[1] Fragments containing parts of this chapter were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls (3rd century BCE or later):[2] There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE.

Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B;

The mashal,[9] or the parable against the king of Babylon is the oracle revealed to Isaiah the prophet.

The song in verses 4b–21 could be secondarily applied to Sargon II, who died in 705 BCE and whose body was never recovered from the battlefield and thus never buried.

Here, Sargon ("King of Assyria" in Isaiah 20:1) is called the "King of Babylon" because from 710–707 BCE he ruled in Babylon and even reckoned his regnal year on this basis (as seen in Cyprus Stela, II.