In his Concentricity and Continuity: The Literary Structure of Isaiah (Library Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies) , Robert H. O’Connell argues that “the formal structure of the book of Isaiah comprises seven asymmetrically concentric sections, each of which presents a complex frameworking pattern of repetitions among its subunits, and that the rhetoric of the book is closest to that of the prophetic covenant disputation” (pp. 19-20).

Because Isaiah isn’t arranged chronologically, O’Connell’s “primary task . . . was to discover whether it was possible to discern a recognizable pattern of arrangement among the blocks of text that make up the book of Isaiah.” He “proceeded under the assumption that the blocks of text or ‘tiers’ were indeed arranged according to recognizable patterns of repetition. The scheme of repetition patterns formed by these tiers could then be called ‘tiered architecture.’ An assumption that a scheme of tiered architecture is the means by which blocks of material had been arranged in Isaiah offered multiple possibilities for recognizing the controlling patterns by which the book may have been arranged” (p. 23).

He elaborates:

“the main sections of Isaiah were constructed according to a formal pattern of repetition that I call ‘complex frameworking.’ In the Isaianic structuring of materials, complex frameworking involves the use of both triadic and quadratic repetition patterns. This is merely a permutation of the binary pattern of correspondence (inclusio) that one typically finds in symmetrical concentric structures. A ‘triadic frame’ comprises a triple statement of a key word, phrase or thematic block in which two of the statements lie near or next to one another but are separated from the third by some major structural barrier. The materials that separate the two (ostensibly) juxtaposed statements from the third statement could be viewed as the axis of an asymmetrically concentric pattern” (p. 24).

He cites as an example the repetition of “Awake, awake” in chapter 51 It appears in verse 9, and then again in v. 17 and 52:1. The repetition at the beginning, and then a doubling of the repetition at the end, frames the intervening verses. Sometimes (as in 43:16-21), there is a doubling at either end of a section: Redemption through water appears at 43:16-17, and again in verses 19-20, framing the verses in between (p. 24).

A similar technique on a much larger scale is the frame oncerning Babylon in chapters 13—14 (double prophecy), which matches the prophecy about Babylon’s eventual invasion of Judah in 39:1-8. Within that double-single frame is a single-double pattern concerning Assyria: The taunt against Assyria in 14:24-25 is matched by the double “taunt” against Assyria in 36:1-37:20 and 37:22-35 (p. 26).

Identifying these complex framing devices, O’Connell arrives at an overall outline of the book: “The seven main sections of the book include: an exordium, which focuses on an appeal for covenant reconciliation (1:1-2:5), two structurally analogous accusatory threats of judgment (2:6a-21 denouncing cultic sins; 3:1-4:1 denouncing social crimes), two structurally analogous schemes for the punishment and restoration of Zion and the nations (4:2-11:16; 13:1-39:8), an exoneration of YHWH (40:1-54:17) and a final ultimatum, which again appeals for covenant reconciliation (55:1-66:24). Perhaps as a means of lending coherence to the whole, the hierarchical branching pattern of 40:1-54:17 permutes the structural schemata of 2:6a-21 and 3:1-4:1; likewise, the concentric pattern of 55:1-66:24 echoes the schemata of4:2-11:16 and 13:1-39:8” (p. 20).