Old Testament Exegesis Terms: Key Concepts and Literary Devices

acrostic

Composed alphabetically, successive verses beginning with successive Hebrew letters (some psalms, sections of Proverbs, Lamentations, etc.).

anacoluthon

Grammatical non sequitur in which the first part of a thought is not completed as expected.

antithetical

Describing poetic parallelism characterized by the pairing of an assertion and its contrast.

Aquila

Translated Hebrew Bible into Greek literalistically around AD 140; included in Hexapla; replaced parts of LXX.

Aramaism

Word or idiom used in Hebrew, supposedly Aramaic in origin, therefore late in date.

assimilation

Replacement of an original text reading by a reading from another document.

asyndeton

Absence of conjunctions or other linking/coordinating words.

autograph

The original, first copy of a biblical book or portion.

bifid

Organized into two discrete parts.

chiasm

A pattern of words or concepts in which the first and last are similar, the second and next to last are similar, and so forth.

codex

An ancient manuscript in book (bound pages) form rather than scroll form.

collate

To compare manuscripts of a given text in order to reconstruct the original.

colon

A single verse unit of poetry.

colophon

Title or other summary at the end or beginning of a unit of text.

conflation

Combining two variant readings, producing a reading not the same as either of them.

daughter translation

A translation of a translation, usually referring to a translation of the LXX into another language.

deuterograph

Secondary writing/rewriting.

dittography

Copy error repeating something accidentally.

doublet

A supposedly parallel narrative, allegedly resulting from retelling in oral tradition.

formula

A set of words commonly used in a particular kind of context.

hapax legomenon

A word or term that occurs only once in the OT.

haplography

The loss of something during copying.

hendiadys

Expressing a single concept by two or more words or expressions linked by 'and'.

Hexapla

Origen's six-column OT containing six different versions.

homoioarchton

Similar beginnings in two words causing the scribe to skip from one to the other.

homoioteleuton

Similar endings in two words causing the scribe to skip from one to the other.