Watson (1989) Internal or Half-Line Parallelism in Classical Hebrew Again

Internal or Half-Line Parallelism in Classical Hebrew Again
Author(s): Wilfred G. E. Watson

Source: Vetus Testamentum, Vol. 39, Fasc. 1 (Jan., 1989), pp. 44-66
Published by: Brill
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1518460
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VetusTestamentum
XXIX,
INTERNAL
1 (1989)
OR
HALF-LINE
PARALLELISM
CLASSICAL
HEBREW
AGAIN
IN
by
WILFRED
G. E. WATSON
Newcastle upon Tyne
1. Introductory
The usual form of parallelism in Hebrew verse is the couplet
wherethe second line of the couplet is parallel to the first.In "internal parallelism" (here abbreviated to IP) the same featureoccurs
within a single verse line. In such lines, accordingly,the firsthalf
of the line has a parallel in the second. This characteristicis
reflectedin the alternativelabel "half-line parallelism". Although
I have already written three articles on IP,1 there are several
reasons foryet another. To begin with, quite a number of new examples have been identifiedand these need to be set out. Many of
these examples are interestingin themselves.In addition, examples
have been found in books of the OT previouslyunrepresented.IP
in the formof two half-linesis as importantan element in Hebrew
poetry as it is in some other ancient Semitic verse traditions
(Ugaritic, Akkadian) though here I will limit myselfto classical
Hebrew, and needs to be examined in respectof its implicationsfor
between prose and poetry.
metre,lineation and the differentiation
2. List ofpassages
The sequence followedwill be that of the Hebrew Bible with the
addition of Ben Sira. Only a selectionof passages can be set out and
discussed.
e linguistici1 (1984),
"Internal Parallelism in Ugaritic Verse", Studiepigrafici
Verse:
Further
in
"Internal
Parallelism
53-67;
Examples", UF 17
Ugaritic
pp.
(1985), pp. 345-56; "Internal Parallelism in Classical Hebrew Verse", Bib 66
(1985), pp. 365-84. The line with IP has its nearest equivalent in "Leonine
Verse" (which has internal rhyme), a term defined in M. Drabble (ed.), The Oxford Companionto EnglishLiterature
(London, 1985), p. 564.
INTERNAL OR HALF-LINE PARALLELISM
45
Genesis
ii 232, vii 4, 12, viii 2, 22, xi 1, 6, xiii 10, xv 17, xvi 12b, xvii 20,
xix 4, xxiv 35, xxv 34, xxix 17, xxx 42, xxxi 36, 43a, xxxii 12, xxxix
10, xli 3, 4, 19, 44, xliii 33, xlix 33, 1 9. The core of viii 22 is an
enumeration:
Cdkl-ymy
h'rs
zrc wqsyrwqr whm
wqyswhrpwywmwlylh
During all Earth's days

seeding, harvest, cold, heat,
summer, winter, day and
l ysbtw
night
shall not end.4
Exodus
iv 10, vi 9, ix 31, xv 11.
xv 11 (see below, 4.7)
nwr' thltCshpl'
Awe-inspiring,Wonderworker.
Leviticus
v 4, vi 13, xii 45, xxvii 30 (cf. ii 10, 28, x 10, xix 26, 35, 36).
Most of these are phrases used in longer sentences.
Numbers
v 22 (//27), x 35 (cf. Ps. lxviii 2), xiv 8, xv 16, xvii 27, xx 20, xxi
5a, xxiii 24, xxiv 6, 9, xxxiii 55 (cf. xv 39, xxi 17b, 18b). xxiv 9
brwkw'rryk'rwr
mbrkyk
Blessed be anyone blessing you,
cursed be anyone cursing you.
Deuteronomy
xxvi 8, xxviii 3-6 (//16-19), xxix 22, xxx 15, xxxii 14c, 24, 25b
(cf. xii 15, xxviii 4-5, xxxii 29).
2 Discussed in
my contributionto the P. C. Craigie Memorial Volume (Sheffield, in the press): "Some Additional Wordpairs".
3 S.
Gevirtz, "The Reprimand of Reuben", JNES 30 (1971), pp. 87-98. Is
this an expansion of khywr'syt'wny in the same verse?
4 G. Del Olmo
Lete, Aula Orientalis2 (1984), p. 14. See, in addition W. Brueggemann, "Kingship and Chaos. (A Study of Tenth Century Theology)", CBQ 33
(1971), pp. 317-22.
46
WILFRED
G. E. WATSON
Joshua
x 13, xiv 11, xxiii 13 (//Num. xxxiii 55).
x 13
wydmhsmswyrhCmd
The sun stood still, stay

did the moon5
Judges
v 3, 4, 21, 256 (cf. iv 7, ix 28, xiv 16, xvi 28, 29). v 21
nhlgyswngrpm
nhlqdwmymnhlqyswn
Wadi Kishon swept them

away,
the onrushingwadi,
Wadi Kishon.7
The quasi-acrostic component8comes in both elements of the

couplet: n- q- //n-q- //n-q-.
1 Samuel
ii 30c, xii 4, xvi 12,18, xvii 44, 46, xx 1, xxiv 15, xxv 3, 6, 9,
25, xxvi 12, xxx 8 (cf. 13).
2 Samuel
i 21, 219 22, 23, iii 29b, 31a, xii 3, xv 21, xvi 7,10xxii 1, xxiii
5d.
5 J. Sanmartin
Ascaso, Las guerrasdeJosu'e. Estudiode Semioticanarrativa
(Valen-
cia, 1982), p. 159, n. 457, considers this phrase to be a secondary gloss, in prose,
inserted in place of a lost or deleted line originally parallel to Cdyqm gwy 'ybyw.
6 Discussed
by A. Berlin, The Dynamicsof Biblical Parallelism(Bloomington,
1985), pp. 12-13.
7 Contrast M. O'Connor, HebrewVerseStructure
(Winona Lake, 1980), p. 226:
"Wadi Qishon is an ancient wadi".
8
Explained in my Classical HebrewPoetry:A Guide to its Techniques(Sheffield,
1984, 1986), pp. 195-6; UF 12 (1980), pp. 445-7. It is the use of the same letter
to begin lines, half-linesor corresponding sub-sections of half-lines.
9 Contrast P.
Kyle McCarter, Jr, II SamuelGarden City, 1984), pp. 66, 71,
and W. H. Shea, "Chiasmus and the Structure of David's Lament", JBL 105
(1986), pp. 13-25, esp. p. 15.
10 The phrase is discussed in detail by McCarter, p. 373.
INTERNAL
OR HALF-LINE
PARALLELISM
47
iii 31a
sqym
qrcwbgdykm
whgrw
wspdwlpny'bnr
Rip your clothes, wear

sacking
and beat the breast in
frontof Abiner.1
None of the passages in 1 or 2 Samuel is pure verse.

