THE EXPANDED COLON IN UGARITIC

AND BIBLICAL VERSE

By SAMUEL E. LOEWENSTAMM1
A. HISTORY OF THE PROBLEM

Rashbam, writing at the end of the eleventh century A.D., notes

in his commentary to the text,

Rashbam returns to this matter in his commentary to the passage,

"A fruitful bough is Joseph, a fruitful bough by a spring"
(Gen. xlix. 22), where he adds another verse to the list of examples : "Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher/ vanity of vanities!
All is vanity" (Eccles. i. 2). We do not know why Rashbam should
here enter into a stylistic analysis, which is foreign to medieval
exegesis, and we can only assume that his remark is directed
against exegesis which explained redundance of language as implying an exegetical hint. Compare the homiletical interpretation
cited by Rashi for Exod. xv. 6: "'Thy right hand.. .thy right
hand'twice: when the Children of Israel fulfil the will of the
Omnipresent, the left hand becomes as the right. 'Thy right
hand, O Lord, glorious in power' to save Israel, and 'thy'
second 'right hand'.. .shatters the enemy."2
In contrast to this, modern research, in discussing these and
similar passages, takes as its starting point the theory oiparallelis1
It is my pleasant duty to express my thanks to my friend and colleague,
Prof. Y. Blau, whose advice was of assistance in the preparation of this
article. I also wish to thank my students, N. Gubrin, A. Dagani, and G. Brin,
for their useful remarks.
1
It should be noted that Rashi accepted his grandson's innovation and
called these verses "Samuel's verses", after his grandson. Compare S. Poznanski, Kommentar tgt Eqeebiel und den XII Kleinen Propbeten von EJie^er aus
Beaugency (Warsaw, 1913), p. xlv (in Hebrew).

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" Thy tight hand, O Lord, glorious in power / thy right hand, O Lord,
shatters the enemy" (Exod. xv. 6): This verse is similar to " The floods
have lifted up, O Lord / thefloodshave lifted up their voice " (Ps. xc. 3),
" O Lord, how long shall the wicked/ how long shall the wicked exult ? "
(Ps. xciv. 3), "For lo, thy enemies, O Lord / for lo, thy enemies shall
perish" (Ps. xcii. 10). The first half is incomplete without the second
half, which repeats and completes the thought.

THE EXPANDED COLON IN UGAR1TIC AND BIBLICAL VERSE

R. Lowth, De Sacra Poesi Hcbraeorum Praelectiones, Praelectio xrx.

S. R. Driver, Introduction to the Literature of tie Old Testament (1897),
pp. 363 f.
1
D . Yellin, Selected Studies, n (Jerusalem, 5699), 37 (in Hebrew).
2

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mus membrorum. According to the analysis of Lowth, a relationship of synonymous, antithetic, or synthetic parallelism exists
between the cola of a biblical verse. Lowth himself did not
hesitate to regard the passages under discussion as a special case
oiparallela synonyma, and in his discussion of this type of parallelism he remarked, "Fit nonnumquam parallelismus per iterationem partis alicuius prioris membri."1 He cites the following
verses in illustration of this statement: "Thou God of vengeance,
O Lord / thou God of vengeance, shine forth" (Ps. xciv. i);
" How long shall the wicked, O Lord / how long shall the wicked
exult?" (ibid. v. 3). But scholars have long felt that this definition
does not exhaust the subject, and have considered it necessary to
supplement Lowth's analysis by the use of the term "climactic
parallelism". The definition advanced by S. R. Driver2 is clearly
similar to that of Rashbam:" Here thefirstline is itself incomplete,
and the second line takes up words from it and completes them."
But even though his definition is similar, Driver actually meant a
more general type than Rashbam, as becomes apparent from one
of his examples: "The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness /
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh" (Ps. xxix. 8). True
enough, in this verse too words are repeated, t>ut in the repetitive
formula the order of words has been changed.
D. Yelling dealt with this problem in 1939,. in his study of
repetition in biblical poetry. He writes:
There is a unique type of poetic repetition which is used only in
elevated and solemn style, and appears in thefollowingmanner: part
of the phrase is begun and not ended; then comes the name of the
person spoken to, in theformof an address; afterwards, that part of the
phrase which has already been stated is repeated and completed.
The innovation in this definition is the stress laid upon the
existence of an intervening formula which is phrased as an
address. Therefore Yellin's definition excludes Gen. xlix. 22
(included by Rashbam) and Ps. xxix. 8 (included by Driver).
Yellin goes on to state:
But sometimes thefirstpart expresses a complete idea, and the second
part of the verse, which repeats the beginning of the first part, adds
something else to the preceding idea and strengthens its mining
As examples he cites, inter alia, Ps. lxvi. 4, 6; Canti iv. 9; v. 9.

THE EXPANDED COLON IN UGARITIC AND BIBLICAL VERSE

H. L. Ginsberg, "The Victory of the Land-God over the Sea-God",

J.P.O.S. xv (1935), 117.
2
The sigla of the Ugaritic texts are quoted after Virolleaud.
3 On m s in the sense of the oppressors collectively, cf. M. D. Cassuto,
"Parallel Words in Hebrew and Ugaritic", L'sbonenu xv (5707), 98-9 (in
Hebrew).
4
H. L. Ginsberg, "The Rebellion and Death of Ba'lu", Orientalia v
(1936), 180.
s W. F. Albright, " T h e Psalm of Habakkuk", Studies in Old Testament
Prophecy Presented to Tb. H. Robinson (Edinburgh, 1950), pp. 3-9.
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With the discovery of the Ugaritic texts this problem again

came under discussion. Already in 1935 H. L. Ginsberg1 had
briefly pointed out the striking resemblance between the
biblical verse pK 'VSD Va men' // nar "p"* ran -a 'n -pant ran -a
"For lo, thy enemies, O Lord / for lo, thy enemies shall perish /
all evildoers shall be scattered" (Ps. xcii. 10), and the Ugaritic
verse: bt ibk Vim \ ht ibk tmhs \ ht tsmt srtk2 (HI AB A, lines 8-9)
"Lo, thy enemies, O Baal / lo, thy enemies shalt thou shatter / lo,
thou shalt destroy thy oppressors."3
In 19384 he went into slightly greater detail concerning this
question, mentioning a special type of tricolon, whose first two
cola represent the pattern abc/abd; that is to say, of the first three
words of the first colon (abc) the first two are repeated (ab) at the
beginning of the second colon, with the addition of a third
word (d).
Following him, W. F. Albrights made a systematic collection
of Ugaritic and scriptural material, which he also analysed. This
scholar coined the term repetitive parallelism. This change in
terminology is indicative of the change in the method itself. Unlike Rashbam, Driver, and Yellin, Albright did not take into
consideration whether the first colon completes itself or not, but
rather included in his definition all those verses in which the
same words recur in two cola of one verse. Thus, according to his
conception, there is also repetitive parallelism in the verse
TOW am ma sr*nn a>m aipa w o crw anpa "In the midst of the
years renew it / in the midst of the years make it known / in wrath
remember mercy" (Hab. iii. 2), even though the first colon anpa
irrri aw expresses a complete idea, and even though its relationship to the second colon smn am aipa is one of synonymous parallelism. The formula of the verse in Hab. iii. 2,
according to him, is abc/abd/efg, and according to that very same
formula he describes the verse ynn ran "O 'n yyn ran "o
pa 'VSD "?a men* nair (Ps. xcii. 10), whose structure is entirely

