484 Csaba Balogh Obviously, the literary parallelism is structured on the synonyms ˆsj, ‘treasure, wealth, stronghold’, and rx;/a, ‘supplies, treasure(house), o storeroom’ (32). In both lines of the parallelism the two synonyms form the predicate of the sentence, ˆsj...hyhw and wrxwa ayh respectively (33). But synonymous parallelism generally implies that other elements of the two verse lines also function similarly. On a syntactic level, ˚yt[ tnwma is said to become ˆsj, just as hwhy tary [...] will be rxwa for Zion / Judah (34). This note is important, for this makes it probable that the 2nd masc. suffix in ÚyT,[i, does not refer to Judah, as usually understood, but to YHWH, as the parallel hwhy tary suggests. ˚yt[ tnwma, “the steadfastness of your (God’s) times”, may mean that God’s time (permanence) is not affected by the course of history, in contrast to destroyers and treacherous ones who come and go. The destroyer is a temporary figure (cf. 33,1). A similar idea (God’s permanence and the passing-away Chaldean oppressor) appears in Hab 1,12 (35). t[wvy ˆsj is “treasure of salvation”, or perhaps better, “stronghold of salvation”, or a “saving stronghold” (36). As YHWH’s hnwma is Judah’s ˆsj, so is hwhy tary its treasure room (rxwa). The form of this verse as addressing YHWH in the first instance (˚yt[), and referring to Judah in the 3rd pers. (wrxwa) makes it difficult to consider it as directly continuing v. 5. Yet in order to clarify its provenance and intention one has to analyse the entire prophecy first. V. 7 is considered the beginning of a new unit, strophe or prophecy because of the discontinuity with v. 6. However, v. 7 is an unusual beginning for a new text. The logical discrepancy is caused by v. 6, which if removed for the moment, vv. 7-9 fit perfectly as a follow-up (32) For the parallelism, see also Jer 20,5 and Isa 23,18 (verbs rxa and ˆsj). (33) E. KÖNIG, Das Buch Jesaja (Gütersloh 1927) 286-287 and NRSV consider YHWH to be the implicit subject of hyhw, but that distorts the parallelism. (34) The masc. hyhw before tnwma is strange, but grammatically not impossible. It may be due to the masc. gender of the addressee (cf. the suffix of Úyt[). See hyhw in Job 8,7 (cf. Gen 10,10); Mic 5,6.7; cf. also yhyw with fem. nouns in Gen 35,5; 39,5; Ex 17,12 (cf. 1 Sam 5,9; 7,13; 12,5; 1 Chr 4,10); Josh 17,9; 19,1.33; 21,20; 1 Chr 6,21. (35) The steadfastness of YHWH means that μdqm hta, “you are from everlasting” and twmt al, “you will not die” (pre-massoretic text), unlike the enemy, which emerges at one point in history and quickly passes away (Hab 1,6-11). (36) In Ps 89,9 ˆysij} and hnwma are also related to YHWH. Cf. also Aramaic aynsj, ‘fortification’, ‘stronghold’ in KAI 202B:8. For YHWH as the stronghold of salvation, i.e. a powerful building, see 2 Sam 22,51, where he is the “tower of salvation”, tw[wvy lwdgm, for the king. Similarly, in Ps 28,8 God is tw[wvy zw[m, “stronghold of salvation”, for his anointed one.