The slow tour through the Bible's longest book (by word count) continues. Standing at the entrance to Jerusalem's temple, Jeremiah accuses the nation's Jews of simply paying lip service to worshipping God. These people are so convinced that their Jewishness alone will rescue them that they are happy hedging their bets by worshipping lots of other gods. God however, is a fan of exclusivity, and the price for Judah's people not giving him their undivided adoration is a costly one. Writt...

There's no telling some people. Judah's Jews assume that they have a free pass when it comes to enjoying the good life. Simply because of an accident of birth and their ethnicity, they feel that God will turn a blind eye to the fact that they have wholeheartedly abandoned him, choosing instead to immerse themselves in pagan religion. Jeremiah has news for these people, and as the title of this podcast suggests, it's not especially good... Written and produced by Chas Bayfield Music by Micae...

It's not easy being an Old Testament prophet. Jeremiah describes the feeling of being stabbed in the heart and writhing in pain. His compatriots seem not only content to turn their backs on God - the 'Big I Am' believed to have set the universe in motion - they are hedging their bets with every other deity then can grab hold of. The prophet describes his people as lusty stallions and adulterous men fired up over other men's wives. It's lurid, but Jeremiah doesn't baulk at telling it how he se...

A sex worker waiting by the road for hook-ups A young camel so on heat she doesn't even need chasing. Such is the out of control idolatry of the nation of Judah. Yet one holy man can see the writing on the wall and is is tasked with warning his people before it's too late and God calls time on their nation. That man is Jeremiah. Join us as Season 20 begins. Written and produced by Chas Bayfield Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music Cover Art by Lisa Goff Send comments and feedba...

The doom and gloom continues - this is a book by an Old Testament prophet after all - but there is also light at the end of the tunnel. Israel will rebound and its people will drink deeply "from her satisfying breasts." The prophet foresees a future where people are not only forgiven by God, he forgets the things they did wrong. Better still, he is planning an entirely new heaven and a new earth where people who have never previously been a part of his cosmic plan are welcomed in. As season f...

“Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.” These words from The Battle Hymn of the Republic embody this passage from Isaiah's epic book. Poetry rises to a crescendo as the prophet explains the euphoria of his people's future hope as well as the brutal punishment which he believes God will rain down on Israel's enemies Written and produced by Chas Bayfield Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music Co...

Doom is coming. The days of all those who fail to follow God wholeheartedly are numbered. Nor is this any kind of fair-weather following. Performative box ticking gets nowhere with God, it seems. Isaiah wants his people to be completely aware of what is coming if they do not undertake a volte face, put away their pagan idols and return to the one deity who has consistently fought their battles and had their back. Enjoy an Old Testament prophet giving it both barrels! Written and produced by...

A childless old woman who is drunk on wine is about as defenceless and vulnerable as life can get in Old Testament times. This woman who represents the city of Jerusalem has been brought down by her own personal four horsemen: ruin, destruction, famine and sword. She is inconsolable and her children are as powerless as she is, lying unconscious on the ground like an antelope caught in a net and which has fainted from fear. The prophet Isaiah is one of literature's great poet...

Hard as it may be to believe that freedom and a return to Jerusalem are just around the corner for Israel's exiled Jews, Isaiah does what he can to impress upon his readers that this is exactly what is about to happen. He also appears to spell out in uncanny detail that a man is coming who will be verbally and physically abused for the wrongdoings of everyone else, and that he will be "a light to the Gentiles." For good reason, Christians see Jesus Christ as this man, making Isaiah one of the...

A shamed princess having to hoist her skirts in order to cross streams, and who sits in the dirt like a commoner. This is how the prophet Isaiah sees the proud empire of Babylon. It seems improbable, but Isaiah believes anything is possible with his God. Right now, God is predicting that his own people will be freed from Babylonian captivity without bloodshed or money changing hands, and that the mighty Babylonian Empire is about to face its own catatsrophic fall. Written and produced by Ch...