1 Kings
iii 22, 26, viii 57c, xviii 26, xix 6, xx 8, 25, xxii 4 (cf. iii 24, v 13a,
18c).
2 Kings
iii 7, iv 26, 30, 31, v 26, vii 6, xiv 26, xviii 12 (cf. iii 14, v 7, vi
27, vii 4).
Isaiah
i 2, 4a, 7, 8, 9b, 16 (etc.), 23, 26b, ii 10, 20, iii 1, 8, iv 1, v 15,
20, 27, 29a, vi 7b, lOa, vii 7, 11, viii 1, 9, 13b, 20, ix 2, 9, 11, 13,
x 6, xi 9, xii 4b, xiii 16, xiv 4, 5, 20b, 31, xvi 2, 3a, 3c, xix 2, xxi
2b, 5, 7, xxii 2, 12-13, 19, xxiii 4, xxiv 2, 13, 16, 23, xxv 4-5, 6,
xxvi 19, xxviii 2, 5, 9, 11, 16, 25, 29, xxix 9a, 15b, 20, xxx 5, lla,
20-1, 27, xxxi 3, xxxiii 8, 10, 15, 16, 18, 20, 22, xxxiv 6, 11, xxxvii
22, xl 7, 8, 10( = lii 11), 21, 24, xli 14, 26, 29, xlii 2, 4, 6, xliii 24b,
28, xliv 6, 8, 13d, 22, xlv 7, 13, 14, xlvi 1, 4b, llb, 13, xlvii 2-3,
xlviii 2, 8, 20, xlix 7, 13, 14, iii7, liii 3, liv 2, 10, v 12, Ivi 1, vii
8b, 14a, lviii 9b, 13f, lx lOb, 19, lxii 6b, 11, lxiii 3, lxiv 7, lxv 3b4a, 19a, 19c, lxvi 3, 12, (cf. ix 5a, xix 15, xxviii 7, xxxii 18b, xli
10, lvii 19b, lxv 22b).
ix 11
m'hr
'rmmqdmwplstym
Aramaeans fromthe east and

Philistinesfromthe west.
11 See McCarter, pp. 105, 110, 119, on this passage. For the gestures cf. M.
in theAncientNear East II (Rome,
I. Gruber, Aspectsof NonverbalCommunication
447.
1980), p.
48
WILFRED G. E. WATSON
lviii 9b
slh 'sb' wdbr'wn
to point the fingerand utter

slander.
Jeremiah
i 10, 18, ii, 19, iii 23, 24, iv 5a, 8, 11, 18a, v lib, 21b, vii 12, 17
(etc.), 34, viii 2, 20, ix 24, 25, xii 7, 8, 13, 14, xiv 2, 3, 18, xv 10,
11, 13, xvi 9, 21, xvii 8, 10, 20, 25, xviii 7, 18, xix 3, xx 6, 8, xxi
6, xxii 18, 23a, xxv 10, xxx 12-13, xxxi 9, 12, 23, 27, 28, xxxii 21,
31, xxxiii 10-11, xliv, 6, 12, xlvi 14, 18b, xlvii 3, 7, xlviii 8b, 15,
21, 28a, 32, xlix 31, 4 (=20), 15, 35b, 44, li 11, 12, 26, 30 (cf.
vi 14b (=viii 11), 18, 23, viii 9, xii 6, xiii 11, 25, 27, xxx 24, xxxi
19, xlvi 6, xlviii 20, xlix 8, 30, 1 2, 11).
iv 5a
hsmy'w Proclaim in Judah and in

hgydwbyhwdhwbyrslym
Jerusalem declare.
xxii 23a
b)rzym
ysbtyblbnwnmqnnty
Dweller in Lebanon, Nester

in the cedars.
Ezekiel
ii 5, 7, iii 11, vi 4ff., 11, vii 6, 7, 1Off.,xii 24, xiii 6, 8, 9, xvi 3,
44, xvii 1, 3, 8, 17, 23, xviii 9, xix 7, 14, xxi 17, xxiii 34, xxiv 8,
xxv 6, 10, xxvi 12, xxvii 27, xxviii 12, xxix 5, 18c, 19, xxx 4, 14,
xxxi 3, 4a, xxxvii 11, xlviii 21-24a, 1 2 (cf. xxi 14, xxviii 4a).
vi 11
hkhbkpkwrqcbrglk
clap your hand and stamp

your foot.12
12 Y.
Studiesof Word-Pairsin BiblicalandAncientSemiticLiteratures
Avishur, Stylistic
(Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1984), p. 83, notes that the word pair kp//Irglis rare and that
yd //rglis commoner, as in Ezek. xxv 6 (also IP, incidentally).
INTERNAL
OR HALF-LINE
PARALLELISM
49
Hosea
ii lb, 7, 11,1321b, iii 4, iv 2, 3b, 9a, 13c, vi 1, lOb, vii llb, viii
7a, 13, ix 6, 7b, 14b, 16, x 4a, lib, 13a,14xi 8, xii 2a, xiii 10, 15,
xiv 5a, 16 (cf. v lla).
Joel
i 10-12,1514 (=
1, 6, 9.
ii 15), 17, ii 9, 12, 13, 14, 20, 21,16 25, iii 2, iv
ii 20
wClhb sw wtClshntw
his stinkwill go up and his

stench will go up.
Amos
ii 9, iv lb, 9, 13, v 15, viii 5, ix 7, 11 (cf. ii 2, viii 11).
viii 5
sql
Ihqtyn yphwlhgdyl
lessening the ephah, increasing the shekel.
Most other examples in Amos are poor.17

Jonah
ii 1
slshymymwslshlylwt
three days and three nights.18
13 The pattern is unnoticed by F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Hosea

