130. - Collection Point® | The Total Digital Asset Management System

1. Investigating Structure 55
a *7ip v. 1 (or bip 2x, cf. vaa, an vv. 1-2)
aa an v. 1
b inn v. 3
c -otfo v. 4
d Kfe)3D V. 5
e iny, DJ>n, ma vv. 6, 7, 8 (or dd ova v. 6
vro ran v. 7 e. ..QJJvv. 6-8
dd' '0'3 v. 9)
f "an* 1 ? V. 10
nrrm
mnn
mm
nrvm
•wire
e 1 'oi>, Mann v. 11
c' ratfai v. 12
d' 'Kfc» v. 14
b' nini/'D v. 15
aa' mi v. 16
a' Vipn v. 17 (or Vip, 131 vv. 16-17)
We have not used vv. 18-20, and should presumably regard them as
the work of a later redactor. We could perhaps even argue that the
top' in v. 20 is intended to correspond with the topn of v. 17.
In addition to this verbal pattern, we might note that vv. 1-4, 10-
13, and 16-17 have (or can be regarded as having) a judgment or
lamentation tone, whereas vv. 5-9 and 14-15 are more related to
salvation, hope and promise.
On the basis of this experiment we may conclude:
1. A mechanical plotting of similar words means nothing. We
must take account of the overall thought of a passage. In
other words, our account of the structure of a passage must
be confirmed by independent form- and literary-critical
conclusions.
2. Coincidences occur. One of the most striking here is that at
the centre of our overall chiasmus we have a chiastic verse. 1
1. While carrying out some exploratory calculations I discovered that chs. 1-33
and 34-66 contain 642 verses each. Using the old fashioned way of doing addition,
the tens and units columns of the sum of the verses in each chapter are also equal! I
do not know whether this is coincidence or not—if I did it would prove something.