THE EXPANDED COLON IN UGARITIC AND BIBLICAL VERSE

B. THE EXPANDED COLON IN UGARITIC

As has been stated, the discussion of the Ugaritic material began

with the verse: bt ibk Vim / bt ibk tmhs j bt tsmt srtk (HI AB A,
lines 8-9). The structure of the first two cola is quite obvious.
After the first two words the poet interrupts his continuous flow
of words with an address, repeats the first two words, and completes the sentence with its predicate. In this sentence, therefore,
we can observe: (1) a repetitive formula made up of the two words
bt ibk; (2) an intervening formula of one word, Vim; (3) a complementary formula tmhs, also of one word. We shall indicate this
pattern of the first two cola by means of the abbreviated formula
2-1-2-1. It may be further observed that the third colon bt tsmt
srtk parallels the two first cola and especially the second colon
bt ibk tmhs, and that the omission of the first colon does not
impair the meaning of the verse. Therefore we may define the
first two cola as one expanded colon. Corroboration of this view
will be adduced in the following.
Similar to this is the following \ytbr hrnybn jytbr hrn rilk / 'Jtrt
Im b'l qdqdk (LI K VI, lines 5 4-7): " May Horon break, O my son /
may Horon break thy head / Ashtoreth Name-(?) of Baal thy
crown."2
The structure of the expanded verse corresponds exactly to
that of the verse discussed above, with but one exceptionhere
the expanded verse is completed by the direct object rilk.
The same pattern is also represented by the verse: a[tt tq\h
1
1

S.M.owiackd,Ra/anJApparentTrieola in Hebrew Psa/m Poetry(Os\o, 1957).

Cf.:ytb\r brn.. .ytbr fan] rilk 'ttrt [Im b'l qdqdk] (HI AB B, lines 7-8).

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different from that of Hab. iii. 2, as the colon abc in Ps. xcii. 10
cannot exist by itself.
In 1957 S. Mowinckel1 published a book on the problem of
the tricolon in the Bible. Although this book refrains from any
fundamental discussion of the characteristics of the abovementioned verses, it does touch on some of them from various
aspects, especially that of their textual criticism, which is based
on the determination of the rules of the structure of biblical
verse.
The problem of the above-mentioned literary type will here
be subjected to a new examination which will include comparison
of the scriptural material with its Ugaritic parallels. We shall first
present a survey of these latter.

THE EXPANDED COLON IN UGARITIC AND BIBLICAL VERSE

dbu is apparently related to K37 (Deut. xxxiii. 25) and like it is unclear.
The LXX has lox>S "strength" and the Targum KDpW "strength", which
also suits the Ugaritic text.
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ykrt / att tqh btk \ glmt ts'rb k$rk // tld Ib' bnm Ik \ wtmn tttmnm
(HI K II, lines 21-4): "The woman thou takest, 6 Krt / the
woman thou takest to thy house / the girl thou bringest to thy
court // will bear seven sons unto thee / yea, even eight."
The complementary formula btk is, in this case, the complement of the predicate tqh. Moreover, it should be noted that the
expanded colon together with its complement glmt tS'rb b%rk does
not make a complete sentence, but merely the subject of the
complete sentence. Even so, here too the expanded colon in
itself is constructed according to the pattern 2-1-2-1.
Special attention should be given to the verse, irl bym laqht
frr I irl bym watnk / blmt wallbk (IID VI, lines 26-9): "Request
life, O Aqht the hero / request life and I shall give (it) to you /
immortality, and I shall bestow it upon you."
The pattern 2-2-2-1 is but slightly different from the pattern
2-1-2-1 that we have observed up to now. Indeed, the first colon
irl bym laqbt gqr here constitutes a complete sentence, containing
subject, predicate and object. Even so, this clause is not independent, but is rather an unconnected protasis, whose apodosis
is watnk (that is to say: "If you request life, I shall give it to you"),
and therefore it cannot exist separately. Thus what we have here
is chiefly the phenomenon described above. Here too it is easy to
distinguish the interruption of the continuous flow of words
irl bym watnk, an interruption accompanied by a new beginning,
and here too the formulation of the idea ends in the complementary formula only. We might add that the reconstruction of
the basic unexpanded sentence is in this case not merely a matter
of conjecture, as the same text goes on to state: Im' m' [laqht
far I t]rl ksp watnk! / \lbrs wal]lhk (IID VI, lines 16-18): "But
listen, O Aqht the hero / request silver and I will give it to you /
gold, and I will bestow it upon you."
Thus we can observe the process of formation of the expanded
colon from this simple formulation. The address laqhtgy which
precedes the simple colon turns into the intervening formula of
the expanded colon, which separates the first two words from
their repetition.
The following verse deviates from those discussed up to now:
qrn dbatk btlt 'nt / qrn dbatk b'lymlh / b'lymlh hm b'p (TV AB E,
lines 21-3): "Thy horns of strength,1 O virgin Anat / thy homs

THE EXPANDED COLON IN UGARITIC AND BIBLICAL VERSE

Prof. Z. Ben-Hayyim has called my attention to the possibility of understanding the construct state as one word. We would then have the pattern
1-1-1-2. But in all the Ugaritic verses the repetitive formula is composed of
two words. This leads us to conclude that even such a combination as qrn
dbatk was understood as two words.
* Cf. also V AB V, lines 27-9. The reading is very doubtful. A. Herdner,
Corpus its tabkttes en ctmiiformts alpbabitiquts (Paris, 1963), p. 19, .suggests
reading [but] bb\tk\yilm / but bb[tk) a\l tl\mp / al tlmb br\m b]kt[k], "In the
building of thy house, O El / in the building of thy house thou shalt not
rejoice / thou shalt not rejoice in the raising of thy palace." The pattern is
2-1-2-2. If this restoration is accurate, then here too the beginning of the
third colon repeats the ending of the second, which is a complementary
formula. But in spite of this concatenation there can be no doubt that the
third colon is in any case a kind of parallel colon, and the existence of a colon
which expands into three cola need not yet be assumed.
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of strength Baal will anoint / Baal will anoint them in flight."

