Many kinds of repetition are important to biblical texts. Indeed repetition is fundamental in several ways to biblical poetics and narrative. In this case it is the accumulation of synonymic expressions which creates the effect and in combination with the effect of parallelism also beautifies the text. Rhythm , rhyme , assonance and alliteration are all formal repetitive effects. The place of rhythm in the strict sense poses highly technical problems for discussion of Hebrew poetry, however the effects of rhythm in a broader sense are evident even in prose.
Parallelism is also a kind of repetition.
The Hebrew prophets did not often use gentle words towards those they opposed. Rather their speech is not infrequently contemptuous, and irony often moved over into sarcasm. All rights reserved.