[B-Greek] 1 Tim. 3:16 and Greek poetry

CWestf5155 at aol.com CWestf5155 at aol.com
Fri Apr 23 14:03:49 EDT 2004


Ted,

The poetic element that stands out is the repetition of QH in every line.

Cindy Westfall
Adjunct Faculty, Denver Seminary

In a message dated 4/23/2004 10:54:53 AM Mountain Standard Time, 
tedsmath at yahoo.com writes:
Hello,

1 Timothy 3:16 reads, in part:
     hOS EFANERWQH EN SARKI
     EDIKAIWQH EN PNEUMATI
     WFQH AGGELOIS
     EKHRUCQH EN EQNESIN
     EPISTEUQH EN KOSMW
     ANELHMFQH EN DOXH

We are told that the above-quoted parts of 1 Tim. 3:16 are poetry. 
How so?  I could not discern any *regular* cadence in this passage,
and I'm told that Greek poetry depends heavily on meter.  The lines
come *close* to having a meter, but it appears that they closely miss
it.  Or else, quite likely, I've misunderstood.

I can see that the phrases are somewhat parallel, but not in the same
way that the Psalms display parallel *clauses*.  And parallelism is
more Semitic than Greek, anyway, isn't it?  

So my questions are:
*  What devices are used to distinguish ancient Greek poetry from
prose?
*  Can you direct me to some examples of ancient Greek poetry,
whether in the NT or elsewhere, that are accessible to the beginner?

Thank you very much!


=====
Ted Shoemaker



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