Mark 6:8

I've been reading Mark lately, and a couple weeks ago, I noticed a small feature in 6:8:  "He [Jesus] charged them [the disciples] to take nothing for their journey except a staff - no bread, no bag, no money in their belts."

This list of items that the disciples are not to take exhibits asyndeton, and this lack of conjunctions mirrors their lack of provisions.

1 Peter 2:1

Originally, I wasn't going to write about this because I didn't think it was significant enough, but then I thought I would note it all the same.  A couple months ago, I read some chapters in 1 Peter.  The first verse of chapter 2 is "So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander."  The repeated "all" and repeated "and" lend a sense of entirety.

Matthew 25:31-46

Near the end of September, I read Matthew 25.  I noticed something about the verbs in verses 35-36 and 42-43, but it took me a few days before I fully realized what it was and could express it.

Jesus gives examples of the good works done by the righteous:  "35 '"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me."'"  Verses 42-43 are similar but simply negated ("'"For I was hungry and you gave me no food..."'").

There are two general types of verbs here.  In each example, there's a stative verb ("was") and a dynamic verb ("gave," "welcomed," "clothed," "visited," and "came").  These dynamic verbs attract more attention, so even in just the types of verbs, the focus is on the works that the righteous do.

Psalm 135:6

A couple weeks ago, I was reading some Psalms and noticed a small feature in Psalm 135:6:  "Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps."  There's a vast geographic span in "in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps," and this great range mirrors the breadth of that "whatever."

John 10:11

I've been following along in the Daily Dose of Greek's series on John.  Last week, I noticed an interesting feature specific to the Latin Vulgate translation of John 10:11:  "Ego sum pastor bonus bonus pastor animam suam dat pro ovibus."  In the Greek and in all of the other translations I'm following along in, the phrase "the good shepherd" is repeated in the same order:

ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός· ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλὸς τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ τίθησιν ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων.

I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Ich bin der gute Hirte.  Der gute Hirte läßt sein Leben für die Schafe.

Je suis le bon berger.  Le bon berger donne sa vie pour ses brebis.

In the Latin, however, the first instance of "the good shepherd" is inverted so that "good" is a post-positive adjective:  "pastor bonus."  Such an inversion results in a chiasm:  "pastor bonus bonus pastor."  The word chiasm comes from Greek letter chi (χ), which resembles a cross.  Between this resemblance to a cross and the context here of the good shepherd's "lay[ing] down his life for the sheep," the Latin Vulgate translation seems to be hinting at the crucifixion.