The pattern1 2-2-2-2 is not surprising. But the beginning of the
third colon is unusual, for it repeats, without an intervening
formula, the complementary formula blymsh of the second colon,
with a certain addition. If so, then the third colon too is part of
the structure of the expanded colon and not a parallel colon. This
too can be explained in two ways, neither of which contradicts
the other. The whole verse can be considered as the expansion of
the basic formula qrn dbatk b'lymlb b'p. Alternatively, it can be
interpreted as the expansion of the formula qrn dbatk btlt 'fit / qrn
dbatk b'lymib b'p. In this formula, the complementary formula is
composed of three words: b'lymib b'p. But, as Ugaritic poetry
cannot tolerate such a long complementary formula, it separates
the adverbial expression b'p from the complementary formula
and turns it into a complete colon: b'lymib hm b'p.2
In all the above-mentioned examples the intervening formula
appears as an address. The pattern is mostly 2-1-2-1, but the
patterns 2-2-2-1 and 2-2-2-2 also appear once each, and there is
even an uncertain example of the 2-1-2-2 pattern (discussed in
n. 2 below). The variation is extremely slight. We have also seenthat a colon which is expanded into two cola is generally paralleled by an additional colon in synonymous parallelism, constructed according to the usual rules of syntax. But we have also
seen an example of the expansion of one colon into three cola
(IV ABII, lines 21-3), where the parallel colon is absent.
In many cases the intervening formula is the subject of the
sentence. One has to bear in mind that in Ugaritic (as in other
Semitic languages) the finite verb contains its subject-pronoun in
itself, and the following noun, serving as subject, may be inter-

THE EXPANDED COLON IN UGARITIC AND BIBLICAL VERSE

[apnk dnil mt rpt]

uqr ilmylbm
yd ftby'l
Then Dnil, the man of Rpi
Offerings to the gods he gave
to eat
With his garment he ascended

ap[n &r mt brnmy]

SFVJH!^ ^>n $*
wyikbyd \m^rt p\ylnl
(IID I, lines 2-6)1
Then the hero, die man of Htnmy
Offerings he gave to drink to the
holy ones
And he lay with his vestment
and slept.

This text is afterwards repeated in expanded form:

[b]ms tdtym
u%r [ilm] dnil / u%r ilmylbm / [K(r\yJqy bn qdl
yd ftb dnil I yd ftby'l / wylkb [yd] miqrt pyln
{ibid, lines 12-16)
A fifth, a sixth day
Offerings to the gods, Dnil / Offerings to the gods he gave to eat /
Offerings he gave to drink to the holy ones // With his garment, Dnil /
with his garment he ascended / and he lay with his vestment and slept.

In addition, we may note the concatenation of the parallel colon

by the repetition of the word ^r.
Further development of the expanded colon can be observed
in the following verse: // knp btlt'[/] / tfa knp wtr b'p (TV ABII,
lines 10-1 x): " She spread her wings, the virgin Anat / she spread
her wings and.. . 2 in flight."
1 On the problem of text and translation, see S. Loewenstamm, "The
Climax of Seven Days in the Ugaritic Epic", Tarbiz xxxi (5722), 229-30 (in
Hebrew).
1
Cf. C H. Gordon, Ugaritic Textbook (Rome, 1965), pp. 19, 1153.
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preted as the apposition to the subject-pronoun contained in the

verb. Accordingly, a sentence likey htkh krt \fn htkh rl / mid
grdl tbtb (IK, lines 21-3) may be interpreted: "He saw
his descendants, Krt / he saw his descendants destroyed / his
dwelling-place utterly crushed", and not as: "Krt saw his
descendants, etc."
The complement of the incomplete beginning is the second
object rl. The pattern is 2-1-2-1.
The same pattern recurs in the epic of Aqht in two expanded
sentences, in which the intervening formula is the subject of the
complementary formula which contains the predicate. The two
sentences are first quoted in the epic as regular sentences and are
expanded only upon their repetition. The first unexpanded text
reads:

THE EXPANDED COLON IN UGARITIC AND BIBLICAL VERSE

The usual wording for vision in the Ugaritic epic is bnH 'nb wypb{n) (I D,
lines 105, 120, 137; E D V , line 9): "Upon lifting up his eyes he saw."
Similarly, the feminine bnH 'nb wtpbn (IIABII, line 12; I D , lines 28-9, 76;
IID VI, line 10). These expressions are an additional indication that "lifting
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The pattern of the expanded sentence itself, 2-2-2-2, has long

been known to us, but it should be noted that the beginning,
tiu knp btlt'nt, is a complete sentence, and the definition of the
words wtr b'p as a complementary formula is rather loose, as these
words indicate an additional action. However, this additional
action is the direct result of the action described previously, and
Anath's spreading her wings and taking to flight can be described
as two stages of the same action, where the second completes the
first. It is thus possible to say that the words wtr b'p stand in the
middle between a complementary formula and a colon paralleling
the expanded colon. The resemblance of the complementary
formula to the parallel colon thus explains the absence of a
parallel colon from the verse. Even with all the unique characteristics of this verse, there can be no doubt that here also we are
able to reconstruct the simple, basic formula tiu knp wtr b'p; and
here also we find the same method of interrupting the utterance
and beginning it anew.
The structure of the expanded verse becomes more complicated in the following verse: wyiu 'nb aliyn b'lj wyiu 'nb wy'n \ wy'n
btlt 'nt (ibid, lines 13-ij): "And he lifted up his eyes, the hero.
Baal / and he lifted up his eyes and saw / and he saw the virgin
Anat."
This verse, which has been expanded into a tricolon, has the
following sentence as its basis: wyiu 'nh wy'n btlt 'nt. This also
describes two consecutive actions which fuse into a kind of
single action. But while the expanded sentence is generally
interrupted once, and begins anew once, here this happens twice.
The first interruption falls into a known category. Two words
which function as a subject, aliyn b'l, separate between wylu 'nb
and its repetition; but the second time the repetition formula
contains only one wordwy'nwhich does not have any intervening formula between it and its repetition. The one colon ends
with the word wy'n, without indicating what Baal saw. The next
colon begins with the same verb and adds its object. The following
verse is phrased according to the very same pattern: wtlu 'nb btlt
'nt I wtlu 'nb wt'n j wt'n orb (ibid, lines 26-8): "And she lifted up
her eyes, the virgin Anat / and she lifted up her eyes and saw / and
she saw a cow."1

