Written by Peter Rodriguez
Available in other languages: Português
POETRY IN THE BIBLE
Poetry is a very common literary feature in the Bible.
So, being able to understand it well is very helpful to understand the Bible.
We can find poetic elements even outside the called poetic books (Psalms, Job, Song of Songs, etc). They also appear in long sections of narrative books, prophetic oracles, and also in the works of New Testament writers. Understanding the poetic structures found in the Bible will be very important for reading this series, Light in Babylon, as well as for the other series and Bible studies you will find on this website.
For this series, the most relevant aspect of biblical poetry is parallelism.
SYNONYMOUS PARALLELISM
It is easier to understand with an example: “Hear this, all peoples; give ear, all inhabitants of the world.” (Psalm 49:1)
Simplistically put, the concept is that the second line restates the first using other terms: “hear” means the same as “give ear,” and “all peoples” are “all inhabitants of the world.” It is poetical and pleasing to the ear. It creates a tone that is solemn, dramatic, and even wise. It is more impactful to begin a speech with, “Hear this, all peoples; give ear, all inhabitants of the world” (Psalm 49:1) than simply saying “Hear this, all peoples.”
Another example: “A false witness shall not be acquitted; a breather of lies shall not be delivered.” (Proverbs 19:5)
Again, the second line repeats the first using other terms: “false witness” is the same as “breather of lies,” and “acquitted” means the same as “delivered.”
As you can see, the parallel words here share the same color. In this series, parallel terms in Bible verses will be color-coded to help readers identify them more easily and to avoid constant reminders that those terms are parallel. Terms with the same or related meanings will share the same color.
Eventually, your eyes will become trained, and you will be able to identify parallelisms at a glance.
You will not be able to stop noticing them when reading the Bible.
ANTITHETIC PARALLELISM
Parallelism can also use contrasting terms, which is called antithetic parallelism.
For example: “A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother.” (Proverbs 10:1)
“The Hebrew poets frequently express a sentiment with the utmost brevity and simplicity, illustrated by no circumstances, adorned with no epithets, (which in truth they seldom use); they afterwards call in the aid of ornament; they repeat, they vary, they amplify the same sentiment; and adding one or more sentences which run parallel to each other, they express the same or a similar, and often a contrary sentiment, in nearly the same form of words. Of these three modes of ornament, at least, they make the most frequent use, namely, the amplification of the same ideas, the accumulation of others, and the opposition or antithesis of such as are contrary to each other: they dispose the corresponding sentences in regular distichs adapted to each other, and of an equal length, in which, for the most part, things answer to things, and words to words, […]” (Robert Lowth, Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews)
Another example: “The tongue of the wise adorns knowledge, but the mouth of fools babbles nonsense.” (Proverbs 15:2)
CHIASM
There is also the chiasm, when the outer parts of a text correspond, and the central idea forms the focus.
“The sabbath was made for mankind, not mankind for the sabbath” (Mark 2:27) The focus and purpose of the sabbath day is the benefit of human beings. The verse shows that it is for this very reason that God established the Sabbath day and commanded us to keep it.
Another example: “None is able to serve two lords, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to the one and reject the other; you are not able to serve God and Mammon.” (Matthew 6:24) The central point here is the choice of whom to love and devote ourselves. A similar thing involves choosing whom to reject and hate (hatred in the sense of rejection, as also indicated by the parallelism). The fact that we cannot serve two lords at the same time—God and Mammon—is both the introduction and conclusion of the discussion about to whom we will hold and love.
POETRY AND TRANSLATION
“Poetry is what gets lost in translation.”
But things are different when it comes to Semitic poetry.
As we’ve seen, Semitic poetry often relies on meanings rather than sounds. It often does not depend on specific word endings or phonetic patterns, which rarely align between languages. Instead of rhyming sounds, Semitic poetry creates a “rhyme” of ideas using parallel structures. This is easier to translate and makes easier to preserve the text’s original beauty across the many languages. “[…] a poem translated literally from the Hebrew into the prose of any other language, whilst the same forms of the sentences remain, will still retain, even as far as relates to versification, much of its native dignity, […].” (Robert Lowth, Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews)
As mentioned, another reason a literal translation approach is prioritized in this series is to preserve the poetic devices used by the biblical writers.
For example, this is a literal translation of Job 10:5: “As the days of a human are your days? Your years as the days of a man?” (Job 10:5) As you can see, there is a chiasm in that passage. Essentially, the second line is repeating what was said in the first using other terms. But instead of repeating what was said in the first line, as the biblical writer did, a certain non-literal translation summarizes and renders the entire verse as: “Is your life as short as ours?” (Job 10:5 GNT)
But in condensating that verse, useful information was lost (as you may have already realized or will later realize).
And in our haste, to avoid repetition, for the sake of brevity, we sacrificed beauty and art as well.
“The purpose of Poetry is to instruct while it gives pleasure; instruction being the end, and pleasure the means […]. […] adorned with all the more splendid colouring of language, magnificently sublime in the sentiments, aniniated by the most padietic expression, and diversified and embellished by figurative diction and poetical imagery; such are almost all the remaining productions of the prophets.” (Robert Lowth, Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews)
Indeed, “the tongue of the wise adorns knowledge, but the mouth of fools babbles nonsense.” (Proverbs 15:2)
IMPORTANCE OF PARALLELISMS IN THIS SERIES
Why is this series introduction discussing Semitic poetry and how to recognize it in the text?
Because through the poetical devices used by the sacred writers, we can acquire many useful information that will help us when studying the Bible. Understanding parallelisms helps us better grasp how biblical writers used certain words and expressions. We can have a better understanding about the thought the biblical writer is trying to convey with his words.
As one line adds meaning to another, clarifying and refining it, we gain clear understanding concerning its meaning.
For example, what does the expression “son of man”, that we often see in the Bible, mean? We can discover the meaning also through parallelism: “To you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men.” (Proverbs 8:4) Therefore, “son of man” is the same as “man.” The biblical writer is simply repeating what was already said using other terms (indeed, a man’s son is a man).
Thus, through poetry, we can understand better the meaning of many words and expressions.
This will be useful in our studies.
(For more on parallelism and Semitic poetry, see: The Art of Biblical Poetry by Robert Alter, Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews by Robert Lowth, or Introduction to Biblical Interpretation by William W. Klein, Craig L. Blomberg, and Robert L. Hubbard Jr.)
