Ecclesiastes 1:5

Earlier this month, I read a few chapters of Ecclesiastes, and I realized something about the structure of Ecclesiastes 1:5:  "The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises."  The verse starts and ends with the sun's rising, so even the structure of just this one verse illustrates the vanity that the preacher talks about.

Genesis 22:17

One of the readings from the Christmas Eve service I attended last month was from Genesis 22.  I noticed a small feature in verse 17 where God says to Abraham, "'I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore.'"

Taken together, the images in these comparisons encompass a wide sweep (the stars above and the sand below), and this breadth mirrors the abundance of Abraham's offspring.

Matthew 16:23

About a month ago, I watched the CUW chapel service from 3 September 2014:

The reading was Matthew 16:21-25, and while I was following along in my French translation, I noticed a small feature in verse 23:  "Mais Jésus, se retournant, dit à Pierre:  Arrière de moi, Satan!  tu m'es en scandale; car tes pensées ne sont pas les pensées de Dieu, mais celles des hommes."  In the ESV, this is rendered as:  "But he turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan!  You are a hindrance to me.  For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.'"

In the French translation, "you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man" (οὐ φρονεῖς τὰ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀλλὰ τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων) is rendered as "tes pensées ne sont pas les pensées de Dieu, mais celles des hommes."  Literally, this is "your thoughts are not the thoughts of God but those of men," and this echoes Isaiah 55:8:  "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD."

Psalm 16:6

A couple months ago, the Psalm in church was Psalm 16.  I noticed a small feature in verse 6:  "The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance."

The phrase "pleasant places" has both alliteration and syllabic balance, and the euphony of these features matches the meaning of the words.

Luke 18:9-14

When I read a few chapters of Luke a couple months ago, I noticed some contrasts in Luke 18:9-14, the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.  There's an obvious contrast in what these two men are saying as they pray, but I noticed that this contrast is also shown in how they speak.

The Pharisee's prayer:

God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.

The tax collector's prayer:

God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

In each clause of the Pharisee's prayer, the subject is "I."  He uses it five times.  In the tax collector's prayer, the personal pronoun is used only once and then in the dative case ("to me").  Even in the language, then, it's illustrated that the Pharisee thinks primarily of himself while the tax collector has humility.

There's also a contrast in the length of these prayers.  The tax collector's prayer is short and to the point, while the Pharisee (to borrow a description from Matthew 6:7) seems to "think that [he] will be heard for [his] many words."