Hebrew Verse Structure Revisited (II): Conjoint Cola, And Further Suggestions‪.‬

In a previous article I summarized the syntactical "constraints" proposed by Michael Patrick O'Connor for the definition of a colon of OT poetry, constraints which I am convinced are a dependable basis for understanding the nature of Hebrew poetic structure. (1) Nevertheless his system has left some details unaccounted for. One of his constraints is that there are at least two and no more than five units (roughly, words other than particles) in a colon, and in my earlier article I set forth a more complete set of suggestions of what counts, and what does not count, as a "unit" in a colon. (2) But there are some other matters that his system likewise does not touch. One is that there are instances in which a pair of parallel short cola together appear to balance one long colon. Another is the determination of the circumstances in which a clause may extend beyond a single colon. Still another is how we are to deal with poetic sequences that do not appear to fit O'Connor's constraints, where the text may have been damaged or expanded. These questions are often intertwined, and it is to them I now turn.