For all their care and attention to detail, the scribes who copied and recopied the Hebrew Bible were not perfect. Errors in copying did occur. Poor memory, impaired judgment, mishearing, and errors of sight or misunderstanding caused the best-intentioned scribes to omit, substitute, or repeat letters or words. At times, scribes made matters worse by deliberately altering the text to correct a perceived problem. The ultimate result was a series of accidental corruptions or intended improvements that departed from the original text. Most modern translators engage in the science of text criticism in order to establish the original readings, and most modern translations use footnotes to inform readers where the text is difficult or where scribal variants may exist.

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Step #2 – Literary Units and Text Heirarchy

Determining the Boundaries of a Text

After genre, the next step in your exegesis is to determine the limits of the passage that you are studying. The limits of the passage could be a quotation, a paragraph, a story, a song, or even an entire book. The process of establishing literary units is not random, for the biblical authors wrote with purpose, logic, and order, creating groupings and hierarchies of thought to guide understanding. As a biblical interpreter, consider whether there is a clear beginning and end to your passage. Are there clues in the content and/or the grammar that clarify a passage’s boundaries? If you are unsure what any of this means, this blog post will help you out. Determining the boundaries of a passage can help you lead a Bible study, plan a series of Bible studies, or plan a preaching series. Before you can do any of these things, you have to know where to start and where to end. This blog post offers some basic guidelines for establishing the boundaries of literary units.

1. Don’t automatically trust English translations’ verse and chapter divisions.

The chapter and verse numbers in our Bible help us to find a given passage quickly. However, they were not part of the original biblical text. For example, the narrative of the creation week stretches from Genesis 1:1–2:3, and then 2:4 contains the first of Genesis’ ten toledoth (i.e. generations) formulae: “These are the generations of” (cf. Gen 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; etc.). Each of these toledoth formulae introduces distinct literary units. It is these toledoth formulae that are meant to divide up Genesis, not our present chapter divisions. For this reason, a proper wrestling with the preface to Genesis will cross the boundary of chapter 1 and include 2:1–3. Jewish scribes probably began to separate verses during the age of the Talmud (ca. AD 135–500), but the actual numbering of verses did not occur until the sixteenth century. Also, it wasn’t until around the 1200s when the Roman Catholic Stephen Langton (AD 1,150–1,228) first added the chapter divisions. Langton’s purpose in adding these chapter divisions was to aid reference. He primarily meant to help interpreters find biblical passages rather than read them. Because of this, the chapter divisions are misleading at times for our Bible reading purposes. The point is this: Don’t assume the verse and chapter divisions in our modern translations are accurate guides to text-boundaries. You need to carefully assess on your own where a passage begins and ends.

2. Remember that some multi-volume works in our English Bibles were single books in Jesus’ Bible.

Originally the Israelite seers, sages, and singers wrote the OT with consonants only; ancient Hebrews verbalized the vowels but did not write them. This allowed them to write even big books like 1–2 Samuel, 1–2 Kings, and 1–2 Chronicles on single scrolls. However, when the Jews translated the OT into Greek in the 3rd–2nd centuries BC, they included vowels, so books doubled in size, and the longer books required more than one scroll to reproduce. Whereas 1–2 Corinthians in the New Testament (NT) are two different Pauline letters, 1–2 Chronicles in the OT is a single book, and we must read it accordingly. So, when wrestling with literary units in books like Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, and even Ezra-Nehemiah (which is a single book in the Hebrew OT), remember that they were all originally single volumes. As such, literary units could cross “book” boundaries.

3. Look for recognizable beginning and ending markers.

In English we intuitively recognize literary markers that signal the beginning or end of a unit. We signal the end of a tiny thought expressed as a text unit with punctuation like a period or question mark. We signal the beginning of a small thought by using a paragraph indentation. We signal the end of a larger thought using a chapter division. In some cases, we even signal the boundaries of a book with established expressions like “once upon a time” and “they lived happily ever after.”

The OT did not originally have punctuation, paragraph indentations, or chapter divisions. Its authors used different means of marking the boundaries of a text.

