Wednesday, July 13, 2022

Tricolon, tricolon, tricolon!

 The First Lesson from the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost is Deuternomy 30:9-14. This passage displays the use of tricolon, as well as other rhetorical devices. The first tricolon centers around "prosperous" and "prospering." The Lord will make Israel prosperous, and will delight in making Israel prosperous, just as He made their ancestors prosperous. The first part of this tricolon is expanded by a second tricolon, thereby making the first tricolon a descending tricolon. This second tricolon is based around the fruit of various living things and is (grammatically at least) balanced rather than descending or ascending.

The third tricolon is expanded to a paragraph, embedded in a ring composition, and could be decribed as a priamel, although the goodness of the commandment is not explicit. The first two parts of the tricolon are startements of fact that exclude asking the hypothetical question (which is asked anyway). The final part of tricolon is a refutation of the distance of the commandment by locating it not just near the addressee, but within him. 

Deuteronomy 30:9-14 NRSVUE - and the LORD your God will make you - Bible Gateway

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