How Lines Matter in Biblical Poetry: The Song of the Sea (Exodus 15:1-18) as a Case Study

The Hebrew Bible textual tradition did not preserve a system of graphic lineation of poetic texts, and the standard practice of lineating poetic texts in translation is a relatively recent phenomenon. Thus, it is essential that we engage in metadiscourse about the nature of the poetic line before we lineate or interpret biblical poetic texts. Grosser’s 2023 monograph, Unparalleled Poetry, has presented a cognitive framework for how to think about the line in biblical poetry. This paper summarizes that framework and argues that how we think about the line matters for the structure of whole poems, the experience of rhythm and poetic effects, and how we construct the meaning of a poem. All of these topics are of utmost importance to translators. Specifically, this paper interacts with the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15:1-18) and different scholarly frameworks for its lineation and structure. It highlights four issues and their textual implications: (1) How patterning creates lines in biblical Hebrew poems. (2) How poetic structure emerges in this poem. (3) How poetic rhythm and effects depend upon the poetic line. (4) How the poetic structure (from lines to larger poetic shapes and figures to the whole of the poem) creates the potential for analogical construction of meaning and the climactic integration of past and future in the song.