The ancient Hebrews identified poetical portions in their sacred texts, as shown by their entitling as "psalms" or as "chants" passages such as Exodus 15:1-19 and Numbers 21:17-20; a song or chant (shir) is, according to the primary meaning of the term, poetry. The question as to whether the poetical passages of the Old Testament show signs of regular rhythm or meter remains unsolved. [1] Many of the features of Biblical poetry are lost when the poems are translated to English.
The employment of unusual forms of language cannot be considered as a sign of ancient Hebrew poetry. In Genesis 9:25–27 and elsewhere the form lamo occurs. But this form, which represents partly lahem and partly lo, has many counterparts in Hebrew grammar, as, for example, kemo instead of ke-; [2] or -emo = "them"; [3] or -emo = "their"; [4] or elemo = "to them" [5] —forms found in passages for which no claim to poetical expressions is made. Then there are found ḥayeto = "beast", [6] osri = "tying", [7] and yeshu'atah = "salvation" [8] —three forms that probably retain remnants of the old endings of the nominative, genitive, and accusative: u(n),i(n),a(n).
Again, in Lamech's words, "Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, harken unto my speech", [9] the two words he'ezin and imrah attract attention, because they occur for the first time in this passage, although there had been an earlier opportunity of using them: in Genesis 3:8 and 3:10, He'ezin = "to harken" could have been used just as well as its synonym shama' = "to hear". [10]
Furthermore, imrah = "speech" might have been used instead of the essentially identical dabar in Genesis 9:1 and following, but its earliest use is, as stated above, in Genesis 4:23. [11] In place of adam = "man" [12] enosh is employed. [13] (compare the Aramaic enash [14] ).
A systematic review of similar unusual forms of Hebrew grammar and Hebrew words occurring in certain portions of the Old Testament. [15] Such forms have been called dialectus poetica since the publication of Robert Lowth's Prælectiones de Sacra Poesi Hebræorum iii. (1753); but this designation is ambiguous and can be accepted only in agreement with the rule a parte potiori fit denominatio for some of these unusual forms and words are found elsewhere than in the "songs" of the Old Testament.
These unusual forms and expressions do not occur in all songs, and there are several Psalms that have none of these peculiarities.
Not even the parallelismus membrorum is an absolutely certain indication of ancient Hebrew poetry. This "parallelism" occurs in the portions of the Hebrew Bible that are at the same time marked frequently by the so-called dialectus poetica; it consists in a remarkable correspondence in the ideas expressed in two successive units (hemistiches, verses, strophes, or larger units); for example, the above-cited words of Lamech, "Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, harken unto my speech", [16] in which are found he'ezin and imrah, show a remarkable repetition of the same thought.
But this ideal corythmy is not always present in the songs of the Old Testament or in the Psalms, as the following passages will show:
Julius Ley [21] says therefore correctly that
Though this restriction must be made to James Robertson's view, it remains the case that: [22] "The distinguishing feature of the Hebrew poetry ... is the rhythmical balancing of parts, or parallelism of thought."
Various rhetorical forms appear in the parallelisms of Biblical poetry. These include:
Another example of synonymous parallelism comes in Isaiah 2:4 or Micah 4:3:
External parallelism can also "accumulate" in a chiastic or "ring" structure that may include many verses. For example, Psalm 1 utilizes synonymous, synthetic, and emblematic parallelism before "turning" antithetically back to emblematic, synthetic, and then synonymous parallels.
The poetry of the ancient Hebrews is not distinguished from the other parts of the Old Testament by rhythm based on quantity, though in view of Greek and Roman poetry it was natural to seek such a rhythm in the songs and Psalms of the Old Testament. William Jones, for example, [23] attempted to prove that there was a definite sequence of long and short syllables in the ancient Hebrew poems; but he could support this thesis only by changing the punctuation in many ways, and by allowing great license to the Hebrew poets. However, on reading the portions of the Old Testament marked by the so-called dialectus poetica or by parallelism (e.g., Genesis 4:23 and following) no such sequence of long and short syllables can be discovered; and Sievers [24] says: "Hebrew prosody is not based on quantity as classical prosody is."
Many scholars hold that the Hebrew poet considered only the syllables receiving the main accent, and did not count the intervening ones. Examples contrary to this are not found in passages where forms of the so-called dialectus poetica are used, as Ley holds; [25] and Israel Davidson has proved [26] that the choice of lamo instead of lahem favors in only a few passages the opinion that the poet intended to cause an accented syllable to be followed by an unaccented one.
The rhythm of Hebrew poetry may be similar to that of the German Nibelungenlied — a view that is strongly supported by the nature of the songs sung by the populace of Palestine in the early 20th century. These songs have been described by L. Schneller [27] in the following words:
Also in Palestine, Gustaf Hermann Dalman observed:
Such free rhythms are, in Davidson's opinion, found also in the poetry of the Old Testament. Under the stress of their thoughts and feelings the poets of Israel sought to achieve merely the material, not the formal symmetry of corresponding lines. This may be observed, for example, in the following lines of Psalm 2: "Serve the LORD with fear" ('Ibdu et-Yhwh be-yir'ah, 2:11), "rejoice with trembling" (we-gilu bi-re'adah). This is shown more in detail by König; [29] and Carl Heinrich Cornill has confirmed this view [30] by saying:
Sievers is inclined to restrict Hebrew rhythm by various rules, as he attacks [31] Karl Budde's view, that
Furthermore, the verse of the Old Testament poetry is naturally iambic or anapestic, as the words are accented on one of the final syllables.
A special kind of rhythm may be observed in the dirges, called kinnot in Hebrew. A whole book of these elegies is contained in the Hebrew Bible, the first of them beginning thus: "How does the city sit solitary—that was full of people—how is she become as a widow—she that was great among the nations—and princess among the provinces—how is she become tributary!" (Lamentations 1:1).
The rhythm of such lines lies in the fact that a longer line is always followed by a shorter one. As in the elegiac couplet of Greco-Roman poetry, this change was intended to symbolize the idea that a strenuous advance in life is followed by fatigue or reaction. This rhythm, which may be designated "elegiac measure," occurs also in Amos 5:2, expressly designated as a ḳinah (often spelt qinah). The sad import of his prophecies induced Jeremiah also to employ the rhythm of the dirges several times in his utterances (Jeremiah 9:20, 13:18 and following). He refers here expressly to the meḳonenot (the mourning women) who in the East still chant the death-song to the trembling tone of the pipe (48:36 and following). Ḳinot are found also in Ezekiel 19:1, 26:17, 27:2, 32:2 and following, 32:16, 32:19 and following.
This elegiac measure, being naturally a well-known one, was used also elsewhere, as, for example, in Psalms 19:8–10. The rhythm of the ḳinah has been analyzed especially by Budde. [33] Similar funeral songs of the modern Arabs are quoted by Wetzstein, [34] as, e.g.: "O, if he only could be ransomed! truly, I would pay the ransom!" [35]
A special kind of rhythm was produced by the frequent use of anadiplosis, in which the phrase at the end of one sentence is repeated at the beginning of the next. Examples include the passages "they came not to the help of the Lord [i.e., to protect God's people], to the help of the Lord against the mighty" [36] and "From whence shall my help come? My help cometh from the Lord". [37]
Many similar passages occur in Psalms 120-134, which also contain an unusual number of epanalepsis, or catch-words, for which Israel Davidson proposed the name Leittöne. Thus there is the repetition of shakan in Psalms 120:5–6; of shalom in Psalms 120:6–7; and the catch-word yishmor in Psalms 121:7–8. [38] As the employment of such repetitions is somewhat suggestive of the mounting of stairs, the superscription shir ha-ma'alot, found at the beginning of these fifteen psalms, may have a double meaning: it may indicate not only the purpose of these songs, to be sung on the pilgrimages to the festivals at Jerusalem, but also the peculiar construction of the songs, by which the reciter is led from one step of the inner life to the next. Such graduated rhythm may be observed elsewhere; for the peasants in modern Syria accompany their national dance by a song the verses of which are connected like the links of a chain, each verse beginning with the final words of the preceding one. [39]
Alphabetical acrostics are used as an external embellishment of a few poems. The letters of the alphabet, generally in their ordinary sequence, stand at the beginning of smaller or larger sections of Psalms 9-10 (probably), 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, 119, 145; [40] Proverbs 31:10-31; Lamentations 1-4; and also of Sirach 51:13-29, as the newly discovered (but poorly preserved) Hebrew text of this book has shown. [41]
Alphabetical and other acrostics occur frequently in Neo-Hebraic poetry. [42] The existence of acrostics in Babylonian literature has been definitely proved; [43] and alphabetical poems are found also among the Samaritans, Syrians, and Arabs. Cicero says (De Divinatione, II.54) that the verse of the sibyl was in acrostics; and the so-called Oracula Sibyllina contain an acrostic. [44]
A secondary phenomenon, which distinguishes a part of the poems of the Old Testament from the other parts, is the so-called accentuatio poetica ; it has been much slighted. [45] Although not all the poetical portions of the Old Testament are marked by a special accentuation, the Book of Job in 3:3-42:6 and the books of Psalms and Proverbs throughout have received unusual accents. This point will be further discussed later on.
First may be mentioned poems that deal principally with events, being epic-lyric in character: the triumphal song of Israel delivered from Egypt, or the song of the sea ; [46] the mocking song on the burning of Heshbon; [47] the so-called song of Moses ; [48] the song of Deborah; [49] the derisive song of victory of the Israelite women; [50] Hannah's song of praise; [51] David's song of praise on being saved from his enemies; [52] Hezekiah's song of praise on his recovery; [53] Jonah's song of praise; [54] and many of the Psalms, e.g., those on the creation of the world, [55] and on the election of Israel. [56] A subdivision is formed by poems that deal more with description and praise: the so-called Well song; [57] the song of praise on the uniqueness of the god of Israel; [58] and those on his eternity; [59] his omnipresence and omniscience; [60] and his omnipotence. [61]
Poems appealing more to reason, being essentially didactic in character. These include fables, like that of Jotham; [62] parables, like those of Nathan and others, [63] or in the form of a song; [64] riddles, [65] maxims, [66] the monologues and dialogues in Job 3:3 and following; compare also the reflections in monologue in Ecclesiastes. A number of the Psalms also are didactic in character. A series of them impresses the fact that God's law teaches one to abhor sin, [67] and inculcates a true love for the Temple and the feasts of Yahweh. [68] Another set of Psalms ("theodicies") shows that God is just, although it may at times not seem this way to a short-sighted observer of the world and of history. [69]
Poems that portray feelings based on individual experience. Many of these lyrics express joy, as, e.g., Lamech's so-called Song of the sword ; [70] David's "last words"; [71] the words of praise of liberated Israel; [72] songs of praise like Psalms 18, 24, 126, etc. Other lyrics express mourning. First among these are the dirges proper for the dead, as the ḳinah on the death of Saul and Jonathan; [73] that on Abner's death; [74] and all psalms of mourning, as, e.g., the expressions of sorrow of sufferers, [75] and the expressions of penitence of sinners. [76]
Finally, a large group of poems of the Old Testament that urge action and are exhortatory. These may be divided into two sections:
It was natural that in the drama, which is intended to portray a whole series of external and internal events, several of the foregoing kinds of poems should be combined. This combination occurs in Canticles, which, in Davidson's opinion, is most correctly characterized as a kind of drama.
The Book of Psalms, also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh called Ketuvim ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament.
An acrostic is a poem or other word composition in which the first letter of each new line spells out a word, message or the alphabet. The term comes from the French acrostiche from post-classical Latin acrostichis, from Koine Greek ἀκροστιχίς, from Ancient Greek ἄκρος "highest, topmost" and στίχος "verse". As a form of constrained writing, an acrostic can be used as a mnemonic device to aid memory retrieval. When the last letter of each new line forms a word it is called a telestich; the combination of an acrostic and a telestich in the same composition is called a double acrostic.
Psalm 119 is the 119th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in the English of the King James Version: "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord". The Book of Psalms is in the third section of the Hebrew Bible, the Khetuvim, and a book of the Christian Old Testament. The psalm, which is anonymous, is referred to in Hebrew by its opening words, "Ashrei temimei derech". In Latin, it is known as "Beati inmaculati in via qui ambulant in lege Domini".
The Song of Moses is the name sometimes given to the poem which appears in Deuteronomy of the Hebrew Bible, which according to the Bible was delivered just prior to Moses' death on Mount Nebo. Sometimes the Song is referred to as Deuteronomy 32, despite the fact that Deuteronomy chapter 32 contains nine verses (44–52) which are not part of the Song.
Jehovah is a Latinization of the Hebrew יְהֹוָהYəhōwā, one vocalization of the Tetragrammaton יהוה (YHWH), the proper name of the God of Israel in the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament. The Tetragrammaton is considered one of the seven names of God in Judaism and a form of God's name in Christianity.