THE EXPANDED COLON IN UGARITIC AND BIBLICAL VERSE

up of the eyes " is merely the beginning of the action, and requires completion through the description of seeing.
There are biblical expressions which resemble the formula in IV AB, such
as "And he lifted up his eyes and he saw". See M. D. Cassuto (in Tarbis^ xrv
(573) 9- IG ) ( m Hebrew).
1
For the parallelism jtfir / tbr see M. D. Cassuto, Tarbi% xrv (5703), 9-10
(in Hebrew); M. Held, Studies and Essays in Honour of A. A. Neumann

(Leiden, 1962), pp. 281-90. Both authors explain this form of parallelism as
one existing between th&jaqtul and qatala forms in two cola of one verse.
True, this kind of parallelism is well attested in biblical poetry. Nevertheless
it remains a moot question whether tbr should be parsed as qatala or as qatalu.
Cf. the verse tt'r ksat I mbr / t'rtlfmt Isbim (V AB II, lines 20-2). If the poet
had intended to use the qatala form, he should have written t'rt and not/'r.
We must, therefore, necessarily define t'r as the absolute infinitive. Cf. also
M. Dahood, Psalms I (New York, 1966), p. 177.
In any case, the fact remains that both in Ugaritic and biblical poetry there
exists a type of parallelism between xh&yaqtul and another form of the same
verb in the two cola of a verse. Such repetition does not change the structure
of the verse, and is therefore fundamentally different from the repetition
present in the expanded colon.
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The similarity of this pattern to that of IV ABII, lines 21-3,

which was discussed above, should not be ignored. There, too,
we have a tricolon construction which includes two repetitive
formulas, and the first pair of repetitive formulas is separated by
an intervening formula, whereas the second pair is not.
The second of the two characteristics which distinguish the
above-mentioned verses, i.e. the repetition of a verb which concludes one colon at the beginning of the second colon, is present
by itself in only one verse: ibrk Urn tity / tity Urn lahlbm \ dr il
Imsknthm (LnKIQ, lines 17-19): "The gods blessed and they
went / the gods went to their tents / the godly assemblage to their
tabernacles."
The verses discussed above differ from the usual style by the
interruption of the utterance and its resumption, which gives it
tension and solemnity. These verses are fundamentally different
from those verses in which the repetition of the same words in
two cola does not serve this object, and in which it is impossible
to distinguish any expansion of a shorter and simpler formula.
To this category belongs, for example, a verse which Albright
classes with his examples of repetitive parallelism in Ugaritic:
knpn$rmVlytbr\bHtbr diybmtQ.'D, lines 114-15): "The wings
of eagles may Baal break / may Baal break their pinions."
It is true that the wording VI tbr in the second colon corresponds to b'lytbr in the first.1 Here however there is no interrup-

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tion of the utterance, but an unbroken and continuous utterance.

The first colon, knp nlrm b'lytbr, fully describes the subject, and
the second colon does not complement it but merely repeats it.
This repetitive parallelism is nothing but a special type of
synonymous parallelism, being fundamentally different from the
phenomenon of the expanded colon which we have described,
following Rashbam, Driver, and Yellin.
We may now summarize the results of our discussion of the
various types of usage of the expanded colon in Ugaritic. First
of all, we should note one type in which a formula serves as an
intervening address between two repetitive formulas. A complementary formula comprises the conclusion of the colon. .The
pattern is z-i{z)-z-i{z). The colon, which has been expanded into
two cola, is followed by an additional, unexpanded colon of the
type usual in synonymous parallelism. There is one exceptional
case in which one basic colon is expanded into three cola, and
lacks a parallel colon. In this case the subject of the third colon
repeats the ending of the second colon without any intervening
formula (IVABE, lines 21-3). More flexible and varied is
another type, in which an intervening formula serves as the
subject. Here too the pattern is z-i(z)-z-i{z). In this type also the
expanded colon is not always followed by another colon in
synonymous parallelism. We have observed one case in which
the parallel colon is lacking (IV ABU, lines 10-11), this being
the case where the complementary formula describes an additional
action which, together with the first, forms one continuous
action. Here the result is a bicolon. Moreover, we have observed
a third type which resembles the second {ibid, lines 13-15; lines
26-8). The additional and continued action is indicated in the
complementary formula only by a verb, and the third colon,
which describes this action in detail, begins with the same verb
that concluded the second colon, without any intervening
formula. Thus the result is again a tricolon. But this verse
differs in structure from the tricolon which we have observed in
the cases of the regular expanded cola. We have noted another
verse (HI K ID, lines 17-19) without any intervening formula,
in which the first colon ends with the same verb with which the
second colon begins, by way of describing the action in detail.

THE EXPANDED COLON IN UGARITIC.AND BIBLICAL VERSE

C. THE EXPANDED COLON IN THE BIBLE

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In the Bible the most conspicuous type of expanded colon is that

in which the intervening formula serves as an address. This type
is more diversified and developed than in Ugaritic poetry.
Here too we may make a distinction between those passages in
which the first colon requires a complement by the very nature
of its grammatical structure, and those passages in which it
requires a complement by virtue of its content alone. As an
example of the first type we may cite paVa VIR n"?D piaVa ">m
wan "With me from Lebanon, O bride / with me from Lebanon,
come" (Cant. iv. 8). The following verses belong to the same
category: Exod. xv. 6; Hab. iii. 8; Ps. xxix. i ; xcii. io; xciii. z;
xciv. 3; Prov. xxxi. 4. An example of the second type is the verse
Vrrr am "pin wrbK am fim "The waters saw thee, O God / the
waters saw thee, they trembled" (Ps. lxxvii. 17), i.e. "The waters
trembled when they saw thee". It is as if seeing and trembling are
one action, and it is clear that the first colon is nothing but the
expansion of the second, which is the basic one. Similarly,
pR isp *?3 npm maai mV noc 'n *tb nee "Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord / thou hast increased the nation, thou
art glorified / thou hast enlarged all the borders of the land"
(Isa. xxvi. 15), i.e. "Thou art glorified by increasing the nation".
In like manner, *w n a i nw m miai rns -TW "Awake, awake,
Deborah / awake, awake, utter a song" (Judg. v. 12). Here also it
is possible to distinguish a complementary formula TB na*T, for
Deborah's "awakening" is nothing else than an awakening to
song. Likewise, "]i nmn 'aw 'aw rvaVnwi 'aw raw "Return,
return, O Shulamite / return, return, and we will look upon you"
(Cant. vii. 1) means "Return, so that we may look upon you".
Sometimes the complementary formula is a consecutive clause:
unsawi rmv Tna Tm na tnwa no-n "ma ym na "What is
your beloved more than another beloved, O fairest among
women / what is your beloved more than another beloved, that
you thus adjure us?" (Cant. v. 9); or an adverbial clause: "Wiaa1?
yrvn (Q nnna) insa 'inaa1? n"?3 -WIR "YOU have ravished my
heart, my sister, my bride / you have ravished my heart with a
glance of your eyes" (Cant. iv. 9); or even apposition: a<ov 71TP
DVD tra TTTP trn^s "Let the peoples praise thee, O God / let
the peoples praise thee, all of them" (Ps. lxvii. 4, 6).
From this we proceed to the cola which parallel each other,
each one expressing a complete idea, such as: 'n ia nasr iv
186

