Bible Lexicons

Bullinger's Figures of Speech Used in the BibleBullinger's Figures of Speech

Pleonasm; or Redundancy

When more Words are used than the Grammar requires

Ple´-o-nasm. Greek, πλεονασμός (pleonasmos): from πλέονάζειν (pleonazein), to be more than enough. This is from πλέος (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* [Note: Philol. Sac., Lib. i., Tract 1, Can. 38.] 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. [Note: Which see.] )

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.

Genesis 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.

Genesis 11:8.-"So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth:" i.e., all over the earth.

Genesis 16:8.-"I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai," instead of "from my mistress."

Genesis 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:

Exodus 7:10.-"And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh," Lit., before the face of Pharaoh, i.e., before his very eyes.

Leviticus 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. [Note: The Authorized Version, or current Text of our English Bible, 1611.] has again omitted the word "face," but in this case has put it in the margin.

1 Samuel 14:25.-"And there was honey upon the ground." Lit., upon the face of the ground, i.e., spread out.

Isaiah 14:21.-"That they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the earth with cities."

Isaiah 19:8.-"And they that spread nets upon the waters." Lit., upon the face of the waters.

Hosea 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. [Note: The Revised Version, 1881.] ) 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."

Revelation 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.

Genesis 34:26.-"And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge (marg. [Note: arg. Margin.] , Heb., mouth) of the sword."

Other uses of the word are seen in

Genesis 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.

Numbers 26:56.-"According to the (mouth of the) lot": i.e., according to what the lot shall say or determine.

Proverbs 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. בָּנִים (Bahneem), sons or children.

Genesis 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."

Ecclesiastes 3:18.-"I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men."

R.V. [Note: The Revised Version, 1881.] : "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."

Psalms 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:

Ephesians 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 Matthew 10:23; Matthew 16:13; Matthew 16:27-28. 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 Psalms 8:4 (the first occurrence); 144:3, etc.

In Psalms 127:4 (5) we have "children of the youth," i.e., young children.

Joel 3:6.-"The sons of Greece," i.e., Greeks.

Deuteronomy 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. שֵׁם (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.

Isaiah 30:27.-"Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from far": i.e., Jehovah Himself.

Jeremiah 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.

Psalms 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.

Psalms 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.

(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 (Genesis 4:26. Jeremiah 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 Testament:-

Matthew 6:9 and Luke 11:2.-"Hallowed be thy name": i.e., "Let thy holy majesty-thyself alone-be worshipped."

Revelation 15:4.-"Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name?": i.e., fear and worship Thee Thyself.

Matthew 1:21.-"Thou shalt call his name JESUS": i.e., shall call Him that holy one Himself.

Romans 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 Hebrews 13:15. John 1:12; John 2:23; John 3:18, etc.

5. יָד (yad), hand.

The word "hand" is used in various ways (both idiomatically and by Metonymy, q.v. [Note: Which see.] ) 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.

Genesis 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.

Exodus 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 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 Chronicles 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 Chronicles 29:27, "the hands of the instruments (marg. [Note: arg. Margin.] ).

Isaiah 64:6 (5).-"And our iniquities." Lit., "the hand of our iniquities": i.e., the power of our iniquities.

To this belongs Psalms 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. [Note: Which see.] ), 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.

In Acts 15:23, the A.V. [Note: The Authorized Version, or current Text of our English Bible, 1611.] omits "by the hands of them," and substitutes the word "letters" in italics. The R.V. [Note: The Revised Version, 1881.] says, "They wrote thus by them" (Galatians 3:19 and Revelation 19:2).

6. תָּוֶךְ (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.

Genesis 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.

Numbers 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

Joshua 3:17. 2 Kings 4:13. Psalms 22:14 (15).-"My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels": i.e., within me. So Psalms 40:8; Psalms 40:10 (9, 11).

Psalms 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."* [Note: See The Mystery, by the same author and publisher.] But wherever God’s People are assembled, there is He "in the midst of (i.e., with) them."

Psalms 40:8; Psalms 40:10 (9, 11).-"In the midst of my heart": i.e., in me.

Psalms 48:9 (10).-"In the midst of thy temple": i.e., in thy temple.

Isaiah 10:23.-"In the midst of all the land."

Habakkuk 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).

Zechariah 2:5; Zechariah 2:10-11 (9, 14, 15).-"In the midst of thee": i.e., in thee.

For other illustrations see Matthew 13:25. Luke 17:11. Hebrews 2:12. (Compare Psalms 22:22 (23), above).

