The Bible is a unique collection of 66 books written by approximately 40 different authors over 1,500 years in primarily Hebrew and Greek languages. Those facts alone make the Bible unique. The Old and New Testaments include history, poetry, songs, prophecy, letters, wisdom, theology, and apocalyptic literature. The Bible is often referred to as “The Word” or “The Word of God” and is considered scripture. Most Christians believe the Holy Spirit is the author of the Bible and inspired men to put pen to paper, papyrus, or other medium. It is for good reason that the Bible is the best-selling book of all time, with over 5 billion copies published in over 700 languages.
The authors used many literary devices in the text and narratives to convey the message and ideas in scripture. These include metaphor, hyperbole, personification, simile, imagery, semantic parallelism, chiasmus, irony, and allusion. At times, you will find repetition of words and concepts intended to focus the reader’s attention. Scripture uses many names for God and to describe God. In Psalm 80, for example, the psalmist refers to God as “Shepherd of Israel, “God,” “Lord God,” “God Almighty,” and “Lord God Almighty,” all in 19 verses. It is also helpful to understand that some of the book in the New Testament are letters and were intended to be read aloud to groups of people. Reading scripture aloud is still practiced in the church.
One of my favorite literary devices is the chiasmus, which has a symmetrical, repeated, or inverted structure. Derived from the Greek letter chi, which looks like an X, a chiasmus allows ideas to crisscross in delivery. A simple chiasmus in the Bible is “He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword.” Matthew 26:52. For more examples of chiasmus in the Bible, click here.