“In our language, parallelism is the repetition of certain sentence parts for rhetorical effect. English uses parallelism quite often, as in the proverb “like father, like son.” A. A. Milne’s words, “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think,” also exhibit parallelism in their three clauses. In the Hebrew language of the Old Testament, parallelism goes beyond simple grammatical form to include repetition of thought. Take two lines of poetry. In synonymous parallelism, the idea of the second line is a restatement of the idea of the first line (see Proverbs 18:7). In antithetical parallelism, the idea of the second line is the opposite of the idea in the first line (see Proverbs 18:23). In synthetic parallelism, which is not really parallelism at all, related thoughts are brought together to emphasize similarities, contrasts, or other correlations.” Got Questions
The first to see this law clearly and to distinguish between its basic forms was the Anglican bishop Robert Lowth (“De Sacra Poesi Hebræorum Prælectiones,” 1753, Lecture xix.; and “Preliminary Dissertation to Isaiah,” 1778, pp. 12-26). Unknown to him Christian Schoettgen referred to this principle in a general way (“Horæ Hebr.” 1733; comp. Diss. vi., “De Exergasia Sacra,” pp. 1249-1263: “exergasia quid sit, omnes Rhetorum libelli docent, conjunctio scilicet integrarum sententiarum idem significantium”). But even before that Ibn Ezra and Ḳimḥi had characterized this feature of Hebrew poetry by the expression “kaful” (“doubling”) or, more fully, “kefel ‘inyan be-millot shonot” (“doubling of the thought with other words”). Both, however, regarded it merely as an elegant form of expression (“derek ẓaḥot”). On Abu al-Walid see Bacher, “Aus der Schrifterklärung des Abulwalid,” p. 39.
According to the logical interrelation of the members there are distinguished three kinds of parallelism:
- (1) The synonymous, in which the same sentiment is repeated in different but equivalent words:(Ps. xxv. 5; comp. ib. exiv.; Num. xxiii. 7-10; Isa. lx. 1-3; etc.). “Shew me thy ways, O Lord; Teach me thy paths”Frequently the second line not merely repeats but also reenforces or diversifies the idea:(Prov. i. 31);”They shall eat of the fruit of their own way, And be filled with their own devices”(I Sam. xviii. 7; comp. Isa. xiii. 7, lv. 6 et seq.; Ps. xcv. 2). “Saul hath slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands”
- (2) The antithetical, in which the parallel members express the opposite sides of the same thought:(Prov. xi. 3; comp. ib. x. 1 et seq.; Isa. liv. 7 et seq.; Ps. xx. 8, xxx. 6). “The integrity of the upright shall guide them, But the perversity of the treacherous shall destroy them”Frequently there are one or more synonymous elements in both members, thus making the contrast more emphatic:(Prov. xxix. 27; comp. ib. x. 5, xvi. 9, xxvii. 2). “An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, And he that is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked”
- (3) The synthetical (called also constructive and epithetical), in which the two members contain two disparate ideas, which, however, are connected by a certain affinity between them:(Prov. i. 7; comp. ib. iii. 5, 7; Isa. l. 4; Ps. i. 3, xv. 4).”The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: But the foolish despise wisdom and instruction”
Kinds of Parallelism
Lowth observes of these three fundamental kinds of parallelism (“Preliminary Dissertation,” p. 26): “Synonymous parallels have the appearance of art and concinnity and a studied elegance; they prevail chiefly in shorter poems, in many of the Psalms, in Balaam’s prophecies, in many of those of Isaiah, which are most of them distinct poems of no great length. Antithetical parallelism gives an acuteness and force to adages and moral sentences, and therefore abounds in Solomon’s Proverbs, but elsewhere is not often to be met with. The poem of Job, being on a large plan and in a high tragic style, though very exact in the division of the lines and the parallelism, and affording many fine examples of the synonymous kind, yet consists chiefly of the constructive.”
Other distinctions which refer rather to the structure and form of the verses than to the nature of parallelism are:
The introverted parallelism (Jebb, “Sacred Literature,” 1820, § iv., p. 53), in which the hemistichs of the parallel members are chiastically arranged after the scheme ab-ba:
(Prov. xxiii. 23 et seq., Hebr.; comp. ib. x. 4, 12; xiii. 24; xxi. 17; Ps. li. 4).
“My son, if thine heart be wise, My heart shall be glad, even mine; Yea, my veins shall rejoice, When thy lips speak right things”
The palillogical parallelism, in which one or more words of the first line are taken up, like an echo or the canon in music, in the second:
(Nah. i. 2; comp. Judges v. 3, 6, 7, 11, 12, 15, 16, 23, 27; Isa. ii. 7, xxiv. 5; Hos. vi. 4; Ps. lxxii. 2, 12, 17; cxxi.; cxxiv.; cxxvi.).
“The Lord is a jealous God and avengeth; The Lord avengeth and is full of wrath; The Lord taketh vengeance on his adversaries, And he reserveth wrath for his enemies”
Perfect and imperfect parallelism, according to the equality or inequality of the number of words in each line.
Sometimes a distich does not contain the logical development or repetition of the thought as in the instances quoted above; but the thought goes forward through both lines, either because one line was not sufficient to express it or because the second line supplements the first in the form of a relative, final, causative, or consecutive clause.
There is also that parallelism which is called (e.g., by De Wette and Delitzsch) the rhythmical:
(Ps. cxxxviii. 4);
“All the kings of the earth shall give thee thanks, O Lord, For they have heard the words of thy mouth”
(Prov. xv. 3; comp. ib. xvi. 7, 10; xvii. 13, 15; xix. 20; xxi. 23, 25).
“The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Keeping watch over the evil and the good”
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