[1] Chapters 40-55 are known as "Deutero-Isaiah" and date from the time of the Israelites' exile in Babylon.

[2][3] The latter two write that "The idea of a 'servant' played a small part in the earlier chapters, being used as a designation of the unworthy Eliakim in 22:20 and of the figure of David in 37:35, but it now comes to the fore as a description of major significance, the noun being used more than 20 times in chs.

Its first usage is obviously important in establishing the sense in which we are to understand it, and here it is clear that the community of Israel/Jacob is so described.

[4] Fragments containing parts of this chapter were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls (3rd century BC or later): 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 Synoptic Gospels each allude to verse 1 in their accounts of the Baptism of Jesus, when the Holy Spirit descends like a dove upon Jesus and a "voice from heaven" acclaims Him as "My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

Isaiah 42:11 also mentions that the people of "Sela" - interpreted here as the mountain of Sela near present-day Medina, Saudi Arabia - would "sing for joy" and "shout from the mountain tops", and so interpret this passage as prophesising the coming of Muhammad and his migration to Medina.