Repetition is a major feature of all language and poetry. In addition to repeating words, poetry often features the repetition of stress and sound, which we call meter and rhyme.

3.1. Stress and Meter

Meter, the regularly recurring pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables, defines English poetry for many people. Greek and Latin poetry also had strict and complex meters. Hebrew scholars spent centuries looking for a regular Hebrew meter. However, it is not there.

As Dobbs-Allsopp argues in great detail: “Biblical poetry is not metrical.” Instead, as he says, each line contains “two or three and sometimes even four stressed syllables” with various unstressed syllables followed by a pause; “then another two, three or four stresses and another pause, and so on” (98). This understanding represents the consensus of scholars today (Gillingham, 1994, 67-68).

Typical is the pattern 3+3, which indicates three strong stresses or accents in each line of the couplet with any number of unstressed syllables. Other possibilities are 2+2, 3+2, or 4+4. However, Hebrew does not strictly enforce these meters. Again, as Dobbs-Allsopp says, “Biblical poetry is not metrical” (98). Rather, it is a type of free verse.

Identifying stressed syllables in Hebrew can be tricky. Unlike English, Hebrew combines related words under one major stress. In translation, one stress in Hebrew may become two or more accented words in English. Even so, the pattern is often rather easy to see in English translations, as in Ps 92:1

Examples could be easily multiplied, and so we often feel the cadence of the Hebrew poetry in English translation.

3.2. Rhyme and the Repetition of Sound

Poetry has a great affinity for sound. Many people consider end-rhyme as a hallmark of English poetry. Because rhymes can be hard to find in English, they create a strong impact. Forced and unhappy rhymes are signs of bad English poetry.

There is no rhyme in Hebrew poetry, which spares translators great difficulty. Still, Hebrew poetry can have concentrated repetition of consonants (alliteration) and/or vowels (assonance). Good translations find sound in their language to support the impact as it delights the hearer. Ps 127:1-2 repeat the following words:  unless, LORD, build, in vain, guard. Note also the rhyme of “keep” and “sleep” as well as the alliteration of “rise” and “rest.” There is some assonance with the vowels of “eating,” “he,” “sleep,” abd “be” of “beloved. The sounds of the repeated words help to support the meaning.

¹ Unless the LORD builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the LORD guards the city,
the guard keeps watch in vain.
² It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives sleep to his beloved.

3.3. The Function of Repetition: Emphasis, Design, and Time

Repetition is one of the most basic strategies of all languages, whether poetry or not. Wherever it appears, the audience should pay careful attention. Among its various functions, three are central: emphasis, design, and time.

a. emphasis

Repetition by its insistence creates emphasis. It is one of the easiest strategies that a text has for showing us what is important. In Psalm 121, the word “keep” appears six times in eight verses to affirm that “my help comes from the LORD.” Anyone can count them, so it is not a personal opinion. “Keeping” is a central idea of the poem.

b. design

Repetition of a word, phrase, or line often defines boundaries in a poem and creates design. In Psalm 136, the second line of each couplet repeats: “for his steadfast love endures forever.” The line contains the psalm’s central idea and also gives the poem its design. In Psalm 8, the first and last lines repeat—a strategy called inclusio. In addition to emphasis, the repetition also defines the poem.

c. time:

Finally, repetition creates time for the audience to react. Any speaker knows that you must repeat what you want people to hear so that they have time to absorb and react to it. If you say something just once, it goes by too quickly. We need to hear things several times and in different ways so that we can understand, react and set them up in our imagination. Repetition helps us do that.

3.4. Strategies of Repeating Sameness

a. key words

Key words repeat the central theme or idea of a text. “Steadfast love” appears four times in Psalm 103, and “bless the LORD” appears six times. the repetitionn is significant.

