Save me, God, for the water has risen to my neck. “He will not let your foot slip; he who watches over you will not slumber” (Psalm 121:3). Psalms 1: Parallelism and Mixed Metaphors The Book of Psalms is comprised of prayers and songs dating from Israel's early history to after the exile. 4. 3. But when you come to verse 2 within it's parallel unit and you hover over it's lowercase letters it indicates it is Synthetic; and it's lowercase letters are "abbccbc". Psalm 1 was one of the scriptural texts that I was assigned in my first exegesis class. This is very common. Question 14 “The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool.” (Prov. False . Synthetic parallelism as a category collects various forms for extending the relationship of parallel members beyond a simple two unit structure (see Fig. LORD, how my foes increase! Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. Most of the prophets also wrote in poetry, some of them exclusively so. 2 I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. Antithetical parallelism . Click here to: Parallelism in Hebrew Writing. 1 To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, A Psalm of David. Types of parallelism and classification of Psalm 62.11-12; Middleton, Tracie. • Synthetic Parallelism - In this poetic style the second line advances the thought of the first. There other kinds of parallelism you will find in the psalms. Just to mention two: Incomplete parallelism is where only some of the terms are parallel in the two lines but there are the same number of terms. And in the striking of the bell for the time of day — each additional hour's bong is like stair-step parallelism for the day until the new day begins. Almost every poetic line exists in two halves, which often seem to be saying much the same thing. For Yahweh takes care of the way the virtuous go, but the way of the wicked is doomed. Question 13 . Synthetic Parallelism; Climatic Parallelism; Emblematic Parallelism; Formal Parallelism; Numerical Parallelism; Imprecatory Issues; Mowinckel Problem; Interesting facts about... Exodus 15; Jonah 2; Biblical Praise; ... Psalm 96:1-2a Sing to the Lord a new song; Sing to the Lord, all the earth. This is where the parallelism consists only in the similar form of construction:-Psalms … In the last post, we entered into the realm of Hebrew poetry, and specifically into parallelism. many are they that rise up against me. The truth presented in one line is strengthened by a contrasting statement in the other b. SYNTHETIC PARALLELISM. Synthetic parallelism synthesizes two or more poetic lines. Understanding poetic devices creates a greater depth to reading the Wisdom books (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon) and the Major and Minor Prophets in the Old Testament. He sees the first two verses of Psalm 1 as an example of this. 1 A psalm of David when he fled from his son Absalom. 1). The second line of poetry builds up (synthesis is Greek for “putting together”) the thought in the first line: The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want (Ps. 23:1). Like most of the literature of the bible, individual psalms were composed over many years and edited into a final form as it appears in the bible. (Psalm 38:1) In antithetic parallelism the second part presents the same idea as the first by way of contrast or negation. Lesson 3: Read Job 38-41 and Psalm 137, 139, 8, and 13. What is the literary device of synthetic parallelism used in Hebrew poetry? Some might include question-answer, proposition-conclusion, or situation-consequence. Because poetry is so pervasive in the Hebrew writings, it is beneficial for the student of the Bible to study the structure and forms of parallelism. True . Parallelism is a poetic literary device that is used to strengthen an idea. A. Synonomous: two lines repeating the same text (example: Psalm 59) _____ _____ "O Lord, do not rebuke me in your wratch. Hebrew parallelism in the Psalms explained with examples. Lesson 2: Choose a variety of Psalms for study and identification of synonymous, synthetic, antithetical, and climactic parallelism. 2 Many are saying of me, "God will not deliver him." Davidic. Climactic Parallelism Proverbs 10:1.-"A wise son maketh a glad father; But a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother" Proverbs 27:6.-"Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy" 3. Psalm 1:6 (Notice in this verse that the thoughts from the first line are reversed in the second line. (38:1) In the case of Psalms 46 verse 1(enable Parallelism), you have two lowercase "a" letter and when your cursor hovers over the "a" it indicates it is Synonymous. In such parallelism, successive lines build on and intensify the first line. Parallelism in the Psalms Parallelism is, quite simply, the relationship between the two (or more) parts of a single line. Proverbs 10:1 is an example of antithetic parallelism; there, opposing behaviors of wise and foolish sons reveal to us the kind of children that please their parents. An example is Ps 1:6 1) "For the LORD knows the way of the righteous" (truth) 2) "But the way of the ungodly shall