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Chapters................ 188 | Verses..............6,081 | Words...............152,185

The middle chapter and the least in the Bible is Psalm cxvii. The middle verse is the eighth of Psalm cxviii.

The middle line is in 2d Chronicles, 4th chapter, 16th verse. The word and occurs in the Old Testament 35,543 times. The same in the New Testament, 10,684.

The word Jehovah occurs 6,855 times.

OLD TESTAMENT.

The middle book is Proverbs.

The middle chapter is Job xxix.

The middle verse is in 1st Chronicles, 20th chapter, between the 17th and 18th verses.

The least verse is in 1st Chronicles, 1st chapter, and 1st

verse.

NEW TESTAMENT.

The middle book is the 2d epistle to Thessalonians.

The middle chapter is between the 13th and 14th of Romans.

The middle verse is the 17th chapter of Acts, and 17th

verse.

The least verse is the 11th chapter of John, verse 35.

The 21st verse of the 7th chapter of Ezra has all the letters of the alphabet in it.

The 19th cliapter of the 2d book of Kings, and the 37th of Isaiah, are alike.

N.B.-Three years are said to have been spent in this curious but idle calculation.

BOOKS MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE NOW LOST OR UNKNOWN.

1. The Prophecy of Enoch. See Epistle to Jude, 14.

2. The Book of the Wars of the Lord. See Numb. xxi. 14. 3. The Prophetical Gospel of Eve, which relates to the Amours of the Sons of God with the Daughters of Men. See Origen cont. Celsum, Tertul. &c.

4. The Book of Jasher. See Joshua x. 13; and 2 Samuel i. 18.

5. The Book of Iddo the Seer. See 2 Chronicles ix. 29, and xii. 15.

6. The Book of Nathan the Prophet. See as above.

7. The Prophecies of Ahijah, the Shilonite. See as above. 8. The acts of Rehoboam, in Book of Shemaiah. See 2 Chronicles xii. 15.

9. The Book of Jehu the Son of Hanani. See 2 Chronicles xx. 34.

10. The Five Books of Solomon, treating on the nature of trees, beasts, fowl, serpents, and fishes. See 1 Kings iv. 33. 11. The 151st Psalm.

THE WORD "SELAH."

The translators of the Bible have left the Hebrew word Selah, which occurs so often in the Psalms, as they found it, and of course the English reader often asks his minister, or some learned friend, what it means. And the minister or learned friend has most often been obliged to confess ignorance, because it is a matter in regard to which the most learned have by no means been of one mind. The Targums, and most of the Jewish commentators, give to the word the meaning of eternally forever. Rabbi Kimchi regards it as a sign to elevate the voice. The authors of the Septuagint translation appear to have considered it a musical or rhythmical note. Herder inclines to the opinion that it indicates a change of tone, which is expressed either by increase of force, or by a transition into another time and mode. Matheson thinks it is a musical note, equivalent, perhaps, to the word repeat. According to Luther and others,

it means silence. Gesenius explains it to mean, "Let the instruments play and the singers stop." Wocher regards it as equivalent to sursum corda,-up, my soul! Sommer, after examining all the seventy-four passages in which the word occurs, recognizes in every case "an actual appeal or summons to Jehovah." They are calls for aid, and prayers to be heard, expressed either with entire directness, or if not in the imperative, Hear, Jehovah! or Awake, Jehovah, and the like, still, earnest addresses to God that he would remember and hear, &c. The word itself he considers indicative of a blast of trumpets by the priests, Selah being an abridged expression for Higgaion Selah,-Higgaion indicating the sound of the stringed instruments, and Selah a vigorous blast of trumpets.

HEXAMETERS IN THE BIBLE.

In the Psalms.

God came up with ǎ | shōut: ōur | Lōrd with the | sound of ă | trumpēt.||
There is ǎ rīver the | flowing where- | ōf shall | gladden the | city.
Halle- | lūjāh the | city of | Gōd! Jē- | hōvăh hath | blest her.||

In the New Testament.