Sometimes we must include similar words to discover what the poem is creating.

b. inclusio

Inclusio names the repetition of the opening and last line. The word “Halleluiah” begins and ends a number of psalms: “hallel” = praise; ‘u’ = “you all,” “iah” or ‘yah’ is short of YHWH. “Halleluiah” or “Alleluia” (from the Latin) means “Praise the LORD!”

Psalms 8 opens and closes with the same couplet (8:1, 9).

O LORD, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Likewise, the last lines of Psalm 118 repeat its first couplet:

O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his steadfast love endures forever! (118:1, 29)

By beginning and ending with the same lines, the psalm affirms its unity. Though the last lines repeat the first, the text between them creates a new context that enriches the meaning of the last line. The two do not mean precisely the same thing.

c. anaphora

In literary studies, anaphora describes the repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of a line or several successive lines. Ps 115:1 provides an easy example:

“Not to us, O LORD, not to us,
but to your name give glory.”

See also Ps 22:1 and Isa 40:1.

Another example has the beginning of lines repeating as in Ps 29:1-2.

Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
Ascribe to the LORD the glory of his name;
worship the LORD in holy splendor.

Much of Psalm 93 is similar. Though very simple, the repetition creates an insistence that demands attention.

d. refrain

Refrain, the regular repetition of one or more lines, brings a sense of regularity and assurance. Psalm 136 provides one of the clearest examples.

e. alphabetic psalms

Poetry often imposes rules that challenge the poet to become creative. Some biblical poems use the Hebrew alphabet for this challenge. The first couplet begins with aleph, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The second couplet begins with beth, the second letter, and so forth through the twenty-two letters. Psalm 119, the longest in the Psalter, divides into twenty-two stanzas of eight couplets. Each couplet of the stanza begins with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

The succession of letters gives the poem a sense of order, inevitability, and completeness. Unfortunately, it would be impossible to reproduce this in English.

Some alphabetic poems belong to the wisdom tradition: Psalms 37, 112, 119; and Prov 31:10-31. However, the pattern is also used for various hymns (Pss 9, 25, 34) and laments (Psalms 25; Lamentations 1–4).

The Hebrew alphabet comes from the Canaanite alphabet, which is also the source for the Greek alphabet and the basis for the Roman alphabet, which we use. Although the Hebrew alphabet seems totally different, you can see the link in the first letter. The Hebrew letter, aleph, is the word for ox, and if you turn the Greek first letter, alpha, ‘A’ upside down and draw ears at the crossbar and then eyes and a mouth, you can see the head of an ox.

Its impact of the alphabetic psalm is lost in translation.

3.5. Exercises for Chapter 3

Vocabulary

• alliteration: the repetition of consonants. §3.2
• anaphora: the repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of a line or several successive lines. §3.4c
• assonance: the repetition of vowels. §3.2
• inclusio: the repetition of the same phrase or line at the beginning and end of a text. §3.4b
• key word: a repeating word or phrase that signals critical themes in the story or poem. §3.4a
• meter: the regular appearance of stressed syllables. While English poetry Traditionally has a regular number of alternating stressed and unstressed syllables, Hebrew has only a regular number of stressed syllables (more or less). §3.1
• motif: a recurring concrete image connected to a theme, a recurring idea. §3.4a
• refrain: the regular repetition of one or more lines in a poem. §3.4d
• repetition: a basic strategy used to create emphasis, time to react, and design. Repetition is a sign of what the text deems important and demands the audience’s attention. §3.0
• rhyme: the repetition of the last syllables of lines of poetry. §3.2
• stress: the accented syllable of a word. §3.1
• theme: a recurring idea in a text. §3.4a

Questions

Mark the strong English accents in Psalm 1. Do not force the accent into a regular pattern. Read it out loud, and follow your ear.

Mark Psalm 150 for its sound. There are repeating words but also look for repeating vowels, consonants, and syllables.

What are key words in Psalms 1 and 150?

Why does the Book of Psalms, also called the Psalter, begin and end with these psalms?