Some beginning markers

• Title: “A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shegionoth” (Hab 3:1)
• Introductory formulae: “These are the generations of …” (Gen 2:4; 5:1; 6:9; etc.); “And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD” (Judg 3:7, 12; 4:1; etc.)
• Common beginning words or phrases: “And now” (Deut 4:1); “Hear!” (Deut 6:4); “Thus says the LORD” (Amos 1:3); “Woe!” (Zeph 3:1); “Behold” (Zeph 3:19)
• Vocative address: “O LORD” (Ps 8:1)
• Rhetorical questions: “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?” (Ps 2:1)
• Shifts in time: “When Abraham was ninety-nine years old” (Gen 17:1)
• Shifts in place: “And the people of Israel … came into the wilderness of Zin” (Num 20:1)
• Shifts in characters or speakers: “Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said” (Job 4:1)
• Shifts in topic or theme: “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God” (Isa 40:1)
• Shifts in genre: from narrative to genealogy in Genesis 11:9–10
• Shifts from poetry to prose or vice versa: “In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah” in Isaiah 36:1 after the poetry of Isaiah 35

Some ending markers

• Concluding formulae: “And there was evening, and there was morning” (Gen 1:5, 8, 19, etc.)
• Poetic refrains: “Yet you did not return to me” (Amos 4:6, 8, 9, etc.)
• Summary statements: “This is the law of the burnt offering, of the grain offering, of the sin offering, … which the LORD commanded Moses” (Lev 7:37–38)
• Conclusions: “Thus the LORD gave them rest on every side” (Josh 21:43)

4. Treat literary units as wholes.

Whole texts, not just isolated words or clauses, supply the natural framework for verbal communication. While a text could be one clause (e.g., “YHWH is a consuming fire”) or even a single word (“Run!”), usually a text contains a sequence of clauses, whether short (an answer to a question) or long (a book).

Texts themselves often divide into discrete parts or self-contained literary packages, and biblical interpreters need to work with these whole units of thought. We need to consider some of the ways the biblical authors signaled these literary units in their surface structure and then consider special rules associated with different genres.

Patterns of similarity

A literary unit commonly distinguishes itself from others by its similar content and form. As for content, we can identify literary units by noting similar time period (e.g., the time before the fall, Gen 2:4–25), similar location (e.g., Israel at Mount Sinai, Exod 19:1–Num 10:10), similar characters (e.g., the judgeship of Samson in Judg 13:1–16:31), and similar topics or themes (e.g., the tabernacle building instructions, Exod 25:1–31:18). Regarding form, literary units often contain similar poetic devices (e.g., the alphabetic acrostic in Psalm 119) and similar genre (e.g., the song at the sea in Exod 15:1–18).

Special rules for different genres

The issue of genre demands special comment, for every genre has its own patterns for shaping literary units. For example, in historical narrative, we need to deal with whole scenes in light of episodes. If we only look at a scene, we will most likely miss the point of the passage. Consider the structure of some common TV series. In shows like “24” or “Elementary,” there are 24 episodes in a single season, and each episode may have a dozen or more different scenes. Within a single episode, each scene contributes to the overall plot of the week, and then, to a greater or lesser extent, each week’s episode contributes to the plot of the season or show. Now, just as you would struggle to grasp the point of an individual scene apart from the overall episode, so too we will struggle to grasp the point of a biblical scene without reading it in light of its overall episode.

Genesis 39 is a good example. Casual readers of Scripture too often treat the story of “Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife” as an episode, when actually it is a scene. As a scene, the narrative may simply seem to be a charge to flee sexual temptation. Certainly, this is an important lesson from the story, but we cannot stop here, for this view fails to clarify why the chapter is framed with four statements that “the LORD was with Joseph.” He was with Joseph when he entered Egypt as a slave (39:2); he was with Joseph as he served in Potiphar’s house (39:3); he was with Joseph when Potiphar’s wife unjustly accused him of sexual misconduct and had him thrown into prison (39:21); and God was with Joseph during his extended incarceration (39:23). “The LORD was with Joseph!” The repetition of this clause four times helps identify the limits of the episode and clarifies that the scene in Potiphar’s house supplies an example of the type of person with whom God remains. Sexual purity is a vital expression of godwardness worth emulating, but the episode is less about Joseph and more about God. The Lord remains with those who consider pleasing him to be a greater prize than pleasing worldly passions.

In prophetic sermons, like those found in Deuteronomy or Isaiah, paragraphs and oracles take the place of scenes and episodes. Does your paragraph contribute to the primary exhortation? Or is it part of the motivation, whether through historical reflection, promise, or prediction? The function of your text may require you to broaden the boundaries of your interpretive focus in order to properly grasp a full literary unit.

