CHAPTER XV THE MEASURES OF BIBLICAL POETRY HEBREW poetry is measured in part by rhyme and assonance, but chiefly by the beats of the accents. I. ASSONANCE AND RHYME Many specimens of word painting may be found in Hebrew poetry. The following examples may suffice: Psalm 105 is composed of six hexameter strophes of seven lines each. Two of these strophes (I. and V.) have rhyme in the form of identical suffixes of the noun and verb. This may be sufficiently represented in English by the italicized personal pronouns. Each line of the first strophe closes with the suffix aw; each line before the cæsura has the suffix ō or mō; each line of the fifth strophe closes with the suffix am. STROPHE I O give thanks,1 proclaim His name - make 3 known among the peoples His1 doings. Sing to Him, make melody to Him muse on all His wonders. Glory in His holy name. - let the heart of them be glad that seek Him.5 1 has been inserted to make the ascription more definite; but it makes the line too long, and was unnecessary in the original. 2 The first half of the line throughout ends in the suffix i, 3d pers. sing. masc. suffix to singular noun, His, except where the infinitive construct is used, line 5, and the 3d plural (in ), line 7. See note on p. 370. 3 The hexameter always has a cæsura. See p. 382. This is indicated by the 4 The line always closes with ", 3d pers. sing. masc. suffix to plural noun, His. makes the line יהוה The insertion of .מבקשיו for the original מבקשי יהוה 5 too long. Remember the wonders of His1 doing the judgments of His mouth and His marvels; 2 Ye seed of Abraham His servant-ye children of Jacob, His chosen ones. He is Yahweh their3 God—in all the earth are His acts of judgment.1 STROPHE V Their land swarmed with frogs-in the chambers of their 5 king. He said it, and the swarm came- lice in all their border. He gave their rains to be hail flaming fire in their land. And He smote their vine and their fig tree—and brake in pieces the tree of their border. He said it, and the locust came-and the young locust, countless their number, And did eat up every herb of their land- and did eat up the fruit of their ground. And he smote all the firstborn in their land- and the firstfruits of all their strength.7 The 6th Psalm is an example of the use of the suffix of the first person singular, i, at the close of each line except the last two of the first strophe, where the change to two lines with kā = Thee is effective. 1. Yahweh, do not in thine anger rebuke me. Since I am withered 10 be gracious to me; .which is prosaic,נפלאותיו אשר עשה for Hebrew נפלאות עשתו Read 1 2 There has been a transposition; "E goes to the end of the line. The scribe has transformed this hexameter line with cæsura into a prose line. 8 Read for . This keeps the rhyme in o, although is 3d plural suffix. 4 Ps. 1051-7. Hebrew is evidently a mistake for . There is only one king of Egypt to whom this passage can refer. The suffix was unnecessary here, and it was omitted by a scribe who had no interest in the rhyme. We should read DDD for DDD. To give the force in English, it is necessary to paraphrase. 7 Ps. 10580-36 8 The parallelism requires the insertion of Yahweh. Transpose the clauses. 10 Omit Yahweh in these instances. It makes the lines too long, and is unnecessary. וַיֹּאת יהוה עַד־מֹתִי read וְאַתָּ יהוה עַד־מָתָי This line is corrupt. Instead of' 11 The omission of in the first word has occasioned the incorrect traditional pointing, which yields no good sense. Besides the Massoretic over ., while it suggests the 7 of the second singular, really implies a traditional doubt as to the form. O return,1 deliver my soul: For the sake of thy kindness,2 save me. For in death there is no remembrance of thee: In Sheol, who will give thanks to thee? 2. I am weary with my groaning; I water with my tears 2 my couch. Because of grief wasteth away mine eye; It waxeth old because of mine adversary.3 All ye workers of iniquity, depart from me; For Yahweh hath heard the voice of my weeping; Yahweh hath heard my supplication; Yahweh receiveth my prayer. They will be ashamed and will be sore vexed all mine 5 enemies. There is a fine example of assonance in the first pentameter Until I put thine enemies - the stool for thy feet. With the rod of thy strength — rule in the midst of thine enemies. in the day of thy host, on the holy mountains." From the womb of the morning there will be for thee, the dew of thy young men. A fine example of word-painting is found in Jd. 522: אז הלמו עקבי סוס מדהרות דהרות אביריו The movement of the words in utterance is like the wild running of horses. The most elaborate example of word play is in the great apocalypse, Is. 24-27. It is indeed characteristic of this marvellous hexameter. The force of the original Hebrew can hardly be represented in English: Hibboq tibbōg hā'āretz wehibbōz tibbōz. 