Figures of Speech Used In the Bible: Explained and Illustrated

by E.W. Bullinger

Have you noticed how often the English language uses figures of speech?

Imagine someone coming home from work saying, “Honey I’m home. I sure hope you don’t want to paint the town tonight because I am one whipped pup. I just want to stay around the crib this evening. I’m so hungry I could eat a horse and my feet are killing me. I want to down some groceries and hit the hay. No sheep counting for me tonight. I bet I’ll be asleep before my head hits the pillow. I’m going to sleep like a baby. Before I ‘catch some Z’s’ though, I’m going to see what’s on the tube, do a little web surfing and catch up on some email.”

Would you have any trouble understanding the meaning of the conversation? Not at all. Consider, however, someone from a different culture or time period hearing these words. I’m sure there would be no small confusion.

“Why would anyone want to paint a whole town? How can feet murder someone? Does an adult really sleep in a crib? What’s this sport web surfing? Either you have big spider webs or very small people.”

We would definitely have to translate the figures of speech for our confused visitor.

“Figures of speech” or idioms suspend the normal meaning of words to convey an emphasized message that is easily understood by people in a particular culture.

The Biblical languages of Hebrew and Greek use figures of speech just like English does. The problem is, we’re thousands of years and miles removed from the Biblical culture. We don’t always quickly identify a figure of speech. Are we really supposed to hate our parents (Luke 14:26)? Was Jesus being rude to His mother (John 2:4)? Does a camel really go through the eye of a needle (Matthew 19:24)?

We need help recognizing ancient Middle Eastern figures of speech. Bullinger’s classic Figures of Speech Used in the Bible is just that help. He describes hundreds of different types of figures of speech and then presents numerous Biblical examples of each.

Genres: Reference, Nonfiction, Religion, Theology, Christian, Biblical Studies, Language

1022 pages, Nook

First published January 1, 1898

About the author

E. W. (Ethelbert William) Bullinger was born in England. A direct dissent of Swiss reformer Johann Heinrich Bullinger, a covenant theologian, he was born and raised in a home strongly influenced by Wesleyan Methodist doctrine. An Anglican priest as well as secretary of the Trinitarian Bible Society, he is primarily known as a theologian who published numerous books. He is most commonly known for The Companion Bible.

Some of his theology was and remains controversial, but there is no arguing that he had an in-depth knowledge of Aramaic, Greek and Hebrew. Some of his more popular books still in extant include his Figures of Speech Used in the Bible and Number in Scripture.

Reviews

[Antonio Rivera · Rating 3 out of 5]

I looked forward to reading this book because of the information it contained about how Figure of Speech are used in the Bible thereby learning more about the Bible. The books does indeed contain different figures of speech about some of the verses in the Bible but it is not organized in a way that i could use it. I thought it would go systematically through the Bible in an orderly fashion but instead it went through the different categories of figures of speech each highlighting different Bible verses. There is no way to have a Bible verse in mind and then check it against the book. I can not find a way to use. I had such high hopes for this book. To be sure it has a lot of information, but I just cannot find a way to access it.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly helpful volume. I only had access to the 1971 edition, but I'm sure the new edition is excellent.

[William Jr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great insight but tough read because of the use of Roman numerals, older fonts, and layout of the points and sub-points are quite difficult to decipher at times. But at least it forces me to pay attention.

[Dan Haley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super book for study and research purposes. I do not know Hebrew so this book gives great insight into my study of the scriptures!

[Ric Tea · Rating 5 out of 5]

rrteal@sbcglobal.net

Should be required reading for newbies. Helps to understand the word. End of book references subject areas for faster lookups.

[Smetsger]

$15. Hardback. Unmarked except for owner's name. Some wear on dust jacket with small tears on spine. Underlying boards are like new.

[Joe V Gossman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dictionary

I love the game Scramble. Because of this, and I'm sure you will laugh, I have come to read dictionaries. This is a great one!

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a book I have read cover to cover, because it's purely a reference book. It's the best one I know of on Biblical figures of speech. However, I have used it often over the years.