(Garden City, 1980), pp. 132, 240-1.
14 "Verse 13a has the same feature
[as in v. 12a] of short lines. Each line has
the same syntax (verb and object), with the same sequence in the firstand third,
which again achieves symmetry.In the second line the sequence is inverted".
Andersen and Freedman, p. 563.
15 The
poem, already mentioned in my previous article (Bib 66 [1985], p. 378)
is discussed in detail by Andersen and Freedman, pp. 339-40, withoutrecognition
of the half-line components.
16 Note the
expansion in Joel ii 21. The two verbs occur in exactly the same
sequence in the Ammonite Tell Siran Bottle Inscription as ygl wysmh.
17 Note, too, Obad. i 16 (verb, verb).
18 Contrast D. L. Christensen, JBL 104 (1985), p. 223, for whom this is a
bicolon.
50
Micah
i 6, ii 12, iii 2, 7, iv 2, 6, vi 8, vii 1, 4, 9, 19a (cf. i 8, 16, ii 10,
iii 10, vii 15).
iii 7
wbsiwhhzymwhprwhqsmym
The seers shall be disgraced

and the diviners put to
shame (RSV).
Nahum
i 14, ii 2, 10, iii 1-3a, 8, 14-15. None new.
Habakkuk
i 3, 15, 16, ii 2,19 17.
i3
Imh
tr'ny'wn w'ml tbyt
Why
do you make me see wrongs
and look at trouble?
Zephaniah
i 13, 18, ii 3, 6,20 9c, 14, iii 6, 12, 14, 19 (cf. iii 4).
i 13
whyh
Ismmh
hylmImsshwbtyhm
Become
spoil will their wealth, waste
their houses.
Zechariah
ii 6, x 4, xii 1.
xii 1
nthsvmym
wysdIrs
Who stretchedout the sky,

set foundationsto the earth,
19 For the
meaning of this verse cf. D. T. Tsumura, "Hab. 2 2 in the Light
of Akkadian Legal Practice", ZAW 94 (1982), pp. 294-5.
20
Text and translation:J. S. Kselman, CBQ 32 (1970), p. 581 and n. 13.
wysrrwh 'dm bqrbw
51
and formedman's inner

spirit.
Malachi
i 4,21 iii 2, 3, 4, 7 (cf. iii 5). All previouslyunrecognized.
iii 4
kymyCwlmwksnym
qdmnywt
as in past days, as in former

years.
Psalms
ii 2, iv 3,22 vii 15,23 viii 9, ix 6a, x 17, xii 5, 6, xiv 7, xv 2, xvi 9,
xvii 3a, 6b, 13, xviii 1, 47, xix 4, xx 8, xxii 7, 25, xxiv 4, xxvi 1lb,
xxvii 2d, 7, 9c, 12b, xxix 9, xxx 6, xxxii la, xxxiv 15a (= xxxvii
27a), xxxvii 8a, 27, 37, xxxviii 1la, 19, xxxix 10, xliv 4, xlv 8, xlvi
7, lOb, 11,24xlviii 3, 6b, 9a, xlix 3, liii 7 (= xiv 7), lv 7b, 8b, 14,
lix 13, Ix 9, lxii 4, lxv 8, 11, lxvi 4, lxviii 2, 5a, 6a, 8, 16, 26a, 28b,
lxxii 24, lxxiv 2,25 16, lxxv 8,26 lxxvi 3, lxxviii 12, 20a, 36, lxxxi
3, 9, lxxxii 5, lxxxiii2b, lxxxiv4, lxxxv 9b, lxxxviii7b,27lxxxix 12,
14b, xc 7, xcii 4, xcvi 2a, lla, c 4, ci 5, cii 27, ciii 8, civ 8a, 20,
cv 2, cvi 6, 31, 48, cvii 3bc, 26, 37, cviii 9, cix 28, cxiii 6b, cxv 1
(//cxxxviii2), cxix 113, 127b, cxx 2-3, cxxi 4, cxxii 7, cxxiii 4, cxxv
5-6, cxxvi 5, cxxviii 2b, cxxx 5-6, cxxxiii 1, cxxxv 6, cxxxvi 12,
cxxxvii2, cxxxix 12, cxl 13, cxliv 14, cxlv 8, cxlviii8ff.(cf.xxvii 6c,
lOa, 14, xxxv 4, xlv 4, lvii 8, lxxxvi 15, ciii 20, civ 9, cxix 15, cxx
7, cxxi 5, 6, 8, cxxiv 5, cxli 5, cxliv 2).
xviii 47
hyyhwhwbrwkswry
Yahweh lives! Blessed be my

Rock
21
For a possible example in Mal. i 6 (with verb ellipsis) cf. A. Berlin,JANES
10 (1970), p. 40.
22 For different
stichometrycf. P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (Waco, 1983), p. 78.
23
According to J. T. Willis, VT 29 (1979), p. 468, this is a tricolon.
24
Ps. xlvi 11 has been compared with Isa. xxxiii 10 by M. Weiss, Bib 42 (1961),
p. 297.
25 The line with IP occurs within a
longer verse, examined recentlyby P. Auffret, VT 33 (1983), p. 131, though he did not recognize the half-lines.
26 Avishur
(n. 12), p. 554, recognized "intra-colon" parallelism here.
27 For the
stichometrycf. O. Loretz, Habiru-Hebrder (Berlin, 1984), p. 255.
52
WILFRED
G. E. WATSON
lxxv 8
zh yspylwzhyrym
one he promotes, another he

demotes.
Job
i 1, 21, ii 2, 11, iii 26, iv 10, vii 12, ix 4a, x 10, xiv lb, xv 29, 35,
xvii 11, xviii 19, xx 8, 13, xxvi 7, xxix 25, xxx 8, 20, 26, xxxiii 9,
15, xxxvii 13, xxxviii 3b (//xl 7b //xlii 4b), xxxix 21, xlii 6 (cf. xix
14).
xv 35
hrhCmlwyld 'wn
Pregnant with mischiefthey

give birth to evil.28
Proverbs
iii 2, 7b, iv 5, 7, v 19a, vi 10 (= xxiv 33), 12a, 13, 14, 17a, 19b,
23, vii 7, 12a, ix 2, x 9, 26, xiv 5b, xvi 24, xvii 3 (= xxvii 21), 15,
xix 20, 26, xx 1, 10, 12, xxi 4, 6b, 9 (//xxv 24), 30, xxii 8, xxiii
23, 29a, 32, xxv 3, 12, 19, 26a, xxvi 1, 3, 10, 21, xxvii 3, 4, 21a,
27, xxviii 15, xxx 4, 31a, xxxi 2, 30a,29 (cf. xviii 22, xxiii 9).
xix 20
sm C'shwqbl mwsr
Listen to advice and accept

instruction(RSV).
Song of Songs
i 5cd, ii 1, 5, 7 (etc.), iv 8, 12, 14, 16, v 7, 16, vi 10, vii 7 (cf. ii
8). None new.
Qoheleth
i 2, 4, 5a, 6, 9-10, 18, ii 25, iii 2-8, 11, 17, v 2, vi 4, vii 12a, viii
16, ix 1, 2, 10, xii 1, 5, 14.
28
M. H. Pope, Job (Garden City, 1965), p. 113, compares Ps. vii 14, adding
"Apparently it was a proverbial expression".
29 Other
possible examples in Proverbs are i 18, ii 4, iii 7a, 22, vi 32a, viii 2a,
3a, 14, xiv 29. See also note 55 (below).
53
i4
dwrhlkwdwrb'
a generation goes, a generation comes.
Lamentations
i 4, 5, 22, iii 15, iv 13, 18 (cf. i 12, iii 49). None of these examples
is clear.
Esther
ii 7, iii 2, 7, vii 16, ix 13 (and par.) (cf. iii 13).
Daniel
xi 20.30
Nehemiah
i 6, 10, viii 10.
1 Chronicles
xii 15b, 19,3141a, xxviii 9, 20b, xxix 2, 5.
xii 15b
Im'h hqtnwhgdwll'lp
the smallest (a match) for a