248 הבוק תבוק הארץ והבוז תבוז 244 אבלה נבלה הארץ אמללה נבלה תבל 'Abhelā nābholā hā’āretz, 'umlelā nābholā tēbhēl. 1 Omit Yahweh in this instance. It makes the line too long, and is unnecessary. 2 Transpose the clauses. * Transpose words. צוֹרְרָי for Massoretic צוֹרְרִי Point singular 8 5 The change to plural is probably designed at the close of the strophe. The last clause of the psalm is a later addition. 6" May Yahweh send it forth from Zion," is a gloss of prayer. It breaks the movement of the poetry by an abrupt change of subject. 77777, mountains, instead of ", attire: frequent mistake of for 7. 2416 ואמר רזי לי רזי לי אוי לי בגדים בגדו ובגד בוגדים בגדו Wā'ōmar rāzī lī rāzī lī 'ōwi lī Bōgh dhim baghādhu, wūbheghedh bōghedhim baghādhū. 256 משתה שמנים משתה שמרים שמנים ממחים שמרים מזקקים Mishte shemānīm, mishtē sh⚫mārīm Shemānim memuchāyim shomārim mʻzuqqāqīm. 277 הכמכת מכהו הכהו אם כהרג הרוגיו הרג "As the smiting of those that smote him hath he smitten him? or as the slaying of them that were slain by him is he slain ?" Sometimes great force is produced in a poem by the change of a single letter of a word in word play. At the brooks of Reuben were great decrees of mind. Listening to the bleatings of the flocks? At the brooks of Reuben were great searchings of mind. This tetrastich begins and closes with the same identical line, except that for the word "PP, decrees, we have ", searchings. There is a single letter changed, P to, to emphasize the transformation of the bold mental decrees into the timid, hesitating searchings of the mind.1 II. THE MEASURES BY WORD OR ACCENT The Hebrew poet measured his lines by the beats of the accent, or by word, or word-groups, as did ancient Babylonian and Egyptian poets. Accordingly three beats of the accent give us trimeters, four tetrameters, five pentameters, and six hexameters. All these measures appear in Hebrew poetry, as they do in Babylonian and Egyptian poetry. There are no dimeter lines, except occasionally in connection with trimeters and tetrameters to vary the measure. The trimeter is the most frequent measure, especially in the more ancient historical poetry, and in the Psalter, and in the Wisdom Literature. The alphabetical poems enable us to 1 Jd. 515.16. Geo. Moore in his Commentary on Judges thinks the second line a mistaken repetition of the first, and that it gives the true, original text. I cannot agree with him. study the trimeters, as the lines are limited by the letters of the alphabet in their progress. The first example will be taken from the alphabetical Ps. 9, where there is a double limitation by the letter Aleph and by the rhyme in the suffix Ka. אודה בכל לבי 2 לך אספרה 8 כל נפלאותיך אשמחה ואעלצה בך אזמרה 4 עליון שמך Each line begins with the first person of the cohortative imperfect of the verb and with the letter Aleph; each line closes with the suffix of the second singular noun. Here, then, the lines are distinctly marked at the beginning and at the end by words in assonance. One word only remains in each line between the two. These lines are measured by three words or three word accents. Psalm 111 is a fine example of an alphabetical psalm: 1 "Yahweh" has been inserted in the Massoretic text, as usual in such circumstances. In use in worship the reference to Yahweh was plain enough. For private reading it seemed necessary to the scribe to insert it. .has been omitted by the Massoretic text לך 2 It is implied by the Greek cot. 3 The long word has two accents, therefore is to be attached to it by Măqqeph. There has been a transposition of 1 and by a scribe who did not understand the rhyme and who followed the prose order of words. 5 The Greek version has σol, which implies either an interpretation, or in .has been inserted as usual, but it makes the line a tetrameter יהוה the text. It is possible that the poet has increased his measure here, for sometimes trimeters begin with tetrameters, but it is not probable. 6 The Greek version has deuara aurol = which is more probable than ,חפציו .חפציהם the Hebrew .has been inserted for preciseness of statement להם 7 .מעשיו makes the line a tetrameter. It is improbable; read מעשי ידיו 8 יראתו in the Hebrew stands for an original יראת יהוה 9 |