combinations_ of the above forms in Hebrew poetry are exceedingly
varied and graceful. Here are examples of two _synonymous_ couplets that
are _antithetic_ to each other:

The ox knoweth his owner,
And the ass his master's crib:
Israel doth not know,
My people doth not consider. Isa. 1:3.

The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to naught;
He maketh the devices of the people of none effect.
The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever;
The thoughts of his heart to all generations. Psa. 33:10, 11.

In the following example, two _synonymous_ couplets constitute together
a _synthetic_ parallelism:

Because they regard not the works of the Lord,
Nor the operation of his hands,
He shall destroy them,
And not build them up. Psa. 28:5.

In the following, three _synthetic_ parallelisms make a _synonymous_
triplet:

For as the heaven is high above the earth,
So great is his mercy toward them that fear him:
As far as the east is from the west,
So far hath he removed our transgressions from us:
Like as a father pitieth his children,
So the Lord pitieth them that fear him. Psa. 103:11-13.

But our limits will not allow us to pursue this subject farther. The
freedom of the Hebrew poet is one of his high prerogatives. He is not a
slave to form, but uses form as it suits his purposes. He blends
together the different kinds of parallelism as he pleases. Often he
breaks through all parallelism to the freedom of prose. But he soon
returns again, because this measured rhythm of clauses is to him the
natural costume of poetic thought, which always seeks to embody itself
in some form of rhythm.

To the form of Hebrew poetry belongs also its _peculiar diction_. To one
who reads the Hebrew poets in the original, this is a striking
characteristic. He meets with words, and sometimes with grammatical
forms, that do not occur in the prose writers. Many of these peculiar
words are _Aramean_; that is, they are words current in the Aramean
branch of the Shemitic languages. Chap. 14, No. 1. They are to be
regarded as _archaisms_--old words that were once common alike to the
Hebrew and the kindred Aramean, but which have been dropped out of prose
usage in Hebrew. They must not be confounded, as has too often been
done, with _true Aramaisms_, that is, Aramean words and forms borrowed
by later Hebrew writers from their intercourse with those who spoke
Aramean.

4. As it respects the _office_ of Hebr