hundred, for a thousand the
biggest.32
2 Chronicles
ii 3, 13, 14 (EVV, 4, 14, 15), xix 7b, xxxii 7 (cf. xxxvi 17b).
See Gruber (n. 11), p. 485, for discussion of this phrase.
(Garden City, 1965), pp, 93, 97, and, with a
SeeJ. M. Myers, I Chronicles
Ugaritic parallel, B. Levine and J.-M. de Tarragon, JAOS 104 (1984), pp. 658-9.
32 The succinct combination of numerical and chiastic
parallelism is note30
31
worthy.
54
WILFRED
G. E. WATSON
Ben Sira
vi 2, 11ff.,vii 21, 31, x lOb, 22, xi 7, 14, xii 5, 7, 18a, xii 24, xiv
4, 5a, 18b, xvi 12, 16a, 22, xxv 22, xxx 23, xxxv lOb, xxxvi 6-7,
xxxvii 18, xxxviii22b, xxxix 15, xli 14, xlii c, 21, xliii 9, 17a, xliv
6, xlv 4, 12, xlvi 13, 19, xlvii 23, xlix 7, 15, 1 27, li 5. (Cf. iii 11,
vi 27, x 2, xiv 16a, xxvi 3, xxxii 8, 23, xxxiii 12, 14a, 20, xliii 6,
li 25.)
xii 18a
rr ynycwhnyp
yd<y>w
His head he will nod and rub

his hands.
3. Features
Following the plan of my previous article33I will firstprovide examples forinner-linefeaturesof the additional textswith half-line
parallelism presentedin this article. Certain featureswill be taken
as read since theyoccur so frequently(assonance, alliterationin the
formof the quasi-acrostic, repetitionand word pairs) and will not
need documentationunless of exceptional interest.Then I will list
new passages where clusteringoccurs. Next come accounts of structuralpatternsand rhetoricalfeatures.The last paragraph deals with
compression.
3.1 Phonological
aspects
Assonanceis evident in Gen. xvi 12b; 1 Sam. xxx 8; 2 Kings xiv 26;
withinan acrostic:
Zech. ii 6; Pss xxxii la, lxxv 8b, etc. Alliteration
Ps. x 17
smCt
t'wt Cnwym
yhwh
tkynIbmtqsb 'znk
You have heard the desire of

of the afflicted,Yahweh.
You will strengthentheir
heart; you will turn your ear.
Pss ix-x forman alphabetic acrostic and in the closing tau-strophe

the use of initial tau is extended beyond the firstline to both halves
of the second (in the translationthe patternT----- //T--- //T--33
Bib 66 (1985), pp. 370-5.
55
is reflectedin the use of "you"). See also Pss xxiv 15 (= xxxvii

27a) and contrastcxix 15. Sometimes only the secondcomponents
of each half-linebegin with the same letter(or cluster) as in
Ps. xlviii 3
hr sywnyrkty
spwn
Mount Zion, the recesses of

Zaphon.
Also Gen. xi 1()), 6('); Lev. xix 26 (1); 1 Kings xx 8(t), 25(k); Isa.
ix 11 (m); Jer. xii 7 (); xxii 23 (b); Hos. vi 1 (wy); Mic. iii 7 (h);
Mal. iii 7 (3); Ps. cxix 15 (3); Job ii 11 (h), xiv 7 (y); Prov. vi 13
(b), xvii 3(= xxvii 21) (1), xix 26 (); Neh. viii 10 (m); Sir. vii 21
(m), xii 18a (y), xlii lle (c),34 13 (also c). This is a feature of some
Babylonian verse.35
occurs in Gen. xxxi 36, xxxix 10; 1 Kings viii 57c; Isa.
End-rhyme
i 23, vii 11, xxxiii 20, xl 10( = lxii 11); Jer. xii 14, xxxii 31, 1 15,
35b; Hos. vii llb; Mic. iii 7, iv 6, vii 9a; Zeph. i 18; Zech. ii 6;
Pss xvii 6b, xxix 9, xlviii 3, lix 13, lxvi 4, lxxi 24, lxxxii 5, cxix 13,
cxxiii 4, cxxxvi 12, cxxxviii 2, cxxxix 12; Prov. xx 9, xxx 4; Job
x 10; Qoh. ix 1; Neh. viii 10; 1 Chron. xii 19; Sir. xxv 22, xlv 4,
etc.
Soundpairs: A sound pair is definedby Berlin as "the repetitionin
parallel words or lines of the same or similar consonants in any
order with close proximity" ([n. 6], p. 104). Since a line with IP
behaves like a couplet it can also contain a sound pair. Examples
are few;
Jer. xlvi 14
whsmyCw
bmgdwlGive out in Egypt and anhgydwbmsrym
nounce in in Migdol.
34
For the text cf. B. Jongeling, "Un passage difficiledans le siracide de
Masada (Col. IV, 22a = Sir. 42,11e)", in W. C. Delsman, et al. (ed.), VonKanaan bis Kerala: Festschrift
furJ. PM. van derPloeg... (Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1982),
pp. 303-10.
35
The poems have been edited by J. A. Black, "Babylonian Ballads: A New
Genre",JAOS 103 (1983), pp. 25-34, with correctionsby W. G. Lambert, RA 77
(1983), p. 191, though this feature(lines lb-3b, 4b-5b, 6b-7b, 13b-14b, 16b-17b,
23b-28b) has gone unnoticed.
56
WILFRED
G. E. WATSON
The words hGyDw and mGDwl are related only by similarityof

sound. A betterillustrationis
Prov. iii 7b
wesurmerda
yerd' 'et-yahweh
REVERE Yahweh and turn

fromEVIL.
Similarly, Hos. ix 14b (MSkyl - SdyM);36cf. Ezek. xix 14, below

(3.2).
Sound pairs which are also word pairs (Berlin [n. 6], pp. 106-8) include Gen. xv 17 (s I//'s); Jer. viii 20 (qsyr//qys); Hos. ix 6 (qbs
in i 16); Pss
//qbr); Hab. i 15 (hkh//hrm- contrasthrm//mkmrt
xxxviii 19 (gyd//
7
//
cxxii
(slwm slwh) (discussed by Berlin,
'dIg),
xlii
6
p. 107); Job
(see below); Lam. i 49 ('yny m'yn). Strictly
in
a
word
semantic
pairs belong
speaking,
category but some are
mentioned here because of theirconnection with sound pairs (see
3.3).
Prov. v 19a
A lovely DEER, a graceful
DOE.
The sound + word pair 'ylt-y'lt involves repetitionof the letters
y, I and t which may explain the use of rareylh here. See also Sir.
xiv 18b
'ylt 'hbymwy'lt-hn
'hd gwc w.hd gmwl
one is BLIGHTED,
BLOOMS.
another
3.2 Structural
features
Chiastic patternsobtain in
Ezek. vii 6
qs b' b' hqs
An end comes, comes the

end.37
Perhaps also Mal. i 6; Pss cxxii 4, cxxiv 5.

