 |  |
Epanodos, or "Inversion", employs repetition, but the words are used, while retaining
the same sense, in inverse order:--
"Make the HEART of this people fat, and make their EARS heavy, and shut their
EYES; lest they see with their EYES, and hear with their EARS, and understand with
their HEART" (Isa. 6: 10).
The reader will recognize that this and similar figures of speech underlie the
"structures" that are such an important feature of the inspired composition of the
Scriptures. To present this more clearly, it has been found useful to employ certain
devices such as letters and indentation. Thus, the structure of the above citation from
Isa. 6: would necessitate a framework as follows:--
A | HEART.
B | EARS.
C | EYES.
C | EYES.
B | EARS.
A | HEART.
While this is a very obvious case, and almost too simple to need setting out, we
commend it to any who are at all puzzled by the more elaborate structural forms that are
used. They can all be resolved into the most simple basic types.
When Epanodos (or "Inversion") opposes words one to the other it is called
Antimetabole, or "Counterchange". Another name for this figure is Metathesis, or
"Transposition". The following is an example, viz., Gal. 5: 17:--
A |
The FLESH lusteth.
B
| Against the SPIRIT.
B
| And the SPIRIT.
A |
Against the FLESH.
Paronomasia, or "Rhyming Words": this is a figure that repeats words of the same
sound, but not of the same sense. The dictionary definition of a "pun" is "a play on
words that resemble each other in sound, but differ in sense": so that the figure
Paronomasia is no stranger to most of us. It is difficult to represent the scriptural figure
in English, for we are obviously dealing with Hebrew and Greek, and the play upon
words disappears when translated.
However, many readers will be acquainted with the figure in Gen. 1: 2:--
"And the earth became tohu and bohu ("without form and void")."
Another example, which is possibly familiar to many, occurs in Jer. 1: 11:--