THE EXPANDED COLON IN UGARITIC AND BIBLICAL VERSE

It has been suggested thatTO3m i M be read here (GK 90 /),

(W. L. Moran, "The Hebrew Language in its Northwest Semitic Background ", in The Bible and the Ancient Near East, ed. G. E. Wright (New York,
1965), p. 60). These suggestions would turn the expanded colon into two
parallel cola. Atfirstglance it would seem possible to support this suggestion
with the passage mp IT OS "av IS 'n "]0V 135" IS " Until thy people pass by,
O Lord / until the people pass by whom thou hast purchased " (Exod. xv. 16),
for there the expanded colon structure is breached even in the Masoretic
text, and turns into a construction of two parallel cola. But here the modified
repetition of the words *pS 13V IS causes the two cola to consolidate into a
unified idea, in spite of the breaching of die pattern of the expanded colon.
But the suggested readings (TnXl) iiTOO produce two cola in which the
parallelism is forced and stilted.
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nip it o nasr i s " Until thy people pass by, O Lord/ until the people
pass by whom thou hast purchased" (Exod. xv. 16). If the verse
had read: mp IT ay *iasr i s 'n ns lasr i s "Until the people pass
by, O Lord / until the people pass by whom thou hast purchased", we would have had an expanded colon in which the
complementary formula mp IT ns would have served as the
determination of the subject, as in Ps. kvii. 4. But here the subject of the repetitive formula is determined by the personal
pronoun (*]BSthy people!), thus turning the expanded colon
into a verse of two parallel cola, each of which is complete and
comprehensible in itself, even if the origin of this verse from the
expanded colon is quite obvious. Still further removed from the
pattern of the expanded colon is 1110 nsas m 'n O'VKa roas a
mpa "Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the Gods ? Who is
like thee glorious in holiness?"1 (Exod.xv. 11); ?mai nap i s
Vmwa OK 'napw " Until you arose, O Deborah / until you arose, a
mother in Israel" (Judg. v. 7).
There are more patterns in the Bible than in Ugaritic. Both
have in common the pattern 1-2-1-2 (Ps. kvii. 4, 6; lxxvii. 17;
xciii. .3; Cant. iv. 8) and 2-2-2-2 (Exod. xv. 6), but in regard to the
latter pattern it must be added that the repetitive formula and the
intervening formula deviate from the normal. As a rule, it is the
address that intervenes between the repetitive formulas. Here,
however, the address proper ('n) is part of the repetitive formula
'n 1W, and the intervening formula roa TWO is in apposition
to the address.
Not certainly attested in Ugaritic (see above, p. 181 n. 2) is the
biblical pattern 2-1-2-2 (Ps. xxxi. 4; Judg. iv. 12; Cant. vii. 1).
The last two examples bear a striking resemblance to one another
in the structure of the repetitive formula. Both of these have a

THE EXPANDED COLON IN UGARITIC AND BIBLICAL VERSE

1 Cf. also above, p. 184 n. 1. The verses cited there, whose cola are in
synonymous parallelism, tend to have a repetitive formula of the type
customary in the expanded colon. But during the repetition the poet varies
the formula which he is repeating.
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double imperative, whose repetition gives rise to four equal

imperative expressions. More than this, at times biblical poetry
prefixes an unaccented, monosyllabic particle to the two principal
words of the repetitive formula; this means that the Bible is not
as strict as Ugaritic poetry in having the repetitive formula
composed of just two words, and admits its composition of three
words bearing two stresses, cf. Ta^s mn "O (Ps. xcii. 10) with ht
ibk (HI AB A, line 8). In this way the patterns 3-1-3-1 (Ps. xcii.
10; xciv. 3) and 3-2-3-2 (Cant. v. 9) are formed, and we have
observed once even the entirely exceptional pattern 1-2-1-2 (Cant,
iv. 9). Special consideration is merited by the passage mn unman
"]t trims DM '7i, literally "Against the rivers did it bum, O Lord /
if against the rivers thy anger?" (Hab. iii. 8). Here the poet casts
off the chains of tradition, which would have required the
wording "]bH mn nnman 'n mn unman "Against the rivers did it
bum, O Lord / against the rivers did thy wrath bum?", and
allows himself the liberty of changes during his repetition of
the formula preceding the address. For this change of the repetitive formula in the expanded colon cf. Ps. inch, j , 8 and see
below.1
The tendency of the Bible freely to develop ancient patterns,
which makes itself evident in the very structure of the expanded
colon, becomes even more prominent in the structure of the
complete verse. In the Ugaritic epic, after the expanded colon
possessing an intervening formula in the form of an address,
there everywhere appears a short, synonymous colon, except in
the text 76II, lines 21-3, where the third colon repeats the content
of the preceding cola with a certain addition; whereas the Bible
has a large number of variants of this form, and only some of the
verses are exactly like the Ugaritic pattern in this respect. Some
examples follow: nmnn TOT ]R iVfr tra fun DTIVK em *pm
" The waters saw thee, O God/ the waters sawthee, they trembled /
yea, the deeps shook" (Ps. Ixxvii. 17); nan o 'n yyx mn "o
px 'VD Va men* nair yam "For lo, thy enemies, O Lord / for
lo, thy enemies shall perish / all evildoers shall be scattered"
(Ps. xcii. 10); -\rrav tra DK *JDK tmma OK 'n rnn unman "Against
the rivers did it bum, O Lord / if against the rivers thy wrath / if
against the sea thy indignation?" (Hab. iii. 8).

THE EXPANDED COLON IN UGARITIC AND BIBLICAL VERSE

> Cf. above, p. 18411. 1.