The chiasmus is noted by M. Greenberg, Ezekiel 1-20 (Garden City, 1983),
pp. 145-7. The next line comprises two non-parallel half-lines.
36
37
57
Ezek. xix 14
qynhhy wthyqynh
This is a dirge and a dirge it

becomes.38
Both these comprise "mirror chiasmus".39

Ps. lxxviii 20a
hn hkh-swr
wyzwbwmymwnhlym
ystpw
When he strucka rock

water gushed and gullies
overflowed.
The chiasmus here is phonological (-im -u //-u -im), grammatical

(Verb Subject // Subject Verb) and semantic (there is weak
onomatopoeia too). Also, Gen. xvi 12b; Isa. vi 7b, xliv 13d;40Jer.
iv 5a, xiv 2, xliv 12; Hos. iv 13c; Amos ix 11; Hab. i 3, 15; Zeph.
iii 19; Pss xxxviii 11a, 19, lxxvi 3, xc 7, cxix 15, cxxiv 5, cxli 5;
Job xix 14, xxvi 7; Prov. xvii 15; Sir. xii 18a, xiv 5a.
IP occurs in the second line in Gen. xvi 12b; 1 Sam. xvi 12b, xvii
44b; Isa. vi 10, lviii 9b; Jer. v 21b; Pss lxvi 4b, cxl 13b, cxlv 8b;
Job xiv lb; Prov. iii 7b, xiv 5b, xvi 24, xxi 6b, 9 (//xxv 24), xxxvi
lOb; Sir. vi 16b, xi 7b, xiii 24, xxxv lOb, xxxviii 22b, xlix 15, 1 27.
Prov. xiv 5b
Cd 'mwnyml ykzb
wypyhkzbymCdsqr
A truthfulwitness does not

lie
but a lying testifieris a false
witness.
In some of these passages the second line glosses (or is parallel to)
the last word or words of the firstline, e.g.
Isa. lviii 9b
'm tsyrmtwkkmw.th
slh )sbC wdbr 'wn
If you remove fromyour

midst injustice:
pointing the finger,speaker
slander.
38
So Greenberg, p. 354.
See Watson (n. 8), p. 203. For apposite comments on the possible danger of
over-labelling see L. Alonso Sch6kel's review, Bib 67 (1986), p. 122. Another example of mirror chiasmus is Prov. xvii 15.
40
in HebrewPoetry(Rome, 1978), p. 123.
Cf. T. Collins, Line-forms
39
58
WILFRED
G. E. WATSON
Also Ps. lxvi 4b; Prov. xvi 24b; 2 Chron. xix 7b (previous exin Ps. cxl 13
amples: Jer. iv 8; Ps. xlviii 6b). Note the enjambment
1
(previously:Jer. xv lb).
IP comes in the thirdline in
Ps. cxv 1
I) Inwyhwh1) Inw
tn kbwd
ky-lsmk
Cl hsdkwCl mtk
Not to us, Yahweh, not to

us,
but to your own name give

honour
because of your kindness and
fidelity.41
3.3 Semantic
features
Antithetic
parallelismoccurs in Num. xxiv 9; Judg. v 25; Jer. xii 13,
xlviii 28a; Hos. vi 1; Mal. i 4; Pss xxxiv 15, xlv 8, lxxv 8 (cited
above), cii 27, cix 28, cxix 113, cxxvi 5; Qoh. i 4, v 2, vi 4; Sir.
x lOb, xii 7, xiv 4, 5a.42
Of these the most interestingis
Ps. xlv 8a
'hbtsdq wtsn' rs'
You loved uprightnessand

hated wickedness,
i.e. [+ love] + [+ good] //[- love] + [- good].43

Wordpairs, of course, are used in almost all the texts. Of interest
and importanceare the following;Isa. ix 11, liii 13, Ix 6; Jer. xxxii
31, xlviii 8b, 1 35b; Ezek. vi 11, xxviii 12; Hos. vii lib; Mal. iii
4, Pss ci 5, cvii 37; Job xv 35; Prov. vi 12a, xx 12, xxi 4; Qoh.
ix 1; Sir. xxx 23. See also above (3.1).
Lines which use or amount toformulasare: Gen. xxix 17 (//xxxix
6; 1 Sam. xvi 12, xxv 3; Esther ii 7);44 Num. x 35 (//Ps. lxviii 2),
Previous example: Ps. lxviii 28b.
SVT
Structure
in BiblicalHebrewPoetry,
Already noted by J. Krasovec, Antithetic
35 (Leiden, 1984), pp. 124-7: Num xxiv 9; Jer. xii 13a; Pss cii 27-8, cix 28, cxix
113; Qoh. i 4.
43 Cf. sarrukima
d[slamasmisarairam[ragga izir], "Like Shamash, the king loves
(Oxrighteousnessand hates evil"; W. G. Lambert, BabylonianWisdomLiterature
ford, 1960), p. 223: 5, transl., p. 234.
44
Avishur (n. 12), pp. 215, 219, 644, 730.
41
42
59
xiv 18; 1 Sam. xxxiv 15; Jer li 26 (combines Isa. xxviii 16 and i 7,
both examples of IP), xix 25; Joel ii 13; Mic. iii 2; Pss ciii 8, cxxi
5, cxxxvi 12, cxxxviii 2 (= cxv 1); Job xxxviii 3b, etc. See below.
Positive-negative
parallelismoccurs in Prov. xxiii 23; Job xx 13; and
in Jer. v 30; Ps. lxxxv 9b (cf. 2 Sam. xvi 7).
hendiadys
3.4 Clustering
As I established in a previous article ([n. 33], pp. 375-9), sustained sequences of lines withIP occur in classical Hebrew verse as
well as in Akkadian though not in Ugaritic. Here, additional examples (for Hebrew) are listed according to the number of fulllines
per cluster.
ONE AND A HALF: Gen. xvii 20, xxxi 43a; 1 Sam. xxvi 12; 1 Kings
xviii 29, xxii 4; 2 Kings iii 7, iv 26; Hos. ii 7, x 4a, llb, xiv lb;
Joel ii 9, 12; Ps. xxxvii 27; Job i 1, ii 11, xvii 11; Prov. ix 2, xxi
30; Qoh. ix 6, xii 1; Lam. iii 49.
Two: Gen. xxiv 35; Deut. xxvi 8, xxviii 3-6 (//16-19); 1 Sam. xxv
25; 2 Sam. iii 29b; 1 Kings v 13a; Isa. ix 9, xxxiii 22; Jer. iii 24,
xxxi 28; Ezek. xxxi 3; Hos. xi 8; Ps. lxv 11; Job. xxx 26, xlii 6; Ezra
i 4; Sir. xii 7 (cf. Num. xxiv 6; 1 Sam. xv 3; 2 Kings vi 27; Ps. xlviii
9a; Job xxxiii 9).
Two AND A HALF: Jer. ix 25, xviii 7, xxxii 21, li 30; 1 Chron. xxix
2; 2 Chron. ii 13.
THREE:
1 Sam. xvi 18; Hos. iii 4,45 ix 6; Sir. vi 11-13.
FOUR: Isa. lxvi 3.
FIVE AND A HALF: Jer. xlviii 21-24a, 1 2.

