The Biblical languages of Hebrew and Greek use figures of speech just like English does. The problem is, we’re thousands of years and miles removed from the Biblical culture. We don’t always quickly identify a figure of speech. Are we really supposed to hate our parents (Luke 14:26
)? Was Jesus being rude to His mother (John 2:4)? Does a camel really go through the eye of a needle (Matthew 19:24)?
We need help recognizing ancient Middle Eastern figures of speech. Bullinger’s classic “Figures of Speech Used in the Bible” is just that help. He describes hundreds of different types of figures of speech and then presents numerous Biblical examples of each.
Look at these examples from the book:
"'It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle' (Matt. 19:24. Mark 10:25. Luke 18:25). This was a proverbial expression for a thing very unusual and very difficult."
"To 'Take the Sword' is used for rashly usurping magisterial power instead of giving obedience and subjection to God Matthew 26:52."
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Excerpts from Bullinger's book notes:
"A figure is simply a word or a sentence thrown into a peculiar form, different from its original or simplest meaning or use... We may say, 'the ground needs rain' : that is a plain, cold, matter-of-fact statement; but if we say 'the ground is thirsty,' we immediately use a figure [of speech]. It is not true to fact, and therefore it must be a figure. But how true to feeling it is! how full of warmth and life! Hence we say, 'the crops suffer' ; we speak of 'a hard heart,' 'a rough man,' 'an iron will.' In all these cases we take a word which has a certain, definite meaning, and apply the name, or the quality, or the act, to some other thing with which it is associated, by time or place, cause or effect, relation or resemblance.
"...Commentators and interpreters from inattention to the figures, have been led astray from the real meaning of many important passages of God's Word; while ignorance of them has been the fruitful parent of error and false doctrine. ...thus not only falling into error, but losing the express teaching, and missing the special emphasis which the particular Figure was designed to impart to them."
In his book, Bullinger describes in great detail 217 distinct figures of speech. Each idiom includes the pronunciation and etymology, as well as passages of Scripture in which it appears along with a full explanation. Throughout the work Bullinger covers nearly 8,000 passages with idioms in them in this extensive resource which covers 1,104 pages in print.
How literally do you interpret scripture? When you go to study a passage do you exegete the figures of speech or do you assume they are taken literally? If you recognize a possible figure of speech in a passage do you follow the principles of interpreting that type of figure? E. W. Bullinger’s classic work, Figures of Speech Used in the Bible, exhaustively describes and illustrates each figure of speech as it is found is scripture carefully explaining how each one has certain guidelines for proper interpretation. This helps ensure that you are not interpreting by a rigid literalism nor speculatively reading all kinds of meaning into a passage outside of the normal boundaries for interpreting that particular figure of speech.
Jeremiah 29:11 as is translated in these three versions illustrate one example of how a figure of speech properly interpreted rightly clarifies the passage. Jeremiah is not saying the Lord will give them two things: a future and a hope, but one, a future filled with hope.
Jeremiah 29:11 (NASB95)
11 'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the Lord , 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.'
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
11 'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'
Jeremiah 29:11 (NET)
29:11 'For I know what I have planned for you,' says the Lord. 'I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope.'
NET Translators’ Notes: Or “the future you hope for”; Heb “a future and a hope.” This is a good example of the figure called hendiadys where two formally coordinated nouns (adjectives, verbs) convey a single idea where one of the terms functions as a qualifier of the other. For this figure see Bullinger, Figures of Speech, pp. 658–72. This example is discussed on p. 661.