Pleonasm – www.figuresofspeechinthebible.net

PLEONASM; or, REDUNDANCY.

When more Words are used than the Grammar requires.

Ple’-o-nasm. Greek, πλεονασμός (pleonasmos): from πλεονάζειν (pleonazein),
to be more than enough. This is from πλέον (pleon), or πλεῖον (pleion), more,
and πλέος (pleos), full. We have it in our words complete, plenitude, replete, etc.

The figure is so called when there appears to be a redundancy of words in a sentence; and the sense is grammatically complete without them. Sometimes the substantive appears to be redundant when its idea is already implied in the adjective; or when two nouns are used where one appears to be sufficient.

But this redundancy is only apparent. These words are not really superfluous when used by the Holy Spirit, nor are they idle or useless. They are necessary to fill up the sense, which without them would be incomplete and imperfect.

This figure is used to set forth the subject more fully by repeating it in other, sometimes in opposite, terms. What is first expressed affirmatively is sometimes repeated negatively, and vice versa. It is also used for the purpose of marking the emphasis; or, for intensifying the feeling; or, for enhancing in some way what has been already said. The term pleonastic may therefore be applied to all similar figures
of repetition or addition. But we have endeavoured to classify them according to the object in view in the repetition; whether it be definition, or interpretation, or for mere emphasis by amplification, etc.

We have reserved the term pleonasm for this latter class, where what is said is immediately after put in another or opposite way to make it impossible for the
sense to be missed; and thus to emphasize it.

The figure may affect words, or sentences.
We have therefore arranged the examples as follows: —

I. Words.

1. Certain idiomatic words.

2. Other words.

II. Sentences.

1. Affirmative.

2. Negative.

. I. Words.

. 1. Certain idiomatic words.

According to the Hebrew idiom (see under Idiom), two nouns are often used together, one of which appears to be redundant. Glassius* gives a list of certain words, which are thus commonly used to enhance and emphasize the force of the other noun. Not as an adjective; for in that case the figure would be Enallage instead of Pleonasm. Some of these come under the figures Synecdoche and Idiom (q.v.)
*Philol. Sac. Lib. i., Tract 1, Can. xxxviii.

The ten words are as follows: —

. .1. פָּנִים (Pahneem), faces.
The word is always in the plural on account of the various features of the face.

Gen. 1:2 — “And darkness was upon the faces of the deep,”
i.e. upon the deep. But how much more forcible and emphatic the expression
becomes by the pleonasm.

Gen. 11:8 — “So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence
upon the face of all the earth:” i.e., all over the earth.

Gen. 16:8 — “I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai,” instead of “from my mistress.”

Gen. 23:3 — “And Abraham stood up from before his dead.”
Lit., from the face of his dead, i.e., from the presence of his dead wife.

Sometimes the word is omitted in translation:

Ex. 7:10 — “And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh,”
Lit., before the face of Pharaoh, i.e., before his very eyes.

Lev. 23:40 — “And ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God.”
Lit., before the face of the Lord your God, i.e., in His very presence.

Judges 11:3 — “Then Jephthah fled from his brethren.”
Here the A.V. has again omitted the word “face,” but in this case has put it in the margin.

1 Sam. 14:25 — “And there was honey upon the ground.”
Lit., upon the face of the ground, i.e., spread out.

Isa. 14:21 — “That they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the earth with cities.”

Isa. 19:8 — “And they that spread nets upon the waters.”
Lit., upon the face of the waters.

Hos. 10:7 — “As the foam upon the water,”
See margin, “the face of the water.”

Amos. 5:8 — “And poureth them out upon the face of the earth.”
In the N.T., though we have Greek words, we have the same Hebrew idiom.

Luke 21:35 — “As a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.”

Here the Pleonasm emphasizes the universal character of the events connected with “the great Tribulation.”

Acts 3:19 — “That so there may come (R.V.) times of refreshing from the presence (face) of the Lord.”

Acts 5:41 — “And they departed from the presence of the council.”
Lit., the face of.

