The Role of Zion/Jerusalem in Isaiah 40-55: A Corpus-Linguistic Approach

In The Role of Zion/Jerusalem in Isaiah 40–55: A Corpus-Linguistic Approach Reinoud Oosting offers a linguistic and literary analysis of the Biblical Hebrew text of Isaiah 40-55, focusing on the depiction of Zion/Jerusalem in these chapters. The analysis shows that the designations 'Zion' and 'Jerusalem' are not used interchangeably but are instead two sides of the same coin. The name 'Zion' is related to the return of the Israelite exiles from Babylon, while the name ‘Jerusalem’ is related to the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem. Concentrating on the linguistic and literary features of Isaiah 40-55, Reinoud Oosting proves that the signals in the text are extremely helpful for current readers to grasp the meaning of this ancient text.

Reinoud Oosting, Ph.D. (2011), VU University Amsterdam, is currently doing postdoctoral research on the Old Testament at Leiden University. He has published several articles on the linguistic and literary features of poetic and prophetic texts in the Hebrew Bible.