Repetition in the Hebrew Bible and Its Translation

The Bible is a book of repetition, among the most repetitive texts in the world. This study explores the various forms of repetition found throughout the Bible, with a particular focus on the Hebrew Old Testament. It examines how repetition is expressed linguistically, literarily, and textually, the reasons for the repetition, and the importance of faithfully reflecting it in Bible translation.

Repetition in the Hebrew Bible appears in three main aspects:
1. Linguistic repetition: Seen in morphological and lexical structures such as geminate verbs, the piel verbal stem, the imperfect and waw-consecutive perfect verb forms, the infinitive absolute, and aspectual verbs and adverbs that express repetition.
2. Literary repetition: Found in rhetorical devices such as parallelism, chiasmus, and inclusio.
3. Textual repetition: Evident in the recurrence of key terms and phrases, parallel passages, as well as parallel chapters and books.

The abundance of repetition in the Bible serves its vital purpose—it reinforces the central theme of salvation through Jesus Christ. Repetition aids in teaching and memorization, ensuring that key messages are absorbed and applied. Since repetition is an integral feature of the biblical text, it should be carefully preserved in translation. However, many published translations show varying degrees of weakness in consistently rendering these repetition elements in the Bible. A more faithful approach to consistently translating the repetitive nature of the biblical text will enhance the accuracy of the vernacular Bible.