Chiasmus in the Text of Isaiah: MT Isaiah versus the Great Isaiah Scroll

Donald W. Parry, “Chiasmus in the Text of Isaiah: MT Isaiah versus the Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa^a),” examines textual variants in sixteen randomly selected chiastic structures in the book of Isaiah. His objective is to determine whether textual variants belonging to 1QIsa^a or the Masoretic Text (MT) of Isaiah impact the structure or clarity of one or more of the particular chiastic elements in each example of chiasmus. He concludes that many of these variants are consequential, consisting of various content words, changes, pluses, and minuses; other variants are minor and pertain to conjunctions, articles, prepositions, the paragogic nûn, the directional hê, and the like. Furthermore, some of the variants are identifiable as scribal errors (e.g., haplography, harmonization, dittography, confusion of graphic sets, plus others), while one is a well-known euphemism, and several constitute indeterminate readings. In sum, it becomes evident that ten of the sixteen structures present textual variants that impact the clarity and significance of the chiasmus.