A certain concatenation of the third colon to the preceding ones can
already be seen in HI AB A, lines 8-9, where the first word of the repetitive
1

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But sometimes the biblical verse will have no parallel colon,

whether the first part of the expanded colon requires a complement by the very nature of its grammatical structure, as: 'n *|W
a-s pnn 'n ym" roa m w "Thy right hand, O Lord, glorious
in power / thy right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy" (Exod.
xv. 6), or whether it requires a complement by virtue of its
content, as: T nan my nw mat nw m "Awake, awake,
O Deborah / awake, awake, utter a song" (Judg. v. 12; cf.
Ps. lxvii. 4, 6; Cant. v. 9; vii. 1).
On the other hand, the expanded colon pattern may develop in
various directions. The verse 'man paaVa *nx nVa juaVa vw
nK no TRWI "With me from Lebanon, bride/ with me from
Lebanon, come/ journey from the peak of Amana" (Cant iv. 8)
essentially fits the ancient pattern; but unlike the parallel colon it
goes on enthusiastically in flowing style and language: tnna
D'-MM Tins JITHN missa pa-im TW "...from the peak of
Senir and Hermon, from die dens of lions, from the mountains
of leopards".
The creation of a new literary form can be observed in the
verse aot nriru w o*?ip nnra iww 'n nnni uwi "The
floods have lifted up, O Lord / the floods have lifted up their
voice / the floods lift up their roaring" (Ps. xciii. 3), as the
parallel colon begins here with the perfect of the verb which, in
the expanded colon, recurs in the imperfect form; and even
though parallelism between two forms of the same verb is not
unknown to the style of Ugaritic poetry,1 it does not occur there
in connexion with expanded cola, while the biblical poet combined the two stylistic measures, thus inventing a sort of triplet
of the repetitive formula. Not just a sort of triplet, but an actual
triad of this formula can be seen in the verses tsh* "oa 'r\b lan
n TD3 'n1? ian rsn Tiaa 'nV ian "Ascribe to the Lord, O
heavenly beings / ascribe to the Lord glory and strength / ascribe
to the Lord the glory of his name // worship the Lord in holy
array" (Ps. xxix. 1-2). The third colon is concatenated with the
expanded colon itself by tripling the repetitive formula 'n1? ian
and this concatenation is reinforced even more by repetition
of the noun TD3. The three cola thus combine into a tricolic
unit which is paralleled by the fourth colon imna '7h nnxwn

THE EXPANDED COLON IN UGARITIC AND BIBLICAL VERSE

formula (bt) serves as the beginning of the third colon. Cf. also V AB V,
lines 27-9, discussed on p. 181 n. 2, and IID I, lines 10-11.
For a different analysis of Ps. xxix. 1, see Mowinckel (ppf cit. pp. 22-3).
Compare the verse under discussion also with lafl ITOV niTIBVQ 'it? 1371

rmna 'it? Timron rnmn 1 ? wai nruo IKW tov TOD 'it? lan vn tias 'it?
pKn Va rD I'm mp "Ascribe to the Lord, Ofamiliesof the peoples /

ascribe to the Lord glory and strength / ascribe to the Lord the glory of his
name / bring an offering, and come into his courts / worship the Lord in holy
array / tremble before him, all the earth" (Ps. xcvL 7-9). This psalm is
composed of ancient hymnic material. But its author, whorightlyor wrongly
thought the heavenly beings of Ps. xxix to be the gods of the nations, did
not think it proper to address these insufficient gods, and therefore addressed
the nations themselves, and even explained to them the meaning of the
commandTOTDS 'it? ttil TJD TD3 'it? "On by explicidy saying nma WW
rnnsnV 1K3r Thus the colon BTTp Tmna 'Tt> Tinnwi was removed from its
original contest, and the isolation of the colon caused in turn the addition
of the parallel colon pJCl V3 TWO iV"H.
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In conclusion we may state that the form of the colon which

has been expanded to two cola with an intervening formula in
the form of an address is much moreflexiblein the Bible than in
Ugaritic poetry.
Not everywhere does the biblical poet observe the rule,
followed in Ugaritic poetry, that the repetitive formula must
include just two words, for at times he allows himself to add a
monosyllabic short particle to this formula (Ps. xcii. 10; xciv. 3;
Cant. v. 9; cf. also Hab. iii. 8). He does not even shrink from
daring to begin the address already at the end of the repetitive
formula (Exod. xv. 6). More important than this, he does not
everywhere observe the rule of literal repetition (Hab. iii. 8).
We have also observed the tendency to triple the repetitive
formula, once literally (Ps. xxix. 1, 2), once with a slight change
(Ps. xciii. 3).
Especially interesting is the question of the place of the expanded colon in the verse in its entirety. In the Ugaritic epic the
bicolic expanded colon is complemented by one additional
synonymous colon, forming a tricolon, a phenomenon which is
also present in the Bible. But here there are exceptions, for at
times such a colon is absent (Exod. xv. 6; Judg. v. 12; Ps. Ixvii.
4, 6; Cant. v. 9; vii. 1, as at times also in the Ugaritic epic, when
the subject serves as an intervening formula), and there is also a
passage in which two cola are added (Ps. xxix. 1). It can indeed
be asked whether perhaps it is only by chance that all the Ugaritic
verses containing an expanded colon, whose intervening colon
is in the form of an address, are composed of precisely three

THE EXPANDED COLON IN UGARITIC AND BIBLICAL VERSE

See Ginsberg, op. tit., p. 171; Albright, op. cit., p. 3; cf. also Gordon,
op. cit. 15. 107, note z, and 13. 109.
2
Mowinckel, op. cit., p. 97.
* Mowinckel, p. 100.
4
Mowinckel, p. 34.

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cola. In Canaanite-biblical poetry we have found verses of one,

