The Bible is Poetry

Epizódy

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  Ep. 1 - A Beauty Even Bible-Lovers Miss 04.09.2026 42min

  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. Get full access to BiblePoetry at biblepoetry.substack.com/subscribe