MIXED: Ezek. vii 10-12; Ps. cxlviii 8ff.; Sir.
xi 14.
3.5 Structural
patterning
The main type is
A---- A---A----
as in Deut. xxix 22; 1 Sam. xii 4, xx 1; Isa. xli 26; Amos viii 5;
Zeph. iii 12; Pss xcii 4, cxliv 14, Job xviii 19, xxxvii 13.
45
"The six items are grouped in threepairs"; Andersen and Freedman (n. 13),
p. 305.
60
WILFRED
G. E. WATSON
Job xxxvii 13
`m-lsbt'm-l'rsw
'm-lhsdyms'hw
Whether for a correction,

whetherfor his grace,
(or) whetherfor kindness-it
reaches him.46
The patternis extended in Zech. x 4, invertedinJudg. v 21; 1 Sam.

xxv 6 and Ps. x 17.
3.6 Rhetorical
functions
As an openingline: Isa. xxxvii 22, lvii 14a; Jer. iv 5a, xlvi 14,
xlviii 28a, 1 4; Ezek. xxx 4; Hos. xiv 5a; Joel iv 1; Zeph. iii 14; Pss
xii 5-6, xviii 47, xxiv 4, xxix 9, xxxii la, lxxxii 5, cxxxiii 1; Sir. xi
7b, xvi 22. To close:Num. xxix 9; Isa. xli 10; Jer. xiii 11, xxii 23;
Ezek. iii 11, xix 24, xxiii 34; Pss ii 2, iv 3, xxxiv 15, lxvi 4, cxxii
4, cxxxix 12; Job xlii 6; 47 Qoh. xii 4; Sir. xxxix 15, xlvi 19 (cf. 1
device:Ezek. xxv 10; Hos. iv 3b; Prov. xvii 3 (=
27). As a delaying
xxvii 21), xix 26, xxi 4; Sir. xxv 22, xxxvii 18.
3.7 Compression
Into a line with IP can be packed the equivalent of a couplet,
which may explain why this type of parallelism is used in sayings
and proverbs. For example, Jer. viii 20
Cbrqsyrklhqys
w'nhnwlw' nws'nw
Past is the harvest, gone the

summer heat,
but we are not yet rescued.
Such couplets could also be considered tricola-with the equivalent

of threelines packed into two-or theymay be the forerunnersof
true tricola with three full lines.48Of particular interestis the artificialproper name used in Isa. viii 1, 3:
46
The meaning "his favour" proposed for 'rsw (root rsh,with prostheticaleph)
by M. J. Dahood, has been accepted by Pope (n. 28), pp. 243-4, and L. L.
Grabbe, Comparative
Philologyand theTextofJob (Missoula, 1977), pp. 117-19.
47
On this verse cf. W. Morrow, "Consolation Rejection and Repentance in
Job 42:6", JBL 105 (1986), pp. 211-25.
48 In fact,R. Yaron, "The Climactic Tricolon",JJS37

(1986), pp. 153-9, considers Prov. x 26, xvii 3, 15, xx 12, xxv 3, xxvii 3 and xxxi 30a to be sets of three
lines, not two.
mhrsll hs bz
61
Speedy for spoil, precipitate

for plunder,
with the two halves in parallel.49The word pair sll //bz recurs in
Isa. x 6 and Ezek. xxix 19. Also, the collocation of mhrand hys(Isa.
v 19) is here "broken up" over two half-lines.With fourwords the
whole horror of war is evoked and such compression is a strong
featureof lines with IP.
O'Connor has commented on the constraintsshared by proper
names and verse in Hebrew. In fact,he cites Isa. viii 3 (only), but
does not remark on the featuresdescribed here ([n. 7], pp. 160-1,
1.7.3). Another,even more artificialname occurs in Isa. ix 5 (also
cited by O'Connor) and it, too, may be a double instance of IP.
This aspect is also to the forein Exod. xv and implicitin my rendering above (2).
and Distribution
4. Occurrence
With no claim for precision, the figures that emerge overall
(counting in all the passages listed above in 2, but disregarding
dubious examples and not counting single lines withinclusters)are
as follows:
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges v
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
Isaiah i-xxxix
xl-lv
lvi-lxvi
27
4
4
11
7
3
4
14
11
8
8
80
35
16
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Zechariah
Malachi
Psalms
Job
Proverbs
Song of Songs
Qoheleth
Lamentations
Esther
1
11
6
5
10
3
5
119
27
51
12
20
6
5
49
Literally, "Hastening for booty, rushing for plunder". For philological
discussion cf. H. Wildberger,Jesaja 1-12 (Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1972), pp. 312-13.
are most probably participles.
According to him both ha4sand maher(for memaher)
and my own version is an attempt at
He translates "Eilbeute-Raschraub"
alliteration.
62
WILFRED
Jeremiah
Ezekiel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
G. E. WATSON
72
40
27
14
8
Daniel
Nehemiah
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ben Sira
1
3
7
5
40
Some of these books were unrepresentedin my previous article

