Figures of Speech Used in the Bible: Explained and Illustrated

by E.W. Bullinger

Bible translators have, through inattention to figures of speech, made serious translation blunders, clouding the real meaning of many important passages of God's Word. E. W. Bullinger's volume, first published in 1898, clarifies 217 distinct figures of speech used in the Bible. Walter C. Kaiser, dean of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, calls it "the best handbook on figures of speech. It should be on every exegete's shelf."
In systematic order, this classic gives the proper pronunciation of each figure of speech, its etymology or origin, and a number of Scripture passages where the figure of speech is used, giving full explanation of its use in each context. Figures of Speech Used in the Bible cites nearly eight thousand Bible passages and includes five appendices and seven indexes, making it even more valuable as a reference tool.

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

1160 pages, Hardcover

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.