Shared significant words in Isaiah 53 to 55

How far can one get with words?  It just so happens that I was today preparing for a session at the university tomorrow on the mysticism of Rumi and this snippet came my way from Jawid Mojaddedi, Professor of Religion at Rutgers University. [2014 Distinguished Lecture in Islam: Understanding Rumi’s Place Within the Sufi Tradition. 7:00pm, UVIC HSD Room A240] His area of research is early and medieval Sufism. Since the publication of his translation, The Masnavi: Book One, which was awarded the 2004 Lois Roth Prize, he has been working towards completing the six books of Jalal al-Din Rumi’s magnum opus. In addition, he has also published the monograph Beyond Dogma: Rumi’s Teachings on Friendship with God and Early Sufi Theories (Oxford University Press, 2012).

Well I am not a mystic, nor am I a dervish. Nor am I of Islam, though I do occasionally submit to the obedience of faith as noted in the frame of the Epistle to the Romans in the New Testament (in case you were wondering). I pursue words and it is true that water will not disturb them. This is a nice little parable.

So of Isaiah, much could be said on the prophet's use of words. It is clear that dividing them from each other in a dictionary will obscure the oral aspect of the prophecy. So I let the words be compared on the basis of their shared root or prepositional / pronomial form (where the root is lacking). One cannot hear the similarities in translation, but one can see them if the translator is careful. Here are the words shared by all three chapters. I have removed a bunch of prepositions, particles, and the divine names (על,לא,את,אלוה,יהוה,כי,לו,אשׁר,תחת) from the following. Otherwise there are too many to look at.

If three consecutive chapters use 8 words (or 17 if you count the exclusions) in common, does it follow that their content is shared? My experience in the psalms would say yes. It is rare for a triplet of consecutive chapters to share so many words. It is pretty clear from the following that these wrods are in a circular structure with  verses 1-11 of chapter 54 in the middle of it. Chapter 55, 11-13 are a coda for the section.

Shared Words in Isaiah chapters 53,54,55

Word / gloss	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Vs	Stem
seed וזרוע	░								53.1	זרע
earth, land מארץ		░							53.2	ארץ
peace שׁלומנו			░						53.5	שׁלם
water מי				░					53.8	מים
מארץ		░							53.8	ארץ
give ויתן					░				53.9	נתן
wicked רשׁעים						░			53.9	רשׁע
do, make עשׂה							░		53.9	עשׂה
please, delight חפץ								░	53.10	חפץ
זרע	░								53.10	זרע
וחפץ								░	53.10	חפץ
יטו					░				54.2	נתן
וזרעך	░								54.3	זרע
עשׂיך							░		54.5	עשׂה
הארץ		░							54.5	ארץ
מי				░					54.9	מים
מי				░					54.9	מים
הארץ		░							54.9	ארץ
שׁלומי			░						54.10	שׁלם
חפץ								░	54.12	חפץ
שׁלום			░						54.13	שׁלם
למעשׂהו							░		54.16	עשׂה
תרשׁיעי						░			54.17	רשׁע
למים				░					55.1	מים
רשׁע						░			55.7	רשׁע
מארץ		░							55.9	ארץ
הארץ		░							55.10	ארץ
ונתן					░				55.10	נתן
זרע	░								55.10	זרע
לזרע	░								55.10	זרע
עשׂה							░		55.11	עשׂה
חפצתי								░	55.11	חפץ
ובשׁלום			░						55.12	שׁלם