WAS AMOS A POET? THE RHETORICAL FUNCTION OF HEBREW POETRY IN THE ORACLES OF AMOS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.66104/v5amra83Keywords:
Amos; Hebrew poetry; prophetic rhetoric; parallelism; orality.Abstract
This article investigates whether the recurrent and structured use of Hebrew poetry in the oracles of the prophet Amos functions as a rhetorical strategy or constitutes mere reproduction of traditional form. Through literary analysis of selected passages from the book of Amos, with emphasis on the resources of parallelism, chiasm, and fixed word pairs, it is argued that poetic form, far from being ornamental, functions as a rhetorical strategy. It structures the communicative efficacy of the oracles, intensifying emotional impact, facilitating oral memorization, and conferring persuasive force to the prophetic message. The study engages with the theory of biblical Hebrew poetry (Alter, Berlin) and with studies on prophecy and rhetoric in the Old Testament.
Downloads
References
ALTER, Robert. The Art of Biblical Poetry. Revised and Updated. New York: Basic Books, 2011.
BERLIN, Adele. The Dynamics of Biblical Parallelism. Revised and Expanded Edition. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007.
BÍBLIA. Bíblia TEB: Tradução Ecumênica da Bíblia. Nova edição. São Paulo: Edições Loyola, 2020.
BRUEGGEMANN, Walter. A Imaginação Profética. Rio de Janeiro: Thomas Nelson Brasil, 2025.
CARROