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‘Enjambment’ occurs when a sentence (or clause) does not end with a line of verse but runs into the next line. It has been defined as “the continuation of syntax and sense across line junctures without a major pause” (Dobbs-Allsopp 2001b:385). Much of Hebrew poetry is in synonymously parallel lines, where the break in meaning (here marked by /) comes at the end of the first line, as in אַל־תִּתְחַ֥ר בַּמְּרֵעִ֑ים אַל־תְּ֝קַנֵּ֗א בָּרְשָׁעִֽים׃ ʾal-tiṯḥar bam-mərēʿīm ʾal-təqannē bå̄-rəšå̄ʿīm ‘Do not get infuriated by evildoers./ Do not be envious of wicked persons’ (Prov. 24.19). Here the end of…

Chiasmus is a poetic device in which the elements of two successive parallel structures are in reverse order. Schematically, this can be set out as abc // c′b′a′, where a, b, and c are grammatical elements (verb—noun—noun) within a line, with their corresponding variants a′, b′, and c′. For example, וְיִמָּלְא֣וּ אֲסָמֶ֣יךָ שָׂבָ֑ע // ותְִ֝יר֗שׁוֹ יְקָבֶ֥יךָ יִפְרֹֽצוּ (a) wə-yimmå̄lʾū (b) ʾăså̄mεḵå̄ (c) śå̄ḇå̄ʿ // (c′) wə-tīrōš (b′) yəqå̄bεḵå̄ (a′) yip̄rōṣū ‘Filled will your granaries be with plenty, and with wine will your vats overflow’ (Prov. 3.10). In the Bible a complete chiasmus…

Epanalepsis, literally resumption or reiteration, is the repetition of a word or words after an intervening word or phrase, used as a poetic device. An example is Lam. 2:12: לְאִמֹּתָם֙ יֹֽאמְר֔ו אַיֵּ֖ה דָּגָ֣ן וָיָ֑יִן בְּהִֽתְעַטְּפָ֤ם כֶּֽחָלָל֙ בִּרְחֹב֣וֹת עִ֔יר בְּהִשְׁתַּפֵּ֣ךְ נַפְשָׁ֔ם אֶל־חֵ֖יק אִמֹּתָֽם lə-ʾimmōṯå̄m yōmrū ʾayyē då̄ḡå̄n wå̄-yå̄yin bə-hiṯʿaṭṭəp̄å̄m kε-h̲å̄lå̄l bi-rḥōḇōṯ ʿīr bə-hištappēḵ nap̄šå̄m ʾεl-ḥēq ʾimmōṯå̄m ‘To their mothers they say: “Where is bread and wine?” as they languish like wounded in the town squares, as their life ebbs away in the embrace o…

The language of Biblical Hebrew poetry differs from that of Biblical Hebrew prose in a number of ways, specifically since “poetic language is condensed, concentrated, under pressure, often streamlined, occasionally archaic” (O’Connor 1997:631). The corpus of Biblical Hebrew poetry comprises (a) the poetic books (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Psalms, Job 3–42.6, Proverbs, Lamentations, Song of Songs, etc.), (b) texts with a mixture of prose and poetry (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel), and (c) prose books in wh…

In the figure of speech called ‘zeugma’, also known as ‘syllepsis’, a verb, noun or adjective is used with two dissimilar words, although strictly speaking it is appropriate only to one (cf. Stuart 1838:231 §§567, 568). An example of zeugma involving a verb is: לִבַּבְתִּי֙נִי֙ בְּאַחַ֣ת מֵעֵינַ֔יִךְ בְּאַחַ֥ד עֲנָ֖ק מִצַּוְּרֹנָֽיִךְ libbaḇtīnī bə-ʾaḥaṯ mē-ʿēnayiḵ bə-ʾaḥaḏ ʿănå̄q miṣ-ṣawwərōnå̄yiḵ ‘You made my heart leap with one of your eyes, with one gem from your necklace’ (Song 4.9). Here the verb ‘to make someone’s heart leap’ (a piʿel verb formed from the noun לֵבָב lēḇå̄ḇ ‘heart’) is a…

Poetic license is the freedom a poet has to deviate from accepted grammar and syntax or from facts and logic in order to produce certain desired effects. One example is the use of overstatement, as in וַיְהִ֤י כַחוֹל֙ זַרְעֶ֔ךָ וְצֶאֱצָאֵ֥י מֵעֶ֖יךָ כִּמְעֹתָ֑יו wa-yhī ḵa-ḥōl zarʿεḵå̄ wə-ṣεʾε̆ṣå̄ʾē mēʿεḵå̄ ki-mʿōṯå̄w ‘Like sand will your offspring be and the issue of your innards like its grains’ (Isa. 48.19) Here, exaggeration in the form of hyperbole helps to convey the idea of numerous children. An impossible fact is acceptable when used to drive a point hom…