Acts 17:26 — “For to dwell on all the face of the earth.”

Rev. 12:14 — “From the face of the serpent,”
i.e., a great way off from the serpent.

. .2.. פֶה.(Peh), mouth.

This word seems to be redundant when used with the word “sword”:
“the mouth of the sword.” But this use of the Figure is to emphasize the fact that it is not a mere sword, but a sword with its sharp devouring edge, which is thus compared to a mouth.

Gen. 34:26 — “And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge
(marg., Heb., mouth) of the sword.”
So also Ex. 17:13; Deut. 13:15; Ezek. 6:11; Amos 7:11; Luke 21:24; Heb. 11:34.

A sword with two mouths is a sword which devoured exceedingly and slew large numbers;
Judges 3:16; Rev. 1:16; 2:12; Heb. 4:12.
Other uses of the word are seen in Gen. 43:7 — “We told him according to the tenor (Heb., the mouth) of all these words”: i.e., all those things concerning which they had been interrogated.

Num. 26:56 “According to the (mouth of the) lot”:
i.e., according to what the lot shall say or determine.

Prov. 22:6 —“Train up a child in the way he should go…”
Heb., in the mouth of his way: i.e., at the very mouth or entrance on life,
so that it may be determined in a direction of justice and honesty, etc.

. .3. בָּנַים (Bahneem), sons or children.

Gen. 11:5 — “The Lord came down to see the city and the tower,
which the children of men builded”:
i.e., men viewed as the descendants of Adam; the human race.

1 Kings 8:39 — “Thou . . . knowest the hearts of all the children of men”:
i.e., of all men, with emphasis on the “all.”

Ecc. 3:18 — “I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men.”

R.V. : “I said in mine heart. It is because of the sons of men, that God may prove them, etc.”

Here, the figure shows that the emphasis is on “men” in contrast to “beasts.”
“Yet I said in my heart respecting MEN, God hath chosen them to show that they,
even they, are like beasts.”

Psa. 36:7 — “How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings,”
i.e., men in all ages—not merely men, as such, but men in all their successive generations.

So also in the New Testament we find the same usage:

Mark 3:28 — “All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men,”
i.e., men in all ages, as in Matt. 12:31.

Eph. 3:5 — “Which (i.e., the Mystery) in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men:” i.e., to any human being. It is according to this Figure or Hebraism that Christ is called “the Son of Man,” as the man, the representative man, the man who had been long promised as the seed of the woman; the man prophesied. Therefore this title used of Christ usually has reference to that aspect of His work as the appointed Judge of men (Acts 17:31). “The Son of Man” is therefore an emphatic dispensational title of Christ. It means merely “man,” but with emphasis on all that the word means as used of Christ and his dominion in the earth. See Matt. 10:23; 16:13, 27, 28; Mark 2:28. Luke 6:5; John 3:14. etc., etc.

Ezekiel is often thus addressed by God (chap, 2:1,11, etc.), as “son of man,”
but in his case without the article.

See also Psa. 8:4 (the first occurrence); 144:3, etc.
In Psa. 127:4 (5) we have “children of the youth,” i.e.., young children.

Joel 3:6 — “The sons of Greece,”
i.e., Greeks.

Deut. 1:28; 9:2— “Sons of the Anakim”: i.e., Anakim.
The word in the plural means simply the name of the nation viewed as descended from some progenitor: e.g,, “children of Israel”: i.e.. Israelites, “children of Ammon, Moab, etc.”

. . 4.. (Shem), name.

. (a) This word appears to be redundant in the phrase “the name of God.”
It means God Himself, and has greater emphasis than if the simple word God were used.

Isa. 30:27 — “Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from far”:
i.e., Jehovah Himself.

Jer. 44:26 — “Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the Lord”:
i.e., by myself, by my own majesty, by all that my name implies.

Micah 5:4 — “And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God”; i.e., in the majesty of Jehovah Himself.

Psa. 20:1 (2) — “The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble: the name of the God of Jacob defend thee:” “i.e., Jacob’s God Himself.
So also verse 7 (8), etc.

