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Ancient Hebrew/Biblical

Movement
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Sacred and lyrical poetry found in the Hebrew Bible, including Psalms and Song of Songs

Detailed Definition
Ancient Hebrew/Biblical poetry relies on parallelism (synonymous, antithetic, synthetic), terseness, and rich imagery rather than meter or rhyme; found in Psalms, Proverbs, and Song of Songs, it conveys theological, ethical, and emotional depth through structured repetition.
Example
Example in poetry:
Ancient Hebrew/Biblical: Psalm 23 opens with “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want,” using parallelism—a hallmark of Biblical Hebrew poetry—where the second line often echoes, contrasts, or completes the first.
Additional Notes
Biblical poetry using parallelism (synonymous, antithetical, synthetic). Found in Psalms, Prophets, Wisdom literature. Non-metrical but highly rhythmic. Foundational to Western religious and literary verse traditions.
Also Known As
Biblical poetry Psalmic verse Hebrew parallelism
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