Art thou he that should come, ōr | dō wē | loōk fõr ǎ- | nōther?|| Husbands, love your | wives, ānd | bē nōt | bītter ǎ- | gāinst them.|| Bless'd ǎre the pōor in | spirit, för | theirs is the | kingdom of | hēavēn.||

Mr. Coleridge, whose enthusiastic and reverential admiration of the rhetorical beauty and poetic grandeur with which the Bible abounds, all the more beautiful and the more sublime because casual and unsought by the sacred writers, took great delight in pointing out the hexametrical rhythm of numerous passages, particularly in the book of Isaiah :—

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, | O earth: for the Lord hath spoken.

I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against

me.

The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib:
But Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

Winer points out the following hexameters in the original Greek version of the New Testament:

Κρῆτες α ] εἰ ψεῦ | σται, κακὰ | θηρία | γαστέρες | αργαί.—Titus i. 12.
Πᾶσα δό | σις ἀγα | 3ὴ καὶ | πᾶν δώ | ρημα τέ | λειον,-James i. 17.
Καὶ τροχι | ὡς ὀρ | θὰς ποι | ήσατε | τοῖς ποσὶν | ὑμῶν,—Heb. xii. 13.

PARALLELISM OF THE HEBREW POETRY.

The prominent characteristic of the Hebrew poetry is what Bishop Lowth entitles Parallelism, that is, a certain equality, resemblance, or relationship, between the members of each period; so that in two lines, or members of the same period, things shall answer to things, and words to words, as if fitted to each other by a kind of rule or measure. The Psalms, Proverbs, Solomon's Song, Job, and all the Prophets, except Daniel and Jonah, abound with instances.

It is in a great measure owing to this form of composition that our admirable authorized version, though executed in prose, retains so much of a poetical cast; for, being strictly word for word after the original, the form and order of the original sentences are preserved; which, by this artificial structure, this regular alternation and correspondence of parts, makes the ear sensible of a departure from the common style and tone of prose.

The different kinds of parallels are illustrated in the following examples:

Parallels Antithetic.-Prov. x. 1, 7.

A wise son maketh a glad father;

But a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.
The memory of the just is blessed;

But the name of the wicked shall rot.

Parallels Synthetic.-Prov. vi. 16-19.

These six things doth the Lord hate;
Yea, seven are an abomination unto him
A proud look, a lying tongue,

And hands that shed innocent blood,

A heart that deviseth wicked imaginations,
Feet that be swift in running to mischief,
A false witness that speaketh lies,

And him that soweth discord among brethren.

Constructive.-Psalm xix. 7-9.

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;

The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;

The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;

The judgments of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.
Parallels Synonymous.-Psalm xx. 1-4.

The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble;

The name of the God of Jacob defend thee;
Send thee help from the sanctuary,

And strengthen thee out of Zion;
Remember all thine offerings,

And accept thy burnt sacrifice;

Grant thee according to thine own heart,

And fulfil all thy counsel.

Gradational.-Psalm i. 1.

Blessed is the man

That walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,

Nor standeth in the way of sinners,

Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

Parallels Introverted.-Prov. xxiii. 15, 16.

My son, if thy heart be wise,

My heart shall rejoice, even mine;

Yea, my reins shall rejoice

When thy lips speak right things.

It may be objected to Hebrew poetry, says Gilfillan, that it has no regular rhythm except a rude parallelism. What then? Must it be, therefore, altogether destitute of music? Has not the rain a rhythm of its own, as it patters on the pane, or sinks on the bosom of its kindred pool? Has not the wind a harmony, as it bows the groaning woods, or howls over the mansions of the dead? Have not the waves of ocean their wild bass? Has not the thunder its own deep and dreadful organpipe? Do they speak in rhyme? Do they murmur in blank verse? Who taught them to begin in Iambics, or to close in Alexandrines? And shall not God's own speech have a peculiar note, no more barbarous than is the voice of the old woods or the older cataracts?

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