Jeremiah 23:1-6 comes at the conclusion of what exegetes are calling Jeremiah's Little Book of Kings (21:11-23:8 ). It is an oracle that can be divided into six parts: it opens with a "Woe"statement about the shepherds of Judah (1-2), moves on to a future look into what God will do for the exiles (3-4), and concludes with an oracle about the Messiah, the shoot of David (5-6). All throughout these verses, the figure of "Zedekiah" is like an image over which is imposed another image: the action of God for the remnant of His people. Zedekiah is the last king of Judah. In 587 BC Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians, the sons of Zedekiah executed and Zedekiah himself was blinded, rendered incapable of restoring his reign. The year also begins the exile of Judah; it was then that in Israel, there was no king, no temple and no people.

The Woe Oracles we find in Isaiah 5:8-25 and 10:1-4 probably made up a literary whole before a redactor or a series of redactors inserted the materials currently separating them. As these are now found in Isaiah 4:2-12:6, they are the prophet's laments over a group of people that has contributed to the downfall of Israel which now (in a date after the Babylonian exile and coinciding with the time of the third Isaiah?) awaits the coming of a New Messiah and a New Jerusalem. There is a redactional phrase that connects these oracles together leading to the last vision of Yahweh's victory in battle in Isaiah 66:24: "for all this, his wrath is not turned back and his hand is still outstretched" (Isaiah 5:25b, 9:20b, 10:4b).

Isaiah 22:15-25 is easily distinguished from the surrounding oracles. Isaiah 23:1 begins with the title "Oracle over Tyre" while Isaiah 22:14 is the end of an oracle about a Valley called "of Vision" (Hinnom valley?) and a treachery that occurred there, of a king who did not heed Yahweh. Internally, Isaiah 22:15-25 has a literary cohesion marked by a movement of demotion (15-18), a movement of promotion (19-24) which is followed by the movement of fall (25). The whole of the section is dominated by what happens to two named persons, Shebna and Eliakim.

Isaiah 55:10-11 forms part of an invitation to life through sincere repentance. The word of God is such that whether one likes it or not, it will restore peace to Israel. But only those who will approach God will enjoy its benefits.