All posts by Nigel Bernard

JOB 38:6-12

A (6, 7) Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; When THE MORNING stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

B (8) Or who shut up the sea with DOORS, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?

C (9) When I MADE <07760> the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,

D (10) and brake up for it my decreed place,

C′ (10) and SET <07760> bars

B′ (10, 11) and DOORS, And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?

A′ (12) Hast thou commanded THE MORNING since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;

Exodus 20:8-11

A (8) Remember the SABBATH day, to keep it holy.

B (9) SIX days shalt thou labour,

C (9) and do all thy WORK:

D (10) But the seventh day is the sabbath of Yahweh thy God:

C′ (10) in it thou shalt not do any WORK, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

B′ (11) For in SIX days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day:

A′ (11) wherefore Yahweh blessed the SABBATH day, and hallowed it.

Exodus 9:33, 34

A (33) And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands unto Yahweh: and THE THUNDERS

B (33) and HAIL ceased,

C (33) and THE RAIN was not poured upon the earth.

D (34) And when Pharaoh saw

C′ (34) that THE RAIN

B′ (34) and THE HAIL

A′ (34) and THE THUNDERS were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants.

Joshua 7:17,18

A (17) And he brought the family OF JUDAH;

B (17) and he took the family OF THE ZARHITES: and he brought the family OF THE ZARHITES man by man;

C (17,18) and ZABDI was taken: And he brought his household man by man;

D (18) and Achan, the son of Carmi,

C′ (18) the son OF ZABDI,

B′ (18) the son OF ZERAH,

A′ (18) of the tribe OF JUDAH, was taken.

The first half of the chiasm is the order over time in which children were born. The second half goes backwards through time to identify the person according to his ancestors. This type of `genealogical chiasm’ is also seen in Matthew 1:1-16.

 

JOSHUA 7:1

A. But THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL committed a trespass

B. in THE ACCURSED THING:

C. for took Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah,

B′. of THE ACCURSED THING:

A′. and the anger of Yahweh was kindled against THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL.

Note “took” comes before “Achan” in the Hebrew and I have placed it there above. Also, “commited” is actually the first word in this sentence in the Hebrew although I have left it as per the KJV. This chiasm emphasizes the identity of Achan, which anticipates the inexorable identifying of him later on in the chapter where Achan is at the centre of another chiasm (vv. 17,18).

Genesis 9:9-11

A (9) And I, behold, I ESTABLISH MY COVENANT with you, and with your seed after you;

B (10) And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every BEAST OF THE EARTH with you;

C (10) from all that go out of the ark,

B′ (10) to every BEAST OF THE EARTH.

A′ (11) And I WILL ESTABLISH MY COVENANT with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.

Inverted quotation in Rev 16:14

A (Zech. 14:3) Then shall Yahweh go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in THE DAY

B (Zech. 14:3) OF BATTLE.

B′ (Rev. 16:14) For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to THE BATTLE

A′ (Rev. 16:14) OF that great DAY of God Almighty.

Revelation 1:12-20*

A   12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; (13-15) And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.

B (16) And he had in his right hand

C (16) seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.

D (17) And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.

E. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: (18, 19) I am he that liveth, and was DEAD; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

D’. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;

C′ (20) The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest

B′ (20) in my right hand,

A′ (20) and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven ecclesias.

Note in v. 20, “hand” is not in the original text.