Psa. 113:1 — “Praise the name of the Lord”:
i.e., “Praise Jehovah Himself.”

. (b) When used with the verb קָרָא (karah), to call, it means emphatically to name.
See Gen. 11:9; 19:22; 27:36; 41:51.

.
(c) The worship and profession of God is indicated by the phrases “call upon the name of the Lord:” i.e., to worship Jehovah himself (Gen. 4:26; Jer. 10:25).
. “To love the name of the Lord;
. “To walk in the name of the Lord;”
. “To praise the name of the Lord.”

All these expressions mean, by the figure of Pleonasm, to worship and fear Jehovah Himself as opposed to self, and all other gods.

We have the same figure in the New Teatament: —
Matt. 6:9 and Luke 11:2 —“Hallowed be thy name”:
i.e. “Let thy holy majesty—thyself alone—be worshipped.”

Rev. 15:4 — “Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name?”:
i.e., fear and worship Thee Thyself.

Matt. 1:21 — “Thou shalt call his name JESUS”:
i.e., shall call! Him that holy one Himself.
So Luke 1:13; 2:21

Rom.10:13 — “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”:
i.e., not whosoever shall utter the name, but whosoever shall be a true worshipper of God in Christ shall be saved.
So Heb. 13:15: John 1:12; 2:23; 3:18, etc.

. 5.יָד (yad), hand.

The word “hand” is used in various ways (both idiomatically and by Metonymy, q.v.) to express the instrument by which a thing is done; and this in order to put the emphasis on the fact that the power did not lie in the instrument, but in him who used it.

Gen. 9:5 — It seems superfluous, but it is not. It emphasizes the fact that it is God who requires punishment for shedding man’s blood, and that he will use all and every instrument to accomplish His will.

Ex. 4:13 — “And he (Moses) said, O Lord (Adonai), send I pray thee by the hand thou wilt send”: i.e., by any agency except me!

1 Sam. 17:37 — “The Lord that delivered me out of the paw (hand) of the lion, and out of the paw (hand) of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine”:
i.e., the power of the lion, and the bear, and Goliath.
See Psa. 22:20 (21) (= the power); 49:15 (16); 107:2; 1 Kings 11:12.

1 Kings 8:53 — “Thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant”: i.e., by Moses. Jehovah was the speaker, Moses was only the instrument. So also 2 Kings 17: 13, and many other passages in which Jehovah speaks by the hand of his prophets.

1 Chron. 6:31 (16) — “And these are they whom David set over the service of song in the house of the Lord.” Lit., “over the hands of song,” i.e., over the instruments of song, so as to minister music.

So 2 Chron. 29:27, “the hands of the instruments” (marg.).

Isa. 64:6 (5) — “And our iniquities.”
Lit., “the hand of our iniquities”: i.e., the power of our iniquities.

To this belongs Psa. 7:3 (4), “If there be any iniquity in my hands.”
Lit., in the hands of me: i.e., in me. A kind of Metonymy (q.v.), or Synecdoche,
by which a part of a person is put for the whole.

In the New Testament we have the same use of the word χείρ (cheir), hand.

Mark 6:2 — “That even such mighty works are wrought by his hands.”
Lit., “by the hands of him”: i.e., by Him.

Luke 1:71 — “From the hand of all that hate us”:
i.e., not merely from our enemies, but from the power of those enemies who hate us and cause us to serve them. So also Acts 5:12; 7:25, 35.

In Acts 15:23, the A.V. omits “by the hands of them,” and substitutes the word
“ letters” in italics. The R.V. says, “They wrote thus by them” (Gal. 3:9 and Rev. 19:2).

. 6. תָוֶךְ (tavech) and קֶרֶב kerev), midst.

The phrase “in the midst” is used phonastically when it is not to be taken literally as being equidistant from the extremes, or when it only adds emphasis to the sense.

Gen. 45:6 — “These two years hath the famine been in the land.”
Lit., “in the midst of the land”: i.e., all over it. Here it is not translated at all.

