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Lamentations 3: 1-9.
(Freely translated in order that the Acrostic may be seen).
Affliction I have seen, a man am I who has passed under the rod of His wrath.
Away from the light and into darkness He brought me.
Against me, surely, is He turned; He turneth His hand against me all day long.
Broken are my bones, my skin and my flesh made old.
Built in, and encompassed as with gall and travail.
Buried as in a tomb in darkness and with the dead.
Chained and hedged about so that I cannot go out.
Cry as I will and shout, He shutteth out my prayer.
Crooked hath He made my paths, and enclosed as with hewn stone.
For a very remarkable Acrostic that lies buried in the Book of Esther, the reader is
referred to "Figures of Speech" (Dr. E. W. Bullinger), "The Companion Bible", or
Dr. Bullinger's pamphlet: "The Name of Jehovah in the Book of Esther."
The figure Anaphora, or "Like beginnings", repeats a word several times at the
beginning of successive phrases and so impresses us with its importance. Here are two
examples, one from the O.T. (Hosea 3: 4) and one from the N.T. (Eph. 6: 12):--
"For the children of Israel shall abide many days
WITHOUT a king, and
\ i.e. neither a king of their own,
WITHOUT a prince, and
/
nor a foreign ruler.
WITHOUT a sacrifice, and \ i.e. neither Mosaic sacrifices,
WITHOUT an image, and
/
nor idolatrous ones.
WITHOUT an ephod, and
\ i.e. neither Aaronic priests,
WITHOUT teraphim."
/
nor idolatrous ones.
"For we wrestle not
AGAINST flesh and blood, but
AGAINST principalities,
AGAINST powers,
AGAINST the rulers of the darkness of this world,
AGAINST spiritual wickedness in high places."
The figure Polysyndeton, or "Many Ands", is the opposite of Asyndeton, or
"No Ands", referred to on page 64. The use of Polysyndeton is a call to pause,
to consider, to weigh each step and clause. We select a short example, but to get the full
thought the reader should turn up the examples given in "Figures of Speech" and the
examples noted in "The Companion Bible". Many of these are of great length, and it is
the length that impresses.
"My sheep hear My voice
AND I know them
AND they follow me
AND I give unto them eternal life;
AND they shall never perish,
AND not any one shall pluck them out of My hand" (John 10: 27, 28).