Psalm 145 is the 145th psalm of the Book of Psalms, generally known in English by its first verse, in the King James Version, "I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever". In Latin, it is known as "Exaltabo te Deus meus rex". It is the last psalm in the final Davidic collection of psalms, comprising Psalms 138 to 145, which are specifically attributed to David in their opening verses.
An abecedarius is a special type of acrostic in which the first letter of every word, strophe or verse follows the order of the letters in the alphabet.
Psalm 9 is the ninth psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works." In Latin, it is known as "Confitebor tibi, Domine". The topic of the psalm is that the success of evil is only temporary, and in the end, the righteous will endure. Psalm 10 is considered part of Psalm 9 in the Greek Septuagint and in most pre-Reformation Christian Bibles. These two consecutive psalms have the form of a single acrostic Hebrew poem.
Gelineau psalmody is a method of singing the Psalms that was developed in France by Catholic Jesuit priest Joseph Gelineau around 1953, with English translations appearing some ten years later. Its chief distinctives are:
Psalm 2 is the second psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Why do the heathen rage". In Latin, it is known as "Quare fremuerunt gentes". Psalm 2 does not identify its author with a superscription, but Acts 4:24–26 in the New Testament attributes it to David. According to the Talmud, Psalm 2 is a continuation of Psalm 1.
Psalm 8 is the eighth psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning and ending in English in the King James Version (KJV): "O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!". In Latin, it is known as "Domine Dominus noster". Its authorship is traditionally assigned to King David. Like Psalms 81 and 84, this psalm opens with a direction to the chief musician to perform upon the gittith, which either refers to a musical instrument, a style of performance, or alludes to persons and places in biblical history.
Psalm 22 of the Book of Psalms or My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? is a psalm in the Bible.
Psalm 25 is the 25th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul.". The Book of Psalms is part of the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and a book of the Christian Old Testament. In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate translations of the Bible, this psalm is Psalm 24. In Latin, it is known as "Ad te Domine levavi animam meam". The psalm, attributed to David, has the form of an acrostic Hebrew poem.
Psalm 34 is the 34th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth." The Book of Psalms is part of the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and a book of the Christian Old Testament. In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate translations of the Bible, this psalm is Psalm 33. In Latin, it is known as "Benedicam Dominum in omni tempore".
Psalm 131 is the 131st psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Lord, my heart is not haughty". In Latin, it is known as "Domine non est exaltatum cor meum". In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint version of the bible and in the Latin Vulgate, this psalm is Psalm 130.
Psalm 99 is the 99th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "The LORD reigneth; let the people tremble". The Book of Psalms starts the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and, as such, is a book of the Christian Old Testament. In the slightly different numbering system in the Greek Septuagint version of the Bible, and in the Latin Vulgate, this psalm is Psalm 98, beginning "Dominus regnavit". It is the last of the set of additional Royal Psalms, Psalms 93-99, praising God as the King of His people. There is no title in the Masoretic text version, but the Septuagint provides a title: "A psalm of David".
Psalm 102 is the 102nd psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee." In Latin, it is known as "Domine exaudi orationem meam".
Psalm 111 is the 111th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Praise ye the LORD. I will praise the LORD with my whole heart". In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate translations of the Bible, this psalm is Psalm 110. In Latin, it is known as Confitebor tibi Domine. It is a psalm "in praise of the divine attributes". This psalm, along with Psalm 112, is acrostic by phrase, that is, each 7-9 syllable phrase begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet in order. Psalm 119 is also acrostic, with each eight-verse strophe commencing with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet in order. The Jerusalem Bible describes Psalm 112, "in praise of the virtuous", as "akin to this psalm in doctrine, style and poetic structure.
Psalm 127 is the 127th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Except the Lord build the house". In Latin, it is known by the incipit of its first 2 words, "Nisi Dominus". It is one of 15 "Songs of Ascents" and the only one among them attributed to Solomon rather than David.
Proverbs 1 is the first chapter of the Book of Proverbs in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is a compilation of several wisdom literature collections, with the heading in 1:1 may be intended to regard Solomon as the traditional author of the whole book, but the dates of the individual collections are difficult to determine, and the book probably obtained its final shape in the post-exilic period. This chapter is a part of the first collection of the book.
So sehr auch der Parallelismus die ausgeprägte Form der hebräischen Vesbildung ist, so halten sich die Dichter nicht der Art durch denselben gebunden, dass sie es nicht, wo der Gedanke es erfordert, denselben durchbrechen sollten.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Poetry - Biblical". The Jewish Encyclopedia . New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
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