Num. 14:13 — “Thou broughtest up this people in (or by) thy might from among them.” Lit., “out of the midst of them”: out of Egypt.
See also Josh. 3:17; 2 Kings 4:13;

Psa. 22:14 (15) — “My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels”:
i.e., within me. So Psa. 40:8, 10 (9, 11).

Psa. 22:22 (23) — “In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee”:
i.e., in the assembly of the People; not of the “church,” which was afterwards revealed to Paul in the New Testament Scriptures as the “Mystery.”* But wherever God’s People are assembled, there is He “in the midst of (i.e., with) them.”
* See The Mystery, by the same author and publisher.

Psa. 40:8, 10 (9, 11) — “In the midst of my heart”:
i.e., in me.

Psa. 48:9 (10) — “In the midst of thy temple”:
i.e., in thy temple.

Isa. 10:23 — “In the midst of all the land.”

Hab. 3:2 — “Revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known”: i.e., within or during that time of Tribulation.
(See also under Anadiplosis).

Zech. 2:5, 10, 11 (9, 14, 15) — “In the midst of thee”:
i.e., in thee.

Matt. 13:49 — “And sever the wicked from among the just”:
i.e., from.
So Acts 17:33; 2 Cor. 6:17.

For other illustrations see Matt. 13:25; Luke 17:11; Heb. 2:12.
(Compare Psa. 22:22 (23), above).

. 7. לֵב (lev), לֵבָב (levav), heart.

The word “heart” is sometimes used pleonastically by Metonymy (q.v.) for the midst, when it does not mean literally the precise middle point.

Ex. 15:8 — “In the heart of the sea.”
So Psa. 46:2; Prov. 23:34; 30:19; Ezek. 27:4.

Matt. 12:40 — “In the heart of the earth”:
i.e., in the earth.

. 8. דּבָר (Davar), word, is very frequently used in the same way.

Psa. 35:20 — “Deceitful matters.”
Lit., “words of frauds”: i.e., frauds.

Psa. 65:3 (4) — “Iniquities prevail against me.”
Here the A.V. puts the literal meaning in the margin,
“the words or matters of iniquity”:
i.e., my iniquitous matters. So with Psa. 105:27 — “The words of his signs.”

Psa. 145:5 — “The words of thy wonders”:
i.e., as rendered “thy wondrous works.”

. 9. קוֹל (kōl), voice.

Gen. 3:8 — “They heard the voice of the Lord God walking, etc.”:
i.e., the sound, or merely Jehovah Elohim.

Psa. 98:5 — “The voice of a psalm”:
i.e., with a psalm.

Psa. 102:5 (6) — “The voice of my groaning”:
i.e., my groaning.

Isa. 24:18 — “The noise (voice) of the fear, |
(See also under Paronomasia).

Jer. 16:9 — “I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days,

. the voice of mirth, and
. the voice of gladness,
the voice of the bridgeroom, and
the voice of the bride.”

This does not mean that there shall be any bridegrooms and brides without voices,
but that marriage itself shall cease.

Jer. 51:54 — “A sound of a cry.”
Lit., the voice of a cry:”, a great clamour.
So Zeph. 1:10, etc.

. 10. יָמִים (yahmeem), days.

The word days joined with years, etc., is used pleonastically.
See Gen. 47:8, (9); Ex. 13:10; Judges 19:2 (marg.); 2 Sam. 19:34 (marg.). Psa. 90:10.

Gen. 29:14 — “And he abode with him the space of a month.”
Marg.: “Heb., a month of days.” This, by the figure of Hypallage (q.v.), stands for the days of a month:
i.e., a full month. So Num. 9:20, 21.

. 11. וַיְהִי (vayehee), and it came to pass.

Sometimes this word appears to be redundant; as well as the Greek καὶ ἐγένετο
(kai egeneto). That is to say, as the sense is complete without it, it is added for the sake of emphasis.
See the preterite. Gen. 38:1, 9, 24, 28; 39:10, 13, 15, etc. Matt. 7:28; 9:10; 11:1; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1; Mark 1:9; 2:15; Luke 1:24, 41; 2:1, 6; 5:1.

