Questions tagged [poetry]
Questions about biblical texts belonging to the genre of Poetry, or ambiguous texts that may or may not be poetic
27 questions
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Did Jesus teach the Lord's Prayer in poetic verses?
Apropos the BHE question "but" deliver us from evil.
Some scholars like Jack Kilmon have attempted a retro-translation of the Lord's Prayer into Aramaic, the language believed to have been ...
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The beloved shepherd isn't Solomon?
The woman says "my beloved" and "I love" when she talks about a shepherd:
Tell me, O you whom I love, Where you feed your flock, Where you make
it rest at noon. For why should I ...
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What is the connection between Y-H-V-H's battle with the dragon and creation in Psalms 74?
Psalms 74:13-17 recounts a series of victories of Y-H-V-H. The first couplet documents victories in battle against both the Canaanite chaos sea snake [1] and the sea monster Leviathan [2]:
אַתָּ֤ה ...
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Does Hosea 14:5-7 echo the themes of Song of Songs?
Hosea 14:5-7 NIV
5 I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon, he will send down his roots; 6 his young shoots will grow. His splendor will be like an ...
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Isaiah 41:1 use of the terms "coastlands" and "islands" a reference to heathen nations as in any nation Other Than the chosen nation of Israel
Isaiah 41:1 NASB 1995
“Coastlands, listen to Me in silence, And let the peoples gain new strength; Let them come forward, then let them speak; Let us come together for judgment.
Isaiah 41:1 NKJV
“...
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Isaiah 33:15(d) "He who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed" modern 21st century English translation issue
In most of the English translations of Isaiah 33:15, when it comes to Isaiah 33:15 (d)
Isaiah 33:15 (d) He who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed
it seems like there might have been a ...
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Viewing (Isaiah 8:5-12) as modern day's Christian journaling of Godly Revelations & Personal Declaration
(Closely related Posting: Nature, tone, speakers & audiences of the Isaiah 8:5-10 bible passage )
This is just a theory. If you think about some ministries like Mark Virkler's ministries ( https:...
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Nature, tone, speakers & audiences of the Isaiah 8:5-10 bible passage
Isaiah 8:5-12 New American Standard Bible 1995
5 Again the Lord spoke
to me further, saying,
6 “Inasmuch as these people have rejected the gently flowing waters of
Shiloah And rejoice in Rezin and the ...
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How big were the giants of Amos 2:9 (Amorites) really? Is it poetic, or literal?
Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. - Amos 2:9
I'...
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Is Proverbs 22:19 repetitive emphasis on “you” just an example of Poetic device’s alliteration or are three multiple-layers of reasons for it?
I might just be asking something obvious.
Is Proverbs 22:19 repetitive emphasis on “you” just an example of Poetic device’s alliteration or are three multiple-layers of reasons for it?
Proverbs 22:19
...
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Is the speaker in Psalm 22:1 forsaken literally or poetically?
The well-known Psalm 22 begins with the following as the first verse (KJV):
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
It is ...
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Does special formatting come from ancient manuscripts?
In some translations, 1 John 2:12-14 is formatted like a poem, or a song. It made me wonder why. I see no footnotes to suggest it's a quote from another passage, so it occurred to me to ask whether ...
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Are there practical rules for distinguishing between literal and nonliteral expressions?
A question that comes up all the time for me is whether a particular passage, word, or phrase, is intended to be taken literally or nonliterally. I see a lot of work has been done to split the Bible ...
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Isaiah 12:2 God is my salvation vs he has become my salvation
Isaiah 12:2 (NIV)
Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense;
he has become my salvation.”
What is the significance between ...
user35953
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Does God speak in poetry in Genesis 1?
I am learning to read and speak Hebrew with the goal of being able to read the Torah, and am reading Genesis 1 (https://biblehub.com/interlinear/genesis/1.htm).
I am reading in Hebrew what God is ...
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Were the words changed to preserve alliteration in Ecclesiastes 12:6-7?
Ecclesiastes 12:6-7 NIV reads:
Remember him—before the silver cord is severed,
and the golden bowl is broken;
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
and the wheel broken at the well,
Each ...
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The logic of Songs 1:5-6
Song of Songs 1:5-6 reads:
"Black am I but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon; do not look at me because I am black-ish, because the sun has looked ...
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Is John 3:8 an allusion to Ecclesiastes 11:5?
In John 3:8 Jesus is talking to the Pharisee and senior Jewish figure Nicodemus.
"The wind bloweth where it listesth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and ...
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Is 1Thess 1:10 a piece of early christian poetry?
I was reading a peroratio of 1Thess (5:16-22) recently and I had some feeling of rhytmicity there. After closer look the issue seems to be not so simple so I gave up with it for a moment.
However in ...
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In Genesis 1:26, is there a play on the Hebrew words translated "image" and "likeness" to represent male and female?
I do not know Hebrew but will often look up keywords in passages to get deeper meaning out of passages. I was studying the creation story (namely the creation of mankind) and looked at the words ...
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Why is the description of Leviathan much longer than the Behemoth's in Job?
Towards the end of God's speech in the book of Job, he presents to Job two seeming beasts: Behemoth and Leviathan. These two seem to be somewhat parallel to each other, the former perhaps being the ...
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Is Genesis 1 a type of Hebrew Poem?
Is Genesis 1 structured so that there is a general category and then with what will fill it, which would be a type of Hebrew poem of parallel ideas? In this case day one (light), would relate to day ...
Norman Wise
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Our Father in Heaven prayer -- prose or verse?
I happened to read a write-up presented by Rev. Jack Kilmon, Bible scholar and researcher in his website "Scriptorium". Kilmon has attempted a retro-translation of the 'Our Father in Heaven' prayer ...
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In Psalm 68:4 and Psalm 135:1 how are contractions formed in Hebrew and how does YHWH become Yah?
Psalm 68:4 expresses the name of God as Yah. This seems obvious related to the name of God as he expounded it to Moses in Exodus 3:14. We also see the two directly connected in passages such as Psalm ...
user2027
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Does the acrostic structure of Lamentations indicate a composition from 5 separate psalms?
It's not noticeable in many English translations, but Lamentations makes heavy use of the acrostic technique of Hebrew poetry. As a note in the NET Bible mentions:
Chapters 1-4 are arranged in ...
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How does a Bible translator know if it is a poem?
Let's take 1 Tim 3:16 as an example among many others, where Paul wrote or quoted (ESV):
Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:
He was manifested in the flesh,
vindicated by the ...
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In Psalm 45:14 what does it mean that "the virgins...shall be brought" to the king?
First of all, I'm a layperson.
Psalm 45:14 (KJV) "She shall be brought unto the King in raiment of
needlework; the virgins, her companions that follow her, shall be
brought unto Thee."
Hebrew ...
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