(i.e., Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Joshua, 2 Samuel, 1
and 2 Kings, Jonah, Micah, Zechariah, Malachi, Esther, Daniel,
Nehemiah, 1 and 2 Chronicles), while to others(Nahum, Song of
Songs) there have been no additions. Not unexpectedlythere are
relativelyfew in the prose books, though Genesis and Qoheleth
have quite a fewexamples. The figurefor2 Samuel is partlyskewed
by the poems incorporated there, the totals for Isaiah, Ezekiel,
Hosea, Joel, Zephaniah, Malachi, Psalms, and Ben Sira are large
and Nahum is rich in clusters. High densityof lines with IP is also
evident in 2 Sam. i 21 (see below), Jer. xxxi 1; and Pss. xxvi, xlv,
xlviii, Iv, lxviii and lxxviii. The impression conveyed by these
numbers is thatlines with IP are farfromrare and occur in almost
every book.
5. IP and theformula
In view of the widespread use of lines with internalparallelism,
or more accurately, half-line parallelism in Hebrew verse
documented above (as well as in other verse traditions) it seems
worthlooking a littlemore closely at the functionof such half-lines
in the process of versificationas far as we can recontructit. If, for
instance, we take "David's Lament over Saul and Jonathan" (2
Sam. i 19-27) apart and pick out the half-lines(or theirequivalents)
it contains and arrange them in groups, the result is as follows.
(1) noun in bound form + noun:
'hyyhwntn;bnwth'rlym;bnwtysr'l; bnwtplstym;hsbyysr'l; hrb
s'wl; klymlhmh;mgngbrym;mgns'wl; (w)sdytrwmt;'dy zhb; qst
yhwntn.
(2) as (1), with preposition:
bhwswt'sqlwn; btwkhmlhmh;hrybglbC,m'hbtnsym;mdmhllym;
mhlbgbwrym;
(3) negative + noun:
l .tl; )l mtr.
63
(4) negative + verb:

)l tbsrw;I) hprdw;pn-tClznh;
pn-tsmhnh.
(5) adverb + verb:
m rywtgbrw;mnsrym
qlw.
(6) adjective + preposition + suffix:
sr-ly.
(7) verb + preposition + suffix:
n mt-ly
These phrases account fornearly half the total words of the poem
(10);50 therefore it seems more then likely that one of the
"building blocks" used by the poet was the half-line.
Another example is Ps. ci, recentlyanalysed from a different
viewpoint by J. S. Kselman.51 Of its 81 words, 42 make up halflines, thoughthe poem itselfis not a clusterof half-lines.These too
can be classifiedunder a number of syntacticalheadings.
(1) noun in bound state + noun:
p'ly 'wn; rs'y 'rs.
(2) as (1), with preposition:
bdrktmym;bqrbbyty(twice); btm-lbby;
Ingd'yny(also twice).
(3) co-ordinated nouns:
hsd-wmspt.
(4) noun + adjective:
lbb Cqs;rhbIbb.
gbh-'ynym;
(5) verb / noun:
dbrsqrym;Csh-s.tym;
Ch rmyh.
dbr-blyCl;
+
verb
(6)
prepositional phrase:
'wtw 'smyt,
yswrmmny,
(7) negative + verb:
I'-'syt. PI-ykwn;
PI-ysb.
The repetitionof two of the phrases (vv. 2a, 7a and 3a, 7b) is significant not only in determining the overall structure, as already
recognized52but also because it indicates these phrases to be selfcontained units. Additional proofcomes fromKselman's article in
whichhe showed (in a quite different
context)thatmany of the halfline units are identicalwithor correspondto half-lineunits in other
sections of Hebrew poetry (Job, Proverbs, other Psalms).
On the "vertical parallelism" in 2 Sam. i 23 cf. Watson (n. 8), p. 170.
"Psalm 101: Royal Confession and Divine Oracle", JSOT 33 (1985), pp.
45-62.
52 H.
Kenik, "Code of Conduct for a King", JBL 95 (1976), pp. 391-403.
50
51
64
WILFRED
G. E. WATSON
Phrases of this type correspond to the "paired expressions" or

"expression pairs" collected by Avishur in his studyof word pairs
([n. 12], 318-21, 607-25, 769, followingU. Cassuto). Many of
these expressions consist of paired nouns connected by waw. This
is not the place fora systematicpresentationof "expression pairs",
but two furtherexamples provide an indication of the material yet
to be studied. One is Ps. xxvii, which contains seven such expressions ('by w'my,'wrywys'y;'syrhw zmrh;hzq wyms,hnnyw'nny;kslw
wnplw;sryw'yby)as well as some half-lines(vv. 4, 9, 12, 12). The
other is Lam. i-v, with over 40 groups of two near-synonymsconnected by waw, e.g. btwlty
wbhwry,"my lasses and lads" (Lam. i
Similar
elsewhere
have also been identifiedby
groupings
18c).53
other scholars.54Particularlysignificantis H. Weippert's study of
the speech passages in prose of Jeremiah,55In it she identified
several formulaswhich, in fact,correspond in length to twin halflines. Examples are bydhzqhwb(')zr(w)' ntwyh,
"with powerfulhand
and extended arm' ;56 l'wp hsmymwlbhmth' rs, "for the birds of the
air and beasts of the land";57 and llh wlsmhwlirqhwlhrph,"to (be)

a curse, a terror,a hissing and a byword".58
It would seem, then, that the expressionpair, in whateverguise,
is equivalent to the (twin) half-line,and each is used as an inseparable componentofverse. This amounts to sayingthatthe half-
53
Also Lam. i 7, 12, 18, 19, ii 2, 5, 6, 6, 8, 9, 9, 11, 12, 14, 14, 18, 20, 21,
21, 22, 22, iii 2, 2, 4, 5, 8, 18, 19, 19, 38, 47, 47, 50, 63, iv 12, 21, 21, v 1 (without
waw: ii 16, 19; note the repetitionsin i 16 and iv 15). Avishur's assertion (n. 12),
p. 624, that "the Book of Lamentations is fundamentally composed of verses
rooted in expression pairs similar to those of the El Amarna letters" is a little
sweeping but has a core of truthin it.
54
O'Connor (n. 7), pp. 380-1; B. Margalit, "Studia Ugaritica I: Introduction
to Ugaritic Prosody", UF 7 (1975), pp. 289-313, esp. p. 294.
55
Die Prosareden
desJeremiabuches
(Berlin,1973), esp. pp. 107-227.
Deut. iv 34, v 15, vii 19, xi 2, xxvi 8; 1 Kings viii 42; Jer. xxxii 21; Ezek.
xx 33, 34; Ps. cxxxvi 12; 2 Chron. vi 32; and with reversal of attributes,Jer. xxi
5. See Weippert, p. 76 and n. 217.
57
Jer. vii 33, xv 3, xvi 4, etc. This formulaand its variants are set out in tabular
formby Weippert, p. 185; see also pp. 184 and 186. To the textscited by her add
Dan. ii 38 (see next note).
58
Jer. xxix 8, etc., as tabulated by Weippert, p. 188. For the "build/plant destroy" formula (with half-lineparallelism) in Jer. xviii 7, 9, xxi 28, see Weippert, p. 194. IP formulas in Aramaic are also collected by P. W. Coxon, "The
'List' Genre and Narrative Style in the Court Tales of Daniel", JSOT 35 (1986),
pp. 95-121; texts include sets of one and a half in Dan. ii 38, 47, and sets of two
(according to Coxon, p. 100, a "fourfold list") in ii 2, 27, iii 21, iv 4 and v 11.
56
65
line corresponds to the formula of oral-formulaic theory. In

