarly view of his opus magna on the prophet Isaiah. Worth taking time to read this

A really great commentary by an outstanding author who was Principal of Trinity Theological College and an outstanding Hebrew scholar. Apart from the thought for the day after every passage, the footnotes which give the Hebrew meaning are very helpful. The translation is his, but he justifies it by explaining the meaning of the Hebrew words. Can be used as a daily devotional or for Bible study or for sermon preparation

Fantastic book, this was a second copy I bought for someone. Isaiah is such a key book in Scripture, but a challenge to tackle by any accounts. This book has really brought it to life for me, and having it in daily very manageable chunks makes Isaiah seem a much less daunting challenge. I highly recommended this book to everyone, from someone who is not an avid reader to the very experienced Pastor. Through this provider, it comes at a great price. Grab a bargain and benefit from the hard work and gift God has given Alec in compacting and yet opening out Isaiah.