READING SKILLS · LITERARY LENS
Repetition and Keywords in Biblical Literature
Follow repeated words and formulas while giving equal attention to where the wording changes.
RECURRENCE · PATTERN · CHANGE
Repetition creates structure and expectation
A repeated word, phrase, sound, scene, or formula can join distant passages, divide a composition, build emphasis, or make a variation conspicuous.
WHAT TO NOTICE
Track recurrence and variation
Exact refrainRecord the precise wording and location.
Changed refrainNote additions, omissions, and substitutions.
DistributionAsk whether repetition marks sections or connects them.
RestraintObserve the pattern before proposing why it matters.
TRY IT YOURSELF
Track the refrains in Genesis 1
The cited wording is printed here so the exercise can be completed directly from the page. Copy only your observations into Private Study Notes.
Genesis 1 selections (KJV)
1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good…
1:5 And the evening and the morning were the first day.
1:6 And God said, Let there be a firmament…
1:8 And the evening and the morning were the second day.
1:9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together…
1:10 …and God saw that it was good.
1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
- Highlight every displayed “And God said.”
- Mark “it was good” and the changed form “very good.”
- Circle the evening-and-morning formulas and numbered days.
- Record which repetitions divide the chapter and which connect its parts.
Save your observations privatelyUse My Notebook to keep your markings, comparisons, and questions together.
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