A man who will be "a light to the Gentiles" and who will "open the eyes of the blind and set the prisoners free." It's easy to see how Christians believe Isaiah was predicting the arrival of Jesus. But the prophet promises action much sooner, and much closer to home. In a move unprecedented in Near Eastern history, Persia's king will set his Israelite captives free. Isaiah predicts this, and its easy to see how people join the dots: if the prophet called the release from exile ahead o...

In this episode, we identify Lilith, a Jewish myth figure believed to have been married both to Adam and the Angel of Death. Isaiah also appears to predict New Testament holy man, John the Baptist, writes my favourite verse in the entire Bible, gets embroiled in a plagiarism battle and appears to hand his quill to another scribe. Quite an episode. Written and produced by Chas Bayfield Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music Cover art by Lisa Goff Send any comments or feedback to contact...

As the title suggests, Isaiah doesn't pull any punches. If graphic and repulsive use of bodily fluids as a metaphor get his readers' attention, the prophet is all in. However, anyone looking for action and adventure may be disappointed; in Isaiah's book, the drama is all in the writing. If you want a quintessential raging Old Testament prophet so incandescent that he tips into apocalyptic language, look no further.

Isaiah's tirade against Israel's neighbours continues, and with it come vivid descriptions of Near Eastern Mediterranean trade in the eighth century BC. But God's fury doesn't stop with pagan kingdoms and empires; Judah too is in the firing line. Oh, and in this episode, the prophet also strips naked, and remains "au naturel" for three years. Truly, there is nothing in the Bible quite like the Book of Isaiah!

If you picture in your head a robed, beared prophet raging with florid language at at a nation that isn't listening to him, you are probably thinking of Isaiah. In this episode, he launches a broadside against nations who he believes are enemies of God. These are Israel's near neighbours and the prophet foresees disaster for each and every one of them. Enjoy the schadenfreude. WARNING: THIS EPISODE MENTIONS RAPE AND INFANT DEATH Written and produced by Chas Bayfield Music by Michael Auld an...

"Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." It's no wonder that these words written some 800 years before the birth of Jesus make the prophet Isaiah such a favourite with Christians, especially at Christmas. However, before Jesus arrives to save the day, things are going to get worse for Israel. Much, much worse. Written and produced by Chas Bayfield Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music Cover art by Lisa Goff Send any comments or feedback to contct@wh...

It's easy to see the Bible as fable, a kind of religious fairy tale with a moralistic sting in its tail. Passages like this one show that much of the book is rooted in actual historical events. These chapters are a snapshot of the late eighth century BC Middle East. The prophet Isaiah is begging the king of one of these nations (Ahaz of Judah) not to enter an alliance with two others (Israel and Aram) against the threat of an invasion from the Assyrian Empire. Instead, Ahaz should rely on God...

The poetry books are over and now it's time for the prophets to step up. These are the maverick outsiders, the truth tellers who appear able to channel the word of God and to warn their nations of the danger of turning their backs on him. Of all the men who rage through the pages of these books, Isaiah is perhaps the most quintessential, and certainly the most poetic. He is also much beloved of Christians, as he makes what appear to be pin sharp predictions of Jesus sone seven hundred years b...

How this book made it into the Bible is a mystery. Why it rarely gets a outing in church services us not surprising.; The Song of Songs is steamy stuff, so much so we've had to put an 'explicit content' warning on this episode. Some see the book as a metaphor for God's love for his church, others see a gentleman delighting in the aromatic fruits of a lady's garden as a wholly different kind of metaphor. Enjoy Written and produced by Chas Bayfield Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music ...

In a book that rarely veers away form blank negativity and abject realism, the Teacher in Ecclesiastes gives readers yet another reality check: The fast don’t always win the race nor are the strong guaranteed to prevail in battle. The wise don’t always have enough to eat, the brilliant aren’t always rich and everyone is subject to the vagaries of time and chance. We simply make the most of the cards we are dealt and find joy where we can. (It'll come as no surprise that Ecclesiast...