two, and three cola. As is known, the most common form is
that of the bicolon. Now the expansion of the first colon of the
bicolon will, in any case, cause the formation of a tricolon. Thus,
for example, a verse such as px -bso *?3 mtTf na&r T3<IK ran "o
(as in the Septuagint B translation of Ps. xcii. 10) becomes a
tricolon: ps VSB "?3 merr nar yy ran "o 'n yy ran "o.
But the same thing can also happen to the monocolon. Thus, for
example, the monocolon vn pnn 'n ^^B<l is the base from which
is formed the bicolon a^ pnn 'n yw nsa T I K I 'n ^ro<l
(Exod. xv. 6). Such a process can also happen to the tricolon,
which in this way becomes a tetracolon. The verse Tiaa '7b lan
np> rmna 'rb vnram vzv -nas 'rb lan wi becomes the tetracolon
'rb mntm too TOD 'rb lan m TQD 'rb lan ab& "ua 'rb lan
snp rmna (Ps. ^nriv. i, 2).
From here we proceed to the question of the textual criticism
of the tricolon. Ugaritic scholars have already pointed out that
the tricolon can appear anywhere in the Ugaritic epic, even
among the bicola. Therefore, there is no reason to cast doubt
upon the originality of the text of a tricolon in a biblical poem
which is written in bicola.1
Nevertheless Mowinckel, in his study mentioned above, innovated a method of textual criticism based on.the criterion of
the number of cola, and claimed that any tricolon among bicola,
and likewise any monocolon, is properly suspect.2 This rule
served as his guidepost in his study, even though here and there
he was forced to admit that a tricolon in a bicolon poem was
original after all, and he gave Ps. lxviii. 28 as the most certain
example of this.3 In line with the general tendency of his study,
Mowinckel disputes the originality of the text in Ps. xcii. 10, and
reads: pR "bvo " rntn> nap "pant ran "o, relying on three
Masoretic manuscripts and on the Septuagint MSB.* In his
opinion, the received text stems from dittography. But this assumption is fidt sufficient to explain the address 'n, which is
exactly in line with an ancient stylistic tradition, whereas the
shorter version may easily have arisen from a homoeoteleuton.
Mowinckel also takes issue with the Masoretic text of Hab. iii. 8,
reading instead "]ma 'n tra DK ^ K n*m tmraan. In Mowinckel's

THE EXPANDED COLON IN UGARITIC AND BIBLICAL VERSE

Mowinckel, pp. 55-6.

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opinion the corruption is proved by the difference between the

reading mn tr-iman and its repetition "]tK onnia DR.1 But this
in no way explains how the word 'n happened to be dislocated in
the Masoretic text. Besides, his reading itself is unacceptable, as
the basic, unexpanded reading here is ^mas ffa QK *]DN rnn onnan,
the subject not being mentioned; this becomes apparent upon
comparison of the expanded formulas with their short parallels
in the Ugaritic epic. As for Mowinckel's main argument, we have
already seen that the biblical poets varied the ancient patterns in
different ways, and we have especially pointed out the diversification of repetitive formulas in expanded cola and in parallel
cola, the style of which is influenced by that of the expanded
cola.
We have seen above that in the Ugaritic epic the subject may
also serve as the intervening formula. It is doubtful whether this
pattern appears in the Bible even once. In the verse 'n rwpi VK
nno Vs Vioi awi pxn BDW KWH JTBIH niapi *?x (Ps. xciv. 1-2)
the form STDVI would appear to be past tense, and so the
Septuagint understood it to be, but it can also be regarded as an
irregular form of the imperative.2 This is supported by the imperative forms wwn and at&n in the continuation of the verse. It
has even been suggested to read nsrDin, like the imperative form
in Ps. lxxx. 2 (haplography before KVOT); but it cannot be
decided one way or another. If we consider SPDIM to be past
tense, then the repeating formula map) VK is a regular subject, and
the intervening formula is in apposition to the subject; cf. Exod.
xv. 6, in which the intervening formula nsa *rnu is in apposition
to the address 'n, which concludes the repetitive formula. The
expanded colon appears without any parallel colon, which means
that we have before us a bicolon, like those which we have seen
in Ugaritic verses. These are expanded cola in which the subject
serves as the intervening formula. But if we explain srom as an
imperative form, then the doubled formula map) ? is an
address and the intervening formula 'n is in apposition to the
address. In addition, we can then explain the cola beginning with
twin and avn as paralleling the expanded cola, thus giving us a
tetracolon. In any case it is clear that the expanded colon constructed according to the pattern 2-1-2-1 is exceedingly close to
the ancient patterns.
In contrast to this, considerable deviation from the traditional
forms is shown by the verse TI1?* 'n1? *inm mrm -ow 'n1?

THE EXPANDED COLON IN UGARITIC AND BIBLICAL VERSE

Cf. also Isa. y. 1; Ps. xiiL 6; xxvii. 6; lvii. 8; lxxxix. 2; d. 1; civ. 33;
cviii. 2; cxliv. 9; the wording TVK ""IK (Ps. lix. 17) is in contrast with nan
psir (v. 16). In Ugaritic too ah "I will sing" (NK, lines 38,40) appears without a personal pronoun.
* A. Weiser, Z.A.W. LXXI(1959), 73, has explained 'n1? "OIK as meaning
"I belong to the Lord", assuming that a new sentence begins afterwards.
The basis for this explanation is the clear difficulty in translating the expanded
verse in the Song of Deborah into a foreign language to whose spirit the
syntactical construction of this verse is foreign.
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I,to the Lord I will sing / 1 will make melody to the Lord,
the God of Israel" (Judg. v. 3).
Some scholars have explained this combination as casuspendens,
meaning the isolation of the logical subject.1 The verse would
then mean: "As for me, I will sing." If, however, the first oat
were casus pendens, the second only would serve as grammatical
subject. But it seems rather unlikely to attribute to these two
OIK different functions. Moreover, the prominent emphasis on
the subject is out of place here, as it is not the habit of one who
sings in honour of his God to make himself stand out; cf. rrviwt
nra nw "D 'n1? " I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed
gloriously" (Exod. xv. i). 2 Therefore not only is the complete
expression jmtt -oat 'nV oat difficult, but even the simple
combination JTTW OJK is strange, as in biblical Hebrew 'SIK is
prefixed to a finite verb only when the subject is to be emphasized. If so, it would seem that the function of the personal
pronoun here is specifically to expand the expression 'nV n"WK.
However, the results of this expansion exceed what would
normally be expected. The intervening formula 'n1? is the indirect
object, and the repetitive formula is limited to one word3 as in
Cant. iv. 9.
The Bible also has ,a type of expanded verse in which the intervening formula is absent. An example which is close in form to
the Ugaritic epic is the verse bvrwr m n "pa11 "pa* mar 'n
" The Lord has been mindful of us, he will bless / he will bless the
house of Israel" (Ps. cxv. 12). This verse is reminiscent of those
Ugaritic verses in which one colon ends in a verb lacking a complement, while the next colon begins with the same verb and adds
the details of the action. Also similar to this is the passage
pKn DDWV K3 "O K3 "o 'n "fflV "Before the Lord, for he comes / for
he comes to judge the earth" (Ps. xcvi. 13), which repeats not
only the verb but also the conjunction "O. But this slight variation
in the repetitive formula is not sufficient to prevent its being in
1
S. R. Driver, Treatise on the Use of the Tenses (Oxford, 1892), p. 269.