For example, very often in English Bibles Deuteronomy 5 is titled, “The Ten Commandments.” However, a careful look at the chapter shows that Moses retells God’s thunderous words from Mount Sinai in order to describe how the Lord appointed him as a covenant mediator (Deut 5:2–31). The whole history lesson on the giving of the Ten Commandments and the appointment of Moses then provides the reason why the new generation (post-wilderness) must heed Moses’ voice (5:1, 32–33). Moses is God’s mouthpiece, and when the prophet speaks, God is speaking. If you don’t account for the context, you may easily miss the main point.

Similarly, in the poetry of the Psalms, you should ideally study an entire poem and not just a single stanza (i.e., a poetic paragraph). When this is impractical (as could happen when trying to tackle a huge poem like Psalm 119), you must deal not simply with poetic lines but with stanzas. Then you need to read those stanzas in light of the whole poem. In Psalm 1, the ESV translators distinguished three stanzas, as is evidenced by the spacing. In Psalm 2, they saw four. Your own exegesis may force you to disagree with the stanza breaks that others have proposed. Regardless, you need to be aware that verses work together less like strings of pearls and more like inter-woven bracelets with a pattern, texture, and color greater than any one part. You must address verses within their immediate literary context and not in isolation.

5. Check your decision against modern translations and, if possible, the standard Hebrew text.

Bible translators use indentation to signal paragraph-breaks and to distinguish literary units. Similarly, the editors of the standard editions of our Hebrew Bibles make similar decisions, and it’s helpful to compare our personal assessments against theirs. At times there is a level of subjectivity regarding literary units, but if you decide to start or end your passage where no editor or translator has, then it is your responsibility to argue fully for your decision.

*Material adapted from “Chapter 2: Literary Units and Text Hierarchy” in DeRouchie’s How to Understand and Apply the Old Testament, 98–127.

This article originally appeared at FTC.co.

Step #1: Genre

When my oldest daughter was younger, she was a master of “genre” analysis. I saw it most clearly after her daily trip to the mailbox, when she would push aside the bills and advertisements to select the letters from friends or family. With every new piece of literary composition, we almost always identify its genre. We decide (consciously or unconsciously) whether a text is a research paper or poem, a factual history or a fairy tale. We look for clues in format, presentation, introductory or closing statements, and content. We seek the author’s signals as to whether something is satire, fiction, or non-fiction. These markers point to a document’s genre.

Genre: Goal, Definition, and Purpose

The first step of exegesis is to understand genre, which is also the initial step in determining the text’s makeup (i.e., establishing the Text). When assessing genre, the goal is to determine the literary form, subject matter, and function of your focus passage, to compare it to similar genres, and to consider the implications for interpretation. Genre refers to an identifiable category of literary composition that usually demands its own exegetical rules. In addition, different genres have different functions, with some existing to convey information or stir thoughts (e.g., laws and historical narratives) and others affecting and effecting certain behaviors, beliefs, and feelings (e.g., psalms and love songs). Accordingly, a misunderstanding of a work’s genre can lead to skewed interpretation. Our decisions at this point will color the rest of the interpretive process.

For king David, the prophet Nathan’s words about the robbed lamb switched from an historical narrative about someone else’s injustice to a narrative parable about his own injustice through the single statement, “You are the man!” (2 Sam 12:1–7). The context guided his genre analysis, and the result was the recognition of his horrific sin.

A Sampling of Old Testament Genres

The Bible contains many genres, the most frequent of which are historical narratives, covenant stipulations (i.e., laws), prophecies, psalms, and proverbs. All of these primary genres contain multiple sub-genres. Historical narratives, for example, can include biographies (Gen 38), songs (Exod 15:1–18), riddles (Judg 14:14), genealogies (Ruth 4:18–22), birth and death accounts (1 Sam 1, 31), and the like. Most of the covenant stipulations themselves are built within historical narrative accounts and come in two forms––base principles (apodictic law, Exod 20:3) and situational guidelines (case law, Exod 21:28). The stipulations themselves address all spheres of life including criminal offenses (Deut 24:7), civil disputes (Exod 22:2–3), family laws (Deut 25:5–6), cultic or ceremonial legislation (Exod 20:24–26), and guidelines for compassion (Deut 14:28–29). Prophecies appear as indictments (Mic 3:8), instructions (Zeph 2:3), warnings or predictions of punishment (Amos 4:1–3), and hopeful promises of salvation (Zech 8:7–8). According to 1 Chronicles 16:5, the most basic sub-genres of psalms are invocation or lament (Ps 3), thanksgiving (Ps 30), and praise (Ps 117), though scholars often delimit more categories. While the Book of Proverbs includes both general instruction and predictions, the most dominant genre is the proverb, which is a succinct, memorable saying in common use that states a general truth or piece of advice. Many proverbs are for specific occasions and address ultimate truths about the future and not immediate truths for the present age (cf. Prov 10:27; 11:20; 13:21).