So with the future; Deut. 18:19; Josh. 2:14; 1 Kings 18:24; 20:7; Isa. 7:23.
Hos. 2:23; Joel 3:15; Acts 2:6; 3:23; Rom. 9:26.

. 2. Other Words.

Deut. 33:19 — “Treasures hid in the sand.”
Here the figure is very freely rendered. Lit., it is “hidden-things hidden of the sand”:
i.e., the hidden things of the earth, in contrast with the treasures of the sea.

Psa. 40:7 — “Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me”
i.e., in the book, namely, Holy Scripture. (See under Synecdoche). The second noun (in regimen) being as the genitive of apposition. See Appendix B.

Isa. 33:23 — “Then is the prey of a great spoil divided,”
Heb., עַד שָׁלְל (ad shalal), a prey of a spoil: i.e., a great spoil.

Dan. 12:2 — “And some to shame and everlasting contempt.”

Rom. 1:23 — “Unto an image made like.” Lit., “unto a likeness of an image.”

By this figure the meaning is enhanced, so that it is as though it said,
“They changed the glory of the incorruptible God actually into an image of corruptible man!”

2 Cor. 5:1 — “The earthly house of this tabernacle,” emphasizing this mortal body as being so different from the heavenly body.

Eph. 4:23 — “And be renewed in the spirit of your mind”:
i.e., that your whole new nature or inner man being a new creation. Divine in its origin and impeccable in its character now causes the whole course of life to flow in a different direction.

1 Thess. 2:13 — “When ye received the word of God, which ye heard of us.”
Lit., the word of hearing. λόγος ἀκοῆς (logos akoees), ἀκοῆ (akoee) which means hearing, is often used by the figure of Metonymy (q.v.), for what is heard.
See John 12:38; Rom. 10:16. “Who hath believed our hearing”:
i.e., what they have heard; our preaching or testimony.

So here, the figure cannot be rendered literally, but the whole sense is enchanced by the fact that it was the word of God, which they heard, and not only heard but received it into their hearts.

Compare Heb. 4:2; and see under Metonymy.

Rev. 16:19 — “The fierceness of His wrath.”
Here, the figure is seen and beautifully translated: not literally, but according to the enhanced sense. The Greek is θυμὸς ὀργῆς (thumos orgees), the anger of His wrath, the two words being synonymous. Both refer to the working of the passions of the mind, but ὀργή (orgee) is the heat of the fire, while θυμός (thumos) is the bursting forth of the flame, ὀργή (orgee), therefore, is the more lasting feeling of anger and wrath, θυμὸς (thumos) is the more sudden manifestation of it, so that “fierceness of His wrath” beautifully expresses the figure.

. .II. Sentences.

Another kind of Pleonasm is when the sense or whole sentence is repeated in another form, and thus put in another way. This may be done either affirmatively or negatively.

. 1. Affirmatively.

When the same sense is repeated affirmatively, it is hardly to be distinguished from Synonymia (q.v.), which it much resembles.
See Psa. 19:1,2; 89:31, 32. Isa. 52:13, etc.

Gen. 1:20 — “And fowl that may fly above the earth, in the open firmament of heaven.”
Instead of saying simply in the air, it first says “above the earth,” and then it is further emphasized by “the open firmament of heaven,” in order to make the distinction between these and what had been created to be in the waters, and on the earth.

Num. 19:2 — “This is the ordinance of the law which Jehovah hath commanded”:
i.e., the law or statute, but it is put thus to impress upon the people the importance
of the special truth connected with “the red heifer.”

Deut. 32:6 — “Is not he thy father that hath bought thee?
Hath he not made thee? and established thee?”

John 1:22 —“Who art thou? . . . “What sayest thou of thyself?”

John 5:24 — “He that heareth my words, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation (judgment), but is passed from death unto life.”

Acts 13:45 — “But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy,
and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting, and blaspheming.”