essence, thisis not a new suggestionsince R. C. Culley put forward
much the same proposal several years ago.59 However, my approach is differentfromhis. He was looking at Hebrew verse for
the equivalent of the formula established by M. Parry and others
and he isolated segmentsof verse-lineswhich seemed to fitmetrical
slots. Some of these segmentsare, in fact,half-lines.60I have been
examining symmetricalparallelismwithinthe line, concluding that
half-linestend to be metricallyinterchangeable.In effectthismeans
that Culley's definitionof the formulamust now be extended to include half-lines(the "half colon" in his terminology).61This does
not account for lines which cannot be split into half-lines,or are
longer than two half-lines(perhaps even incorporatinghalf-lines,as
in Ps. lxvi 4 and elsewhere) or even shorter.
6. Stichometry
The isolation of lines with inner (half-line)parallelism is bound
up with determiningthe lineation of a poem or segment of verse.
Occasionally, recognitionof such lines can help solve problems of
trickystichometry.An example is Mic. vii 1:
(a) 'lly ly kyhyyty
k'llwtbsyr
(b) k'spy-qys
l'kwl
skwl
(c) 'yn'wth
bkwrh
npsy
(d)
Woe is me! For I am
like (after) the summer harvest, the grapes (already) gleaned.
There is no cluster to eat,
or ripe fig which my appetite craves.
Line (b) matches lines (c) and its parallel (d) in length,which may
59
Oral FormulaicLanguagein theBiblical Psalms (Toronto, 1967). He concludes
(p. 118) "If the investigationof the preceding chapters is correct, it appears that
the major device in Hebrew oral composition was the formula".
60
Examples are 'rk 'pymwrbhsd (Num. xiv 18, Exod. xxxiv 6; Joel ii 13; Jon.
iv 2; Pss lxxxvi 15, ciii 8, cxlv 8) - Culley, pp. 62-3 (55); swr mrcwCshtwb(Pss
xxxiv 15, xxxvii 27) - Culley, p. 84, (144); syrwlw zmrwlw (Ps. cv 2) - Culley,
pp. 59-60, (51, where the variants are listed) and 'syrhw'zmrh(Pss xxvii 6, lvii
8) - Culley, p. 75 (102).
61 The coincidence of line and formula(ic phrase) is discussed by Culley, p. 29.
66
indicate the layout as above.62 Anotherdifficultpassage is Ps. x 17,

set out above (3.1). 2 Kings v 26; Pss lix 13, lxii 4, lxxxviii 7, cxxx
5-6, cxxxv 6; Prov. vi 12-14, vii 7 and other passages also present
problems of this nature which may be resolved by identifyinglines
with IP.
7. Closingcomments
My evaluation of the material presented here clearly needs
refinement.Aspects of metre have only been touched on (chiefly
with referenceto the formula), but the line with IP is evidentlyon
a par withthe acrosticas a means of definingmetricalpatterns.The
contributionthat "expressions pairs" or the twinhalf-lineformula
can make to the thornyproblem of determiningwhethera passage
is prose, poetry or "high-flownprose"63 has yet to be assessed.
These problems must be held over for another occasion.
62
For differentlineation cf. R. Vuilleumier and C.-A. Keller, MicheeNahoum
Habacuc Sophonie(Neuchatel, 1971), p. 78, and W. Rudolph, Micha - Nahum Habakuk- Zephanja(Giitersloh, 1975), pp. 120-1. For an explanation of 'llycf. Watson (n. 8), p. 310.
63
My approximate rendering of "Kunstprosa", on which see Weippert (n.
55), pp. 76-81, esp. p. 80. Whether or not one can speak of "Entmetrisierung"
in several stages (p. 78) remains to be determined.

Watson (1989) Internal or Half-Line Parallelism in Classical Hebrew Again

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Watson (1989) Internal or Half-Line Parallelism in Classical Hebrew Again

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Internal or Half-Line Parallelism in Classical Hebrew Again

Author(s): Wilfred G. E. Watson

Newcastle upon Tyne

INTERNAL OR HALF-LINE PARALLELISM

During all Earth's days

The sun stood still, stay

Wadi Kishon swept them

The quasi-acrostic component8comes in both elements of the

Rip your clothes, wear

None of the passages in 1 or 2 Samuel is pure verse.

Aramaeans fromthe east and

to point the fingerand utter

hsmy'w Proclaim in Judah and in

Dweller in Lebanon, Nester

clap your hand and stamp

ii 15), 17, ii 9, 12, 13, 14, 20, 21,16 25, iii 2, iv

his stinkwill go up and his

lessening the ephah, increasing the shekel.

Most other examples in Amos are poor.17

three days and three nights.18

13 The pattern is unnoticed by F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Hosea

The seers shall be disgraced

Who stretchedout the sky,

INTERNAL OR HALF-LINE PARALLELISM

wysrrwh 'dm bqrbw

and formedman's inner

as in past days, as in former

Yahweh lives! Blessed be my

one he promotes, another he

Pregnant with mischiefthey

Listen to advice and accept

INTERNAL OR HALF-LINE PARALLELISM

a generation goes, a generation comes.

the smallest (a match) for a

His head he will nod and rub

You have heard the desire of

Pss ix-x forman alphabetic acrostic and in the closing tau-strophe

Bib 66 (1985), pp. 370-5.

INTERNAL OR HALF-LINE PARALLELISM

is reflectedin the use of "you"). See also Pss xxiv 15 (= xxxvii

Mount Zion, the recesses of

The words hGyDw and mGDwl are related only by similarityof

REVERE Yahweh and turn

Similarly, Hos. ix 14b (MSkyl - SdyM);36cf. Ezek. xix 14, below

'hd gwc w.hd gmwl

An end comes, comes the

Perhaps also Mal. i 6; Pss cxxii 4, cxxiv 5.

INTERNAL OR HALF-LINE PARALLELISM

This is a dirge and a dirge it

Both these comprise "mirror chiasmus".39

When he strucka rock

The chiasmus here is phonological (-im -u //-u -im), grammatical

A truthfulwitness does not

If you remove fromyour

Not to us, Yahweh, not to

but to your own name give

You loved uprightnessand

i.e. [+ love] + [+ good] //[- love] + [- good].43

INTERNAL OR HALF-LINE PARALLELISM

1 Sam. xvi 18; Hos. iii 4,45 ix 6; Sir. vi 11-13.

FOUR: Isa. lxvi 3.

FIVE AND A HALF: Jer. xlviii 21-24a, 1 2.

Whether for a correction,

The patternis extended in Zech. x 4, invertedinJudg. v 21; 1 Sam.