Putting Genre within Its Biblical Context

The Jewish Bible that Jesus and the apostles had included the same books as our English Old Testament (OT) but arranged some elements differently. Not only did it pair some books into single volumes that our English Bible’s separate (Samuel, Kings, the Twelve [minor prophets], Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles),[1] it also arranged the whole in a different order and in three main divisions: the Law (tôrâ), the Prophets (něbîʾîm), and the Writings (or “the other Scriptures,” kětûbîm).[2] The biblical evidence also suggests that Jesus’ Bible began with Genesis and ended with Chronicles.[3]

The canonical arrangement I am following here is not that of the standard critical edition of the Hebrew Bible but is found in the most ancient listing of the Jewish canonical books dated to around the days of Christ and located in Baba Bathra 14b. As is evident in the figure below, the biblical historical narrative runs chronologically from Genesis to Kings, pauses from Jeremiah to Lamentations, and then resumes from Daniel to Ezra-Nehemiah. Chronicles then recalls the story from Adam to Cyrus’s decree that Israel can return. As for the commentary, the Latter Prophets structure the four books largest to smallest, and the Former Writings follow the same pattern, except that Ruth prefaces the Psalter and the longer Lamentations follows Song of Songs. I could say much more about the ordering of Jesus’ Bible,[4] but two things are important to recognize here: (1) Historical narrative frames the entire OT, which means that the (true) story of God’s work to bring about the Messiah to save the world provides the lens for understanding everything else. (2) The OT also includes non-narrative prophetic and poetic commentary books that color, clarify, and control our reading of the narrative itself.

An Exercise in Genre Analysis: Historical Narrative

For our exercise in genre analysis, we will consider the historical narrative of Jonah. We are analyzing historical narrative since it constitutes 65% of the OT. To rightly interpret historical narrative, the interpreter must follow five guidelines.

1. Distinguish the episode and its scenes.

The term “episode” in OT exegesis is related to its use in a TV series like 24. In 24, each season consists of twenty-four one-hour long episodes that build upon each other and carry the storyline forward. Within each episode, there might be six-twelve individual scenes that take us through the equivalent of 60 minutes in the lives of the characters. To understand 24 and shows like it, one must be able to grasp how each scene contributes to the message of each episode, and how each episode contributes to the overall storyline of the season. Likewise, we should break each biblical book of historical narrative into its episodes and then identify how the scenes of that episode work together to communicate the main point of the episode.

Within the book of Jonah, 1:1–2:10 is the first “episode” and 3:1–4:11 is the second “episode.” We can identify these portions of Scripture as episodes because they both begin with, “Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah” (Jon 1:1; 3:1). Noting shifts in participant, context, and grammar, the first episode appears to consist of four “scenes.” These scenes are (1) Yahweh’s call to go on mission (1:1–2), (2) Jonah’s rebellion (1:3–16), (3) Yahweh’s response to Jonah’s rebellion (1:17), and (4) Jonah’s response to Yahweh’s mercy (2:1–10). Where does the text suggest the scene-breaks are in episode 2 (3:1–4:11)?

2. Consider literary features.

Having identified the scenes from the episodes, we now consider literary features. This involves examining the literary context, plot development and characterization, and editorial comments. To understand the literary context, examine what comes before and after your passage, seeking to grasp how your episode’s literary placement fits within the narrative’s flow. Track the plot development and characterization of a historical narrative by discerning the nature of the conflict and its resolution, God’s role in the narrative, and how humans’ words and deeds relate to their covenant with God.