Phil. 1:23 — “Which is far better.”
Here, the return of Christ is declared to be πολλῶ (pollō), much; μᾶλλον (mallon), more; κρεῖσσον (kreisson), better, than either living or dying; out of (ἐκ ) which two he was being pressed by that third thing: viz., the great desire εἰς τὸ ἀναλῦσαι (eis to analusai) unto the return.
(see under Antimeria, Epanalepsis, Resumptio and Apostasis)

Αναλύω means to return from thence hither (not from hence thither).
See Luke 12:36; Job 2:1; Judith 13:1; 1 Esd. 3:3; Wisd. 2:1; 5:12; Eccles. 3:15 (Wisdom of Sirach); Macc. 8:25; 9:1: 12:7; 15:28; Josephus Aut. 6:41.

There is no other way of being “with Christ,” as the Thessalonian saints are told 1 Thess. 4:17, οὕτως (houtōs), thus in this matter, shall we ever be with the Lord: i.e., by being “caught up to meet the Lord in the air”: the sleeping saints not preceding those who are alive, and the living ones not preceding those who have fallen asleep (verse 15), but both sleeping and living saints raised and changed, together ἅμα (hama) caught away.

See under Epanalepsis (pp. 206, 207), where it is shown that for him to abide in the flesh is better for them—better than dying—but not better than the coming of Christ.

. 2. Negatively.

Here the sense is first put positively and then negatively, or vice versa. This of course greatly emphasizes the original statement, and calls very special attention to it.

Gen. 40:23 — “Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.”

Here the simple statement that the chief butler did not remember Joseph, would have expressed the fact simply and clearly; but in order to emphasize and forcibly mark it, it is repeated negatively:— “but forgat him,” as though to remind us that he acted after the manner of man. In this character of man lies the justification of that definition of “gratitude” which the world has given in condemnation of itself: — that it is “a lively sense of favours to come”!

Gen 42:2 — “That we may live and not die.” So 43:8, etc.

Ex. 9:19 — “Every man and beast which shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home.”

Ex. 12:20 — “Ye shall eat nothing leavened: in all your habitations ye shall eat unleavened bread.”

Deut. 28:13 — “And the Lord shall make thee the head and not the tail: and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath.”

Deut. 32:6 — “O foolish people, and unwise.”

Deut. 33:6 — “Let Reuben live and not die.”

Thus this figure simply but emphatically reverses the pronouncement of Jacob in Gen. 49:3,4

1 Sam. 1:11 — “And remember me, and not forget thine handmaid.”

1 Kings 6:18 — The stones within the Temple walls were overlaid with cedar
(verses 15, 16), and this cedar was further overlaid with gold (verse 21).
It is not, therefore, necessary to the description to add verse 18: “There was no stone seen “: but it was necessary to emphasize the fact, because of the important truth which these stones were afterwards to be used to typify: viz., that the “living stones”
(1 Pet. 2:5), who are built up a spiritual house, are as completely covered with the Divine and the glorious righteousness of Christ, in which they appear in the presence of God, “perfect in Christ Jesus,” “complete in Him.” Nothing whatever in or of themselves being seen.

2 Kings 20:1 — “Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live: i.e., thou shalt surely die.

Isa. 3:9 — “They declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not.”

Isa. 31:3 — “Now the Egyptians are men, and not God (El); and their horses are flesh and not spirit.” The figure is thus used to show the people how easily Jehovah could destroy them.

Isa. 38:1 — “Thou shalt die, and not live”: to emphasize the certainty of his death.

Isa. 45:22 — “I am God, and there is none else.”
This to show that there is none that save like Him.

So Isa. 46:8,9.

Jer. 20:14 — “Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.”

Ezek. 18:13 — “He shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die.”
Here, the negative is put first, and then repeated in the positive form.

Ezek. 28:2 —“Thou art a man, and not God.”

Ezek. 33:15 — “He shall surely live: he shall not die.”

Hos. 5:3 — “I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me.”

Hos. 11:9 — “I am God, and not man.”