7. לֵב (lev), לֵבָב (levav), heart.

The word "heart" is sometimes used pleonastically by Metonymy (q.v. [Note: Which see.] ) for the midst, when it does not mean literally the precise middle point.

Matthew 12:40.-"In the heart of the earth": i.e., in the earth.

8. דָּבָר (Davar), word,

is very frequently used in the same way.

Psalms 35:20.-"Deceitful matters." Lit., "words of frauds": i.e., frauds.

Psalms 65:3 (4).-"Iniquities prevail against me." Here the A.V. [Note: The Authorized Version, or current Text of our English Bible, 1611.] puts the literal meaning in the margin, "the words or matters of iniquity": i.e., my iniquitous matters. So with

Psalms 105:27.-"The words of his signs."

Psalms 145:5.-"The words of thy wonders": i.e., as rendered "thy wondrous works."

9. קוֹל (Kôl), voice.

Genesis 3:8.-"They heard the voice of the Lord God walking, etc.": i.e., the sound, or merely Jehovah Elohim.

Psalms 98:5.-"The voice of a psalm": i.e., with a psalm.

Psalms 102:5 (6).-"The voice of my groaning": i.e., my groaning.

Isaiah 24:18.-"The noise (voice) of the fear. (See also under Paronomasia).

Jeremiah 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.

Jeremiah 51:54.-"A sound of a cry." Lit., the voice of a cry: i.e., a great clamour. So Zephaniah 1:10, etc.

10. יָמִים (yahmeem), days.

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.

2. Other Words

Deuteronomy 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.

Psalms 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.

Isaiah 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.

Daniel 12:2.-"And some to shame and everlasting contempt."

Romans 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 Corinthians 5:1.-"The earthly house of this tabernacle," emphasizing this mortal body as being so different from the heavenly body.

Ephesians 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 Thessalonians 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. [Note: Which see.] ), for what is heard. See John 12:38. Romans 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 Hebrews 4:2; and see under Metonymy.

Revelation 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 ὀργμ͂ς (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. όργή (orgee), therefore, is the more lasting feeling of anger and wrath. θυμός (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. [Note: Which see.] ), which it much resembles. See Psalms 29:1-2; Psalms 89:31-32. Isaiah 52:13, etc.

Genesis 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.

Numbers 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."

Deuteronomy 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."

Philippians 1:23.-"Which is far better."

Here, the return of Christ is declared to be πολλῶ (pollô), 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 Esdras 3:3. Wisd. 2:1; 5:12. Ecclesiastes 3:15. 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 Thessalonians 4:17, οὕτως (houtôs), 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.

Genesis 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"!

Genesis 42:2.-"That we may live and not die." So Genesis 43:8, etc.

Exodus 9:19.-"Every man and beast which shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home."

Exodus 12:20.-"Ye shall eat nothing leavened: in all your habitations ye shall eat unleavened bread."

Deuteronomy 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."

Deuteronomy 32:6.-"O foolish people, and unwise."

Deuteronomy 33:6.-"Let Reuben live and not die."

1 Samuel 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 Peter 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.

Isaiah 3:9.-"They declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not."

Isaiah 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.

Isaiah 38:1.-"Thou shalt die, and not live": to emphasize the certainty of his death.

Isaiah 45:22.-"I am God, and there is none else." This to show that there is none that save like Him.

Jeremiah 20:14.-"Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed."

Ezekiel 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.

Ezekiel 28:2.-"Thou art a man, and not God."

Ezekiel 33:15.-"He shall surely live: he shall not die.* [Note: See also under Asyndeton.]

Hosea 5:3.-"I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me."

Hosea 11:9.-"I am God, and not man."

Amos 5:20.-"Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light?"

See this passage also under Erotesis and Metonymy.

Habakkuk 2:3.-"It will surely come, it will not tarry."

Luke 18:34.-

"And they understood none of these things:

And this saying was hid from them,

Neither knew they the things which were spoken."

All this to enhance the fact of the utter ignorance of the disciples.

John 1:3.-"All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made."

John 1:20.-"And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ."

John 3:15.-"That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."

Acts 18:9.-"Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace."

Romans 4:20.-"He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith."

Romans 12:11.-"Not slothful in business." Lit., in diligence, not slothful. See under Ellipsis and Idiom.

Romans 12:14.-"Bless, and curse not."

1 Corinthians 1:10.-"That there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment."

Galatians 5:1.-"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."

1 John 1:5.-"God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all."

1 John 1:8.-"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." So 1 John 2:4, etc.