The book of Jonah lacks any significant editorial comments, but there are a number of other literary features that are significant. With respect to literary context, the first episode ends with Jonah celebrating his own experience of God’s steadfast love (2:8–9), but the second episode shows Jonah detesting that his enemies experience God’s steadfast love (3:9–4:2). As for plot development and characterization, in episode one, Yahweh is clearly the main character, with Jonah appearing only as a foil to exalt God’s sovereignty and steadfast love. Yahweh calls Jonah to Nineveh; Yahweh sends the storm, and Yahweh intensifies it to keep the sailors from rescuing the prophet; Yahweh provides the fish to rescue Jonah; and Yahweh is the object of Jonah’s praise from the fish’s belly. Jonah is grateful that Yahweh saves him from the fish, but in episode two he will be angry that Yahweh saves Nineveh from punishment. The prophet of Yahweh does not like Yahweh’s character, and this is real irony. What literary features can you identify in episode 2?

3. State in a single sentence the narrative episode’s main idea.

The main idea of a historical narrative episode is usually found within a speech and almost always tells us something about God or how we relate to him. In Jonah’s prayer at the end of episode one, he links Yahweh’s saving acts with people’s hope in his steadfast love: “Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love…. Salvation belongs to the LORD!” (2:8–9). Then, toward the end of episode two, the prophet prays again, highlighting why he never wanted to go to Nineveh in the first place: “I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster” (4:2; cf. Exod 34:6). The book seems to be highlighting the Lord’s loving character and saving action, and we must interpret the scenes and episodes in light of it. Doing this yields the following single sentence main idea for Jonah’s first episode (Jon 1:1–2:10): God desires that people personally hope in and experience his saving, steadfast love! How would you craft the main idea of episode two?

4. Draft an exegetical outline of the narrative episode that aligns with the passage’s purpose.

Having paid close attention to the preceding three historical narrative guidelines, we are now able to draft a message-driven outline that demonstrates how the various scenes work together to create a unified episode. This outline could in turn serve as the very structure for a sermon or lesson. Keeping in mind episode one’s scene divisions and main idea, I propose the following outline, which attempts to show how the idea of steadfast love holds the whole message together:

• Jonah’s first experience of Yahweh’s steadfast love (1:1–2:10)
  • Yahweh’s initial call to a mission of steadfast love (1:1–2)
  • Jonah’s personal need for steadfast love (1:3–16)
  • Yahweh’s demonstration of steadfast love (1:17)
  • Jonah’s positive response to Yahweh’s steadfast love (2:1–10)
• Jonah’s second experience of Yahweh’s steadfast love (3:1–4:11)

How would you complete the outline for episode two?

5. Evaluate the passage’s theological trajectories.

Here we ask questions like, Is the passage more about believing or doing? What does it tell us about the unchanging, triune God’s character or actions? And how does it anticipate the person and work of Christ? It is in this step that we will most grasp the passage’s lasting value for Christians today.

Jonah exalts Yahweh as a God whose steadfast love moves him to save all who look to him. The book encourages people to personally hope in his steadfast love by turning from idols, but it also challenges people to guard their hearts from withholding such saving, steadfast love from others. One of the ways the book anticipates Christ is that it reveals God’s deep desire to be gracious and compassionate to sinful humanity, and this desire is most ultimately manifest in the glorious grace (steadfast love) and truth (faithfulness) that come through Jesus (John 1:14, 17; cf. Exod 34:6; Jon 4:2).

*Material adapted from “Chapter 1: Genre” in DeRouchie’s How to Understand and Apply the Old Testament, 21–97.

Editor’s Note: This is Part 2 of a 12-part series from Dr. Jason DeRouchie. View the previous posts in the series here.

[1] Note, for example, how Acts 7:42–43 speaks of a single “book of the prophets” and then cites Amos 5:25–27.

[2] Besides evidence from outside the Bible, we see evidence of this three-part structure when Jesus declared after his resurrection, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44).

[3] We see this in one of Jesus’s confrontations with the Pharisees, in which he spoke of the martyrdom of the OT prophets “from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah” (Luke 11:51; cf. Matt 23:35). Jesus appears to have been speaking canonically, mentioning the first and last martyr in his Bible’s literary structure. Specifically, just as Genesis records Abel’s murder, the end of Chronicles highlights a certain Zechariah who was killed in the temple court during the reign of Joash (835–796 BC; see 2 Chr 24:20–21).

[4] See Jason S. DeRouchie, “Is the Order of the Canon Significant for Doing Biblical Theology?,” in 40 Questions about Biblical Theology, by Jason S. DeRouchie, Oren R. Martin, and Andrew David Naselli, 40 Questions (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2020), 157–70.

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This article originally appeared at FTC.co.