THE EXPANDED COLON IN UGARITIC AND BIBLICAL VERSE

m o p (here translated with RSV "a fruitful bough") is difficult. See,

apart from the commentaries on Genesis and the dictionaries, N. H. TurSinai, Lasbon Vtuefer, voL "Hasefer", pp. 211-12 (in Hebrew); also J. M.
Allegro, Z.A.W. ucrv (1952), 249 f. However, this problem is not the
concern of an analysis of sentence structure.
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harmony with the common style. Thus here also the received
text is to be maintained, being confirmed also by the Septuagint,
even though the repetition of the words a "O is lacking not only
in the parallel text of I Chron. xvi. 33, and in a similar version of
Ps. xcviii. 9, but also in some MSS of Ps. xcvii. Also to be
classified here is the verse ia VK*WV nVni nVro DS"IK ]nn "And
he gave their land as a heritage / a heritage to Israel his people"
(Ps. cxxxv. 12 and cf. also cxxxvi. 21,22), in which the first colon
ends with the second object nVro and the second colon begins
with the same noun nVni, the meaning of which is explained by
the addition of the indirect object VRnsrV.
- In contrast to this, much more removed from the ancient
patterns is the verse piaVn TIR 'n lasn nrw na 'n Vip "The
voice of the Lord breaks the cedars / and the Lord has broken the
cedars of Lebanon" (Ps. xxix. j). The clear mining of this verse
is that the voice of the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon, piaV
thus serves as a complementary formula coming at the end, and
in the repetitive formula that precedes the complementary
formula there occur changes, such as we have already observed
in other verses. The same type of expanded sentence recurs in the
same psalm, as follows: snp "mo 'n Vrr naio Vw 'n Vip "The
voice of the Lord .shakes the wilderness / the Lord shakes the
wilderness of Kadesh" (p. 8).
At the beginning of the article we mentioned that Rashbam
classifies with the type of verses discussed also the passages p
f 'Vs me p *]b"p mo "A fruitful bough is Joseph1 / a fruitful
bough by a spring" (Gen. xlix. 22), and Van nVnp iaff-VanVan
Van Van D^Van "Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher / vanity of
vanities, all is vanity " (Eccles. i. 2). These verses differ from all the
verses discussed up to now in that they are noun clauses, whereas
up to now we have dealt only with verb clauses. Now this difference is of fundamental importance. We had established a rule
above that the expanded colon was created from a nucleus, which
is the formula following the intervening formula, and whose
verb includes the subject of the sentence. But the words mo p
f *V, which follow the intervening formula *\w, do not form
a complete sentence, as they lack a subject. We are thus compelled

THE EXPANDED COLON IN UGARITIC AND BIBLICAL VERSE

D. THE ORIGINAL FORM OF THE EXPANDED COLON

The original form of the expanded colon cannot be determined

with certainty. Of the expanded cola having an intervening
formula, the type appearing to be the most original is that in
which the subject of the verse is addressed, such as the Ugaritic
verse bt ibk b'lm / ht ibk tmhs (HIABA, lines 8-9), and the
Hebrew verse wiTOD'nV ian tchx. ">a 'n1? un "Ascribe to the
Lord, O heavenly beings / ascribe to the Lord glory and strength "
(Ps. xxix. 1). Both verses contain an invitation, directed at the
possessor of the intervening name, to do something, and it is
possible that this formal invitation is the source of the form.
Apparently less original are those forms in which the intervening
formula is an address not directed at the object of the sentence.
To this type belongs, for example, the Ugaritic verse qrn dbatk
btlt 'nt I qrn dbatk b'lymlb (IV AB, lines 21-2). Here the intervening formula is addressed to Anath, while the subject of the
sentence is Baal. The same construction appears in the Bible, for
example, in the verse mxc yvm nsi "o 'n JTK mn 'o (Ps. xcii.
10) and also frrr tro 71m xrrhv, trn 71m (Ps. Ixxvii. 17).
Here the sentence does not contain an invitation but an announcement, which has been influenced in its solemnity by the form of
the invitation. Seemingly less original is that form in which the
intervening formula is not an address, but rather the subject of
the sentence, as in the Ugaritic verse y'n btkb krt j y'n btkb rl
(I K, lines 21-2), and perhaps also the biblical verse 'n rmpi *?K
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to state that the basic formula is in this case ps "bv *pr rnD p .
This type of expanded sentence is not at all present in the
Ugaritic texts, and is quite rare in the Bible. Thus it seems likely
that it is a new pattern that has been formed under the influence
of the usual pattern. Perhaps we may even allow ourselves to
conjecture that the type providing the influence is that very colon
in which the intervening formula serves as the subject, and not
as the address. It is true that we have found no certain example of
a subject as the intervening formula in the Bible; but as this
phenomenon is quite common in the Ugaritic texts, it is likely
only by chance that no verses of this type were preserved in the
Bible.
The verse in Ecclesiastes is even further removed from the
classical scheme, as in this case the intervening formula is a complete sentencen"?np *IBRa case which is exceptional.

THE EXPANDED COLON IN UGARITIC AND BIBLICAL VERSE

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sroin niopi *?N (Ps. xciv. i), if we explain srein as past tense. In
this type the contents describe a deed in every case. The example
of such verb clauses is apparently followed in the noun clause
p> 'Vs me p lor mo p (Gen. xlix. zz); cf. also Eccles. i. z, in
which a complete sentence is used as an intervening formula. The
historical placement of those few expanded expressions which
lack an intervening formula is entirely unclear, and it cannot be
decided whether to consider them as an outgrowth of those
expanded cola in which the intervening formula serves as the
subject, or to regard the simplicity of form as evidence of
extreme antiquity.
The vast majority of the biblical verses discussed belong to the
type of address or, more exactly, to the two types of address,
which in biblical poetry rid themselves of the rigid formal rules
to which they were subjected in the Ugaritic epic. In the Bible
they develop into such a large amount of variations that almost
every verse is a unique form. But there is also a type of expanded
colon in which there is no intervening formula, and there is even
a verse which breaks all the accepted rules. This is the verse
avrnx 'nV "OIK (Judg. v. 3). Thus in the present subject also
the Bible constitutes a developed stage in the history of Canaanite
literature, a stage which is clearly distinguished from the
rigidity of the simple and archaic forms of the Ugaritic epic.
It would appear that the style of the expanded colon cannot be
ascribed fundamentally to one literary genre. In Ugaritic we have
observed it in the epic, in the Bible mostly in hymns in honour of
the Lord, but sometimes also in the love songs of the Song of
Solomon and once in a proverb from the Wisdom Literature
(Prov. xxxi. 4). This ancient pattern has left its impression also on
the noun clause in the Blessing of Joseph (Gen. xlix. 22), less so
in the later passage Eccles. i. 2.