What is important for us to know about the genre of poetry in the Bible?

from the old testament

• The Psalms are the best-known collection of poetry in the Bible; however, Proverbs also contains poetic elements. Additionally, poetry is interwoven in other books. For example, Moses’ song in the middle of the Exodus narrative (Exodus 15:1–18) or Habakkuk’s embedded Psalm praising God (Habakkuk 3:1–19) are considered poetry. Even prayers can be poetic, such as Daniel’s prayer after God revealed Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (Daniel 2:20–23). While the New Testament contains some poetry, the vast majority is in the Old Testament. Because the New Testament authors either quoted Old Testament poetry or were influenced by it, everything stated here applies to New Testament poetry as well.
• The Psalms are specifically poetry and best exhibit its features. In Hebrew, poems do not rhyme. Rather, they “rhyme” in thought and idea. For example, Psalm 24:1 reads, “The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.” The second stanza, “the world and those who dwell therein,” echoes the truth in the first but expands the detail to show that “the fullness thereof” includes the people as well. From this verse, we learn that all of creation, including people, belongs to God.
• As another example of how two lines can convey meaning, Psalm 1:6 says, “for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” Referring to how one lives poetically as a “way” or “path,” the author contrasts two ways to teach the truth that only those who know the LORD will live eternally.
• Looking back at Psalm 24:1, notice also that Hebraic poetry tends to be compact. Whereas a different genre might say the same thing through prose form in an extended paragraph, Hebrew poetry is highly compressed. In Hebrew, that same verse only has 6 words (not including articles). A wooden translation might be, “To Yahweh, the earth and its fullness. The world and its inhabitants.” Hebrew poetry thus packs a lot of meaning into a few words. Care must thus be taken when interpreting to try to understand it as you unpack it.
• Hebrew poetry also functions much like poetry in other languages, where the author intentionally uses figurative language that is not meant to be taken literally but represents a real truth. Psalm 91:4 reads, “He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.” The author isn’t teaching that God has wings like a bird but that just as a bird cares for its babies with its wings, so God lovingly cares for His people.
• In another example of figurative language, David said, “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?” (Psalm 56:8). By “tossings,” he meant being woken in the night by his tears. He took comfort in knowing that God knew when he awoke alone and sad, figuratively referring to it as God keeping his tears in a bottle to show that God personally cared for David. One must be careful to interpret poetry rightly, even when it is surrounded by other genres.

from the new testament

• Poetry as a genre in the Bible is mostly found in the Old Testament.

implications for today

Rightly interpreting the Bible is a skill that all believers can, and must, cultivate. One aspect of interpretation is having a sensitivity to genres. Though, in reality, most of us already have that skill because we read many different types of writings every day and can already move smoothly between genres. For example, we easily tell the difference between news articles, fan fiction, work emails, and books of poems. We read them based on the author’s intent without getting confused. Thus, we already inherently understand that different writings require different “rules” to understand the author’s meaning.

Unfortunately, some turn to the Bible as if it’s a single type of writing. On the one hand, some try to interpret it too literally, misunderstanding idioms, poetry, and the like and thus missing the true meaning. On the other hand, others interpret it all figuratively, looking for hidden spiritual meanings on every page, missing the plain meaning. But a faithful student of the Bible tries to understand what each author meant in each passage and how the genre is being used to relay that meaning.

When it comes to poetry, we must read it assuming that not everything is intended to be understood in a simply literal fashion. Just like we can find and appreciate the true meaning of an Emily Dickinson poem behind the colorful words, in Scripture’s poetry, we have the capacity to find the true meaning when we look for the truth behind the imagery.