Herew Poetry Three Min Chrcteristics of Herew Poetry Terseness Imgery/Symolism Prllelism Herew Prllelism Not Rhythmic Meter, Not Rhyming sounds But rhyming mening- Prllelism Second line somehow reinforces the mening of the first Not 2 distinct thoughts Prov. 20:1 Wine is mocker nd eer ' rwler Amos 8:10 I will turn your religious fests into mourning A (I will turn) nd ll your singing into weeping. A' ellipticl c' I will mke ll of you wer sckcloth B d e f nd shve your heds. C g I will mke tht time like mourning... B' d e' f' nd the end of it like itter dy. B" g'
Types of Correspondence Morphologicl- grmmticl forms- e.g. sme or contrsting ver types Syntcticl- Sentence structure, word order Lexicl (most common) synonyms or ntonyms Types of Prllelism Common Word pirs: Dy Night Heven Erth Good Evil Righteous Wicked Wise Fool etc. Some pirs my sy the sme thing: e.g. pin nd suffering Some pirs, y sying two opposite poles, include everything in etween e.g. from the Est nd from the West = from everywhere Synonymous- 2 nd line resttes sme thought Isih 44:22 I hve swept wy your offenses like cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Pslm 100:4 Enter his gtes with thnksgiving nd his courts with prise c' Antitheticl- 2 nd line resttes the opposite thought Prov. 10:1 A wise son rings joy to his fther, ut foolish son grief to his mother. - - c Prov. 14:34 Righteousness exlts ntion, ut sin is disgrce to ny people. - - c c'
Synthetic- 2 nd line dvnces/ completes the thought (ctch ll) Odih 21 Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountins of Esu. And the kingdom will e the LORD's. Amos 1:7 I will send fire upon the wlls of Gz tht will consume Specil Types of Prllelism d her fortresses. Emlemtic (Comprison) specil type of synonymous Pslm 103:13 As fther hs compssion on his children, so the LORD hs compssion on those who fer him; ' c Stirstep (Repetitive) specil type of synthetic e Joel 1:4 Wht the locust swrm hs left the gret locusts hve eten; wht the gret locusts hve left the young locusts hve eten; wht the young locusts hve left other locusts hve eten. A B A'' B'' A''' B'''
Wht We Lern From Prllelism 1. Interpret the two (or more) lines s one whole thought 2. Lern concepts y the compny they keep. Defines nd Contrst Words i. The lorer's ppetite works for him; his hunger drives him on. -Prov. 16:26 ii. Aove ll, love ech other deeply, ecuse love covers over multitude of sins. I Pet. 4:8 cf. Prov. 10:12- Htred stirs up dissension, ut love covers over ll wrongs.. Defines nd Contrsts Concepts i. Do not nswer fool ccording to his folly, or you will e like him yourself. Answer fool ccording to his folly, or he will e wise in his own eyes. -Prov. 26:4-5 ii. My ll who seek to tke my life e put to shme nd confusion; my ll who desire my ruin e turned ck in disgrce. Ps 40:14 3. Lern y living in their world. seeing ccording to their contemporry thought forms. seeing ccording to their wys of communicting. 4. Lern y looking crefully. Prllelism forces us to red slowly. Prllelism forces us to sk the reltionship of lines 5. Cuts our work in hlf. When we see the two lines s one whole thought. We only hve to del with hlf s mny thoughts c. Helps us comine ides into lrger ides nd helps us see the igger picture d. Sometimes prllelism points out the structure/orgniztion of the pssge 6. Interpret the lines s one whole!
Miscellneous techniques Sometimes word is ssumed, ut not written in the 2 nd line (elipticl) Ps. 50:4 He summons the hevens ove nd the erth, tht he my judge c Sometimes word is then dded to compenste (llst) Prov. 4:1 Listen, my sons, to fther's instruction; py ttention ' nd gin understnding. Chism- The order of the 2 nd line is opposite, forming the pttern X (Gk. chi.) c Pslm 76:1 In Judh his nme is gret God is known; in Isrel. ' Chism my e extended to more thn 2 memers d d' c' ' Chism my extend to lrger structures, verses or whole chpters or ooks A A' B B' C C' D
Acrostic- Ech verse egins with the next letter of the He. Alphet An English Exmple to demonstrte n crostic: At the eginning of time, Before nything existed Cretion hd not yet hppened, Don t look for nything Emptiness is ll you ll find etc. Some Pslms re rrnged s crostics. The most fmous exmple is Pslm 119, which contins eight verses for ech letter of the Herew lphet. Most Biles print the Herew letter s heding for ech section. Ech verse in tht section egins with tht letter. Acrostic form is n id to memoriztion. It is evidence of creful, thoughtful composition. It my lso imply tht the uthor is climing to hve covered the suject from A to Z.