perish" (contrast) 3. Poetry usually increases the difficulty of translating and this is a good example. I. Alphabetic or acrostic Psalms. LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! In synthetic parallelism, the parallel units do something else, such as complete a thought. Synthetic parallelism. Parallelism: pairing of a line with one or more lines that are linguistically equivalent. There are many who attack me. In Psalm 1:4, the first line segment tells us the wicked are not like the well-watered fruit trees from the previous verse, and the second line segment tells us what they are like. Some Types of Parallelism in the Psalms. Robertson McQuilkin stated that synthetic parallelism is found when “the poet adds to the original concept” (McQuilkin 1992, p. 201). Figure 1. Parallelism in Psalms. People who read the Psalms (the most quoted book in the New Testament) — like Benedictine oblates and other who pray or sing the divine office — spend a lot of time with the Psalms. We learned about the two easiest forms, synthetic and antithetic, and how to … (Psalm 37:21). Synthetic, or Constructive. Dennis Bratcher. Here the second line develops or expands the first line. Psalm 29:1; 96:7 are examples. Synthetic parallelism The students may work in pairs. In synthetic parallelism the second line develops further the idea of the first line. 10:18) is an example of ; Synonymous parallelism . 1 A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son. Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; This is called chiasm.) 5. Antithetic parallelism a. 1 points . Hebrew poetry such as that used in various books of the Old Testament books like Proverbs and Psalms uses several forms of parallelism, including synonymous parallelism , antithetical parallelism, synthetic parallelism , and emblematic parallelism . [1] He has a way of being crisp and to the point, doesn’t he? For example, Psalm 1 utilizes synonymous, synthetic, and emblematic parallelism before "turning" antithetically back to emblematic, synthetic, and then synonymous parallels. There are a variety of combinations that can be used in this form of poetic teaching. Psalms, Proverbs, the Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, and Lamentations are almost entirely poetic. Examples include Psalm 1.1; 95:3; Climactic parallelism. Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life (Prov. A common literary feature of Hebrew poetry in the Old Testament is called parallelism, in which the words of two or more lines of text are directly related in some way.This feature can be found in any poetic passage, and sometimes even in narrative, although it is more common in the Psalms and Proverbs. External parallelism can also "accumulate" in a chiastic or "ring" structure that may include many verses. 1 points . One to three class periods. Synthetic parallelism occurs when the second line carries further or expands the first line: God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1). “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him” (Psalm 103:13). Synthetic Parallelism Synthetic parallelism is where the second line completes or compliments the thought of the first. (Psalm 1.6) In formal parallelism, sometimes termed synthetic parallelism, the two lines have a formal relationship defined by rhythm or line length, but the A-line is semantically continued in the B-line. (Psalm 1:6) Synthetic parallelism involves the completion or expansion of the idea of the first part in the second part. 4. In other words, the two lines are parallel but the parallelism isn’t complete. “One Thing God Has Spoken; Two Things Have I Heard.” Have students create examples of parallel statements. In his book Reflections on the Psalms, C. S. Lewis gives a quick definition of parallelism as: “the practice of saying twice the same thing in different words”. Nor chasten me in your displeasure." Examples include Psalm 1:3; 23:1; 42:1; 103:13. EMBLEMATIC PARALLELISM Synthetic Parallelism. Synthetic parallelism a. With nearly one-to-one correspondence, it is obvious why such poetic parallelism has often been called “synonymous”—one of three such categories, the others being “antithetical,” where the second part provides the opposite to the first part (e.g., “A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother,” Prov. Parallelism in Psalms. The Proverbs are wise sayings that express deep truths in capsule form. In brushing up on my Hebrew parsing and translating I ran across this interesting parallelism in Psalm 1. Synthetic Parallelism— “The third literary form is normally described as synthetic parallelism, in which the second line not merely reinforces the thought of the first but actually adds to its meaning content.” (Harrison page 405) Proverbs 18:8 – The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man’s inmost parts. The first line makes a statement and the second line repeats the statement and completes the thought. Quantitative rhythm 4:23). 1 For the choir director: according to "The Lilies." This is essentially what parallelism in poetry is, but I have found that it goes much further than that – much further.