More figures of speech

2. Figures Involving Addition (words or meaning inserted)
a. Affecting words (grammar or sentence structure)
Epizeuxis – duplication; repetition of the same word in a sentence.
Isaiah 40:1, “Comfort, comfort my people…” John 1:51 (KJV), “Verily, verily I say unto you…” Translated in the NIV as “I tell you the truth.”
Anaphora – like sentence beginnings; repetition of the same word at the beginning of successive sentences.
Matthew 5:3-11, “Blessed are the poor…Blessed are those who mourn…Blessed are the meek…”
Polysyndeton – many ands; repetition of the word “and.”
Acts 1:8, “…and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Paradiastole – neithers and nors; repetition of neither or nor.
Romans 8:38 and 39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God…”

See you again,

Different figures of speech

Examples of Figures of Speech


1. Figures Involving Omission (words or meaning left out)

a. Affecting words (grammar or sentence structure)

Ellipsis – words are left out.
Matthew 11:18, “For John came neither eating nor drinking.” Being human, John had to eat and drink. What is left out is “declining invitations to eat with others.”

b. Affecting the sense (the meaning)

Tapeinosis – lessening, demeaning or understatement
Acts 5:36, “Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody…” meaning “someone great.” Antenantiosis – meaning “opposite.” Psalm 84:11, “No good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless,” meaning He will give him every good thing.

What are the various kinds of figures of speech?

The study of figures of speech is complex because of the number of languages (Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic and English) involved, and because each language has many figures.

But the patterns of language are so universally common to mankind that most of the figures of speech cross over from language to language in a recognizable way.

Various scholars through the centuries have offered systems of classifying figures of speech. The clearest and best documented is by E. W. Bullinger, as follows:

1. Figures Involving Omission (words or meaning left out)
a. Affecting words (grammar or sentence structure)
b. Affecting the sense (the meaning)
2. Figures Involving Addition (words or meaning inserted)
a. Affecting words (grammar or sentence structure)
b. Affecting the sense (the meaning)
3. Figures Involving Change (words or meaning changed)
a. Affecting the meaning
b. Affecting the order of words
c. Affecting the application of words (interpretation of words)

Until next time, God bless

Figures of speech

How can we recognize figures of speech?

The words don’t make sense literally.

1 Corinthians 11:16-21, Paul calls himself a fool. He isn’t one, but is using the figure “sarcasm.”

Isaiah 55:12, “the trees will clap their hands.” Trees don’t have hands and don’t clap. The figure is personification.

The words are clear and literal, but meant to convey a deeper lesson or application, such as in a parable.

The words are clear and literal, but are put together in a grammatical or structural way that brings emphasis to the section. This kind of figure may be lost in translation.

Genesis 2:17, “you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” The Hebrew reads, “dying you will die,” using the figure “many inflections,” that is the same word in different forms.

Ephesians 3:18, “to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” The “and’s” is the figure “Many ands” and gives separate emphasis to each part, more than a comma would.

Until next time, God bless

Happy New Year!

Greetings and Happy New Year to all. There will not be much today as were getting ready to bring in the New Year.

Until next time, God bless,

Understanding The Bible and Figures of Speech

Everyone needs help and instruction in reading and understanding the Bible, These next few posts are going to deal with understanding Figures of speech.

What is a Figure of Speech?

A departure from the normal rules of grammar or word usage. Examples:

“breadth and length and depth and height”
“The mountains will sing.”


What is the purpose of figures of speech?

To give special emphasis.

To call attention to the point.

To add force or power to an expression. Which sentence is more memorable? “A burglar snuck into my house.” OR “A burglar slipped into my house like a cat stalking prey.”


Why are figures of speech in the Bible?

Figures of speech are universal to human communication. Every language, including the biblical languages, has them.

God used figures of speech to call attention to a point in the scriptures.


Why it is important to understand figures of speech in the Bible?

To get to the correct interpretation of Scripture.

Serious misinterpretations of Scripture come from:

Calling something figurative that is literal. For example, the 6 days of Creation in Genesis 1 are literal 24-hour periods. But many who want to believe Creation couldn’t have happened that quickly say they are figurative.

Calling something literal that is figurative. For example, John 8:58, “Before Abraham was, I am” is used to support that Jesus is eternal and pre-existed Abraham. Really, it is the figure of speech heterosis or switching of word forms (here, verb tense). It emphasizes the certainty of Jesus’ coming.

It is not honest biblical interpretation to call something figurative simply because you don’t understand it or don’t want to believe it.

The words in God’s Word are perfect. God has a reason for everything He says – where He says it; when He says it; to whom He says it; and how He says it.

Figures of speech in the Bible are precise and exact, not haphazard.


How do we know when the words should be taken literally or figuratively?

The Bible should be understood literally whenever possible.

But when a statement appears to be contrary to our experience, or to known fact, or to the general teaching of truth, then we can expect that a figure of speech is present.

If a word or words are truly a figure of speech, then that figure can be named and described. It will have a specific identifiable purpose.

Denominations #2

Greetings to everyone reading this and my hope is that I can clear up common misconceptions people have when trying to understand Gods word, and if you do not own a King James version of the Bible, go get one.

Remember, all the different denominations we have today are because of Man interpreting the Bible instead of letting the Bible interpret itself.

Think about it; Peter said the Bible is of no private interpretation. So then there are just a few things you need to understand in order to clear up problem versus in the Bible.
I will describe two things today. One is that many versus are to be read and understood just as they are stated for example: In the Law of Moses it is written, Thou shalt not steal. It doesn't say you can steal if you are poor or needing, it doesn't say if someone is not looking, it simply says do not ever steal, period.
A problem verse that might be hard to understand might be: Thou shalt not kill. I could go on about this verse but I'll keep it short. You have to know the Old testament was written for our learning, so keeping that in mind if you look all through the Old Testament you'll see that living Godly lives meant that you did not murder anyone or rape anyone or commit any other brutal crimes against Man, for if you did, if there were three eyewitnesses, according to the will of God, you would be put to death. Because God does not want people to live in fear.
So, Thou shalt not kill should be understood as Thou shalt not murder, which would then mean that the death penalty according to Gods word is a Godly thing. If you interpret the verse as "to kill" meaning no killing for any reason at all, that means you have privately interpreted the bible instead of letting God tell you exactly what he means.

Until next time, God bless,