Who speaks in Isaiah 55.1? Notes on the communicative structure in Isaiah 55

Abstract

Although most exegetes consider God or Lady Wisdom to be the speaker in Isa. 55.1-3, the one who speaks in v. 1 is the personified Lady Zion. She is present in this first scene of the chapter, as an analysis of the enclitic personal pronoun (v. 5) makes clear. She answers her God after being addressed several times in ch. 54 and therefore begins a dialogue which is continued by YHWH himself and closed by a commentator. © 2005 SAGE Publications.