The Bible is Poetry

Episodes

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  Ep. 2 – Do Chiasms and Wordplay Survive Translation? 07.10.2026 29m

  As a child, Toby was a gamer kid who struggled through English class. Somehow that same kid, now an adult, spent a year and a half obsessed with cracking open the Hebrew Bible to study it, and a few years after that, found himself speaking modern Hebrew with native speakers who couldn’t quite believe it.In this episode, we get into what actually pulled him that far in: chiasms, wordplay, and the structures baked into biblical poetry that most English translations quietly lose. We talk about why explaining a Hebrew discovery in English always felt a little clumsy to him, like describing a movie instead of watching it, and how that frustration is part of what pushed him to keep going, all the way to speaking the language himself.In this episode:0:00 — Intro & the Vision of BiblePoetry0:55 — How Much of the Bible Is Poetry?1:25 — Poetry in the New Testament (Philippians 2)2:07 — Jewish Circular Thought vs. Greek Linear Thought2:56 — What Is a Chiasm? (ABCBA Structure)4:01 — Does a Chiasm Always Have a Center? (ABBA Variant)5:24 — For Those Who Don't Love Poetry: Toby's Own Story6:24 — Wordplay in Hebrew Poetry11:33 — Do These Connections Survive in English Translation?16:00 — How BiblePoetry's Videos Bring This to Life21:54 — Why Toby Also Learned Modern Hebrew24:08 — Loan Words in Modern Hebrew24:58 — Grammar Differences (Word Order)25:49 — The Vowel System: Biblical vs. Modern Hebrew26:36 — The Joy of Reading and Speaking Hebrew27:10 — Wrap-Up & ClosingIf you’ve ever wondered whether something’s missing between the Hebrew page and your English Bible, this episode gets into exactly that. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit biblepoetry.substack.com
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  Ep. 1 - A Beauty Even Bible-Lovers Miss 04.09.2026 42m

  Most of us read the Bible like it’s prose. But a third of it, and half the Old Testament, was written as poetry, and something changes once you start noticing.In this first episode, we get into the origin story behind BiblePoetry. We talk about what actually counts as “poetic” in Hebrew scripture. And we dig into a beautiful rhyme in Psalm 23 that has sat quietly hidden in all English translations for centuries. We also talk about why building a Hebrew poetry analysis tool feels like handing someone a calculator when they’ve never heard of math. It’s a tool for a category people didn’t even know they were missing. In a moment partway through the podcast, one of us puts it simply: whenever God speaks in Scripture, it’s in poetry.In this episode:00:00 — Intro01:10 — How BiblePoetry got started04:16 — Why so much of Biblical Hebrew Poetry feels undiscovered 10:53 — How much of the Bible is actually poetry12:06— The “calculator” problem13:42— The hidden rhyme in Psalm 2316:53 — Best English translations for studying poetic structure18:29 — How Christians can get started exploring Hebrew Poetry for themsevles 31:03 — Two structures behind almost every Hebrew poem: layers and chiasms34:38 — Why poetry might be “the richest form of human communication”41:45 — Toby's favorite verse in the PsalmsIf you’ve ever wondered what beauty is lost in translation, this is a good place to start. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit biblepoetry.substack.com