About two months into my journey I prayed to know what was the most important thing I could do to make spiritual progress. As I read my scriptures, I got the very faintest of a hint, "Read Isaiah." I wasn't sure it was a real prompting, so I halfheartedly did a little reading but just felt confused.
Two months after I got the prompting, I finally got serious about studying Isaiah. I had been introduced to Avraham Gileadi's Isaiah translation by LDS Perfect Day. His translation is written in contemporary English and formatted to reveal parallelisms, both of which help make it easier to understand. First I tried reading it straight, but I didn't get more than three chapters in without still feeling totally lost. Then I started listening to the analytical commentary while reading each chapter, and that helped a LOT. Gileadi does a great job explaining what the verses are talking about. I still think I'd have trouble reading Isaiah straight and understanding it, but I certainly understand a lot more than I did a year ago. And I can testify that he DEFINITELY saw our day. The scriptures mention multiple times that we need to study Isaiah - and for good reason. It will help open your spiritual eyes.
