a omiss. de kol no parall. heb

8/6/2019 A Omiss. de Kol No Parall. Heb.

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Vtus Testamentum XXXII, 1 (1982)

T H E O M I T T I N G O F KOL I NH E B R E W P A R A L L E L I S M

BY

HELMER RINGGREN

Uppsala

A study of the use of kol in the Old Testament reveals that kol is

not necessary to express the idea of totality. It turns out that "the

inhabitants of the earth" can be used as the equivalent of "all the

inhabitants of the earth", and so on. In other cases, and especially

in poetic texts using the device of parallelism, it can be observed that

kol is used only in one of the parallel members, while the idea of to-

tality is inherent in both.

We shall first give some examples from the Psalms.

Ps. xviii 23 For all his ordinances were before me,

and his statutes I did not put away from me.

The omitting ofkol in the second member may be due to the negative

form of the verb, but it is obvious that the idea of totality is involved

here too.

Ps. xx 4 May he remember all your offerings

and regard with favour your burnt sacrifices.

Though kol is omitted in the second member, it is obvious that "all

his burnt sacrifices" are meant.

Ps. li 11 Hide thy face from my sins

and blot out all my iniquities.

The forgiveness of sins is meant to be total in both cases. In the first


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100 HELMER RINGGREN

Ps. lxvii 4, 6 Let the peoples {cammm) praise thee, O God,

let all the peoples (cam ml m kullni) praise thee!

In this case it is possible that the use of kol in the second member

involves an intensification, since both the verb and the subject are

otherwise identical.

Ps. lxx 5 May all who seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee!

May those who live thy salvation sav evermore,

"God is great"!

kl-mebaqscek and yohabe yehctak are entirely comparable.

Ps. lxxvii 13 I will meditate on all thy work

and muse over thy mighty deeds (Calilfk)

Similarly

Ps. cxliii 5 I meditate on all thy work.

I muse on the works of thy hands (magaseli ydaka).

Ps. xc 9 For all our days pass away under thy wrath,

our years come to an end like a sigh.

Whether we retain the MT killn or read with Syr. kal as above, our

observation regarding the use ofkol stands.

Ps. cii 16 The nations will fear the name of Yah weh,

and all the kings of the earth thy glory.

A similar parallelism is found in Is. lxii 2:

The nations shall see your vindication

and all the kings your glory.

Ps. Ixxii 11 has kol in both members.


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THE OMITTING OF KOL IN HEBREW PARALLELISM ' 101

The removal of useless material, i.e. sin, is equally total in both cases.

Is. xviii 3 All you inhabitants of the earth,you who dwell on the earth...

The kol-yseb febei and the sk

en

yrs are the same, but kol is used

only with the first expression.

Is . xl 4 Every valley shall be lifted up,

and every mountain and hill be made low,

The uneven ground shall become level

and the rough places a plain.

Here two expressions with kol are balanced by two expressions with-

out kol, but there is no reason for assuming that the statements con-

cerning thecqb and the r

eksim are less total than those concerning

the valleys and the mountains.

Is. xlvi 10b My councel shall stand,

and I will accomplish all my purpose.Is. xlix 9 They shall feed along the ways,

on all bare heights shall be their pasture.

11 And I will make all my mountains a way,

and my highways shall be raised up.

Is. lxiii 7 .. .according to all that Yahweh has granted us

and the great goodness to the house of Israel.. . .

J er. xxii 22 The wind shall shepherd all your shepherds

and your lovers shall go into captivity.

Jer. xxxi 25 For I will satisfy the weary soul,

and every languishing soul I will replenish.

Is. xl 29 says the same without kol.

Ez. xxxii 4 And I will cause all the birds of the air to settle on

you,

and I will gorge the beasts of the whole earth with you.

This example is somewhat different, since the second line only changes


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102 HELMER RINGGREN

The first line seems to be an expanded form of xlv 24b, while the

second line expresses the same idea without kol. Interestingly enough,

there is another parallel passage in one of the Psalms, which expresses

a similar idea with yahdw instead of kol:

Ps. xxxv 26 Let them be put to shame and confusion altogether

who rejoice at my calamity,

let them be clothed with shame and dishonour who

magnify themselves against me.

We notice that yahdw occurs only in one of the parallel lines. An-

other example with yahdw is

Is i 28 But rebels and sinners shall be destroyed together,

and those who forsake Yahweh shall be consumed.

Obviously the same stylistic law is effective here. Possibly, Ps. xl 15

should also be mentioned here:

Let them be put to shame and confusion altogether

[yahad) who seek to snatch away my life,

let them be turned back and brought to dishonour

who desire my hurt.

The word indicating totality is here yahad and it is used in onlv one

of the parallel members.

These observations might seem to be of little importance, were it

not for the fact that they tie in with two other phenomena which I

have pointed out in another connectionx). In the Book of Proverbs a

great number of proverbs are characterized by an antithetical paral-

lelism. Now, in 35 out of 116 such proverbs the subject is singular

in one half of the verse but plural in the other. For instance:

Prov. 3 Yahweh does not let the righteous (sing.) go hungry,

but he thwarts the craving of the wicked (pi.)

14 Wise men (pi ) lay up knowledge


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THE OMITTING OF KOL IN HEBREW PARALLELISM 10 3

There is no difference in meaning between the two lines : in both the

reference is to the righteous and the wicked, or the wise and the fool-

ish in general. The difference in number seems to be due to the samestriving for variation that is visible in the avoidance of using identical

words for the subject and the predicate of parallel clauses.

Another manifestation of this rule may be seen in the use of tenses

in many Psalms. Very frequently the perfect and the imperfect are

used in parallel clauses in the same verse with reference to events

that are obviously contemporaneous. One instance is in the begin-

ning of Ps. ii:Why do the nations conspire (pf.)>

and the peoples plot (impf.) in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves (impf.),

and the rulers take counsel (pf.) together.

It is obvious that the four verbs refer to the same events and the same

time and must be rendered by the same tense in English. The alter-

nation of "tenses" is a matter of style, and it follows that Hebrewtenses express other aspects of the verbal action than the temporal one.

It would seem that the use or omission of kol in parallel clauses is

another example of the same general rule of variation within paral-

lelism, or, as I called it in my previous article, the same law of stylistic

balance.


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a omiss. de kol no parall. heb

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