No Rhyme, assonants, concept based.

Periodic accentuation. Units formulated.Contrasts in ideas.

There are poetry in almost every book, especially in Prophets. Prophets were proclaiming heart of God to God’s people.

Poetic form was easy to remember.

The bible never uses the word “poetry”.

There is no such things as poetry in the OT, what we see is more of a continuum of literature, a listing of basic events on one end to a heightened rhetoric of parallelism on the other end of the continuum.

Irregularities in meter and syntax.

Uses lines as basic units of building blocks.

Monatic – One lineDiatic – Two linesTiatic – Three linesStrophe – made of group of lines, like paragraph, that are range or develop of one idea.

Verse 7 and 11 both end with “the God of Jacob is our fortress.

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Structuring of lines in such a way that they exhibit patterns of literary symmetry and balance. Structure creates balance of vocabulary, form and structure of text, and meaning and thoughts or ideas.

Parallelism

Synonymous ParallelismLine 1 = line 2 in meaning (not popular)Antithetic ParallelismLine 1 is the opposite of line 2 in meaningSynthetic ParallelismLine 2 in some way completes line 1

Hebrew poetry may be understood as A, what’s more, B.

(Synthetic, but ties to Synonymous and Antithetic)

Held to the same view as Kugel. Intensification of meaning.

Complete ParallelismCompensatory ParallelismElliptical ParallelismChiastic ParallelismAntithetical Parallelism

Every element in line 1 has a counterpart in line 2.

Psalm 49, verses 1 and 2.Hear this vs Give earAll peoples vs All inhabitants of the worldLow and high vs Rich and poor.

Number of elements in line 1 is equals the number of elements in line 2, but one element from line 1 is dropped and replaced with something else in line 2.

Psalm 24 verse 1.Missing “Lord’s” from line 1 and replaced with “therein” in line 2

An element in line 1 is dropped out but nothing added to line 2.

Psalm 25:4 – “Lord” is dropped out from line 1.

First element of line 1 corresponds to the last element of line 2.Line 1: A – B – C & Line 2: C – B – ALine 1: A – B – C & Line 2: B – A

Psalm 51 – ABBA ParallelismA – For I knowB – My TransgressionB – My SinA – Ever before meMiddle element is the center of the meaning.Sin (transgression) is the central point of this verse

Line 2 is opposite to line 1

Psalm 90 verse 6 – Flourishes and Withers

Narrative Verse ParallelismCause and effect ParallelismPurpose Verse ParallelismQuestion and answer ParallelismComparative Verse ParallelismQualifying Verse Parallelism

Line 2 builds on the narrative of line 1

Psalm 37:32 – Line 2 builds on line 1 to show why wicked keeps watch on righteous.

Line 2 will open with the word “because” or “for”

Psalm 37:24

Line 2 begins with a word “that” or “in order that”

Psalm 119:11

Asks and answers a question

Proverbs 27:4, answer is “no one”

Element in line 1 is compared to line 2

Proverbs 21:9 – It is better…

Line 2 qualifies the statement in line 1

Proverbs 3:27

Emblematic ParallelismClimatic Parallelism (staircase parallelism)Numerical Parallelism

Line 1 contains a figure that is compared to line 2, using the word “like” or “as”.

Proverbs 11:22

2 or 3 words in successive lines creating emphasis

Psalm 96:1

Same as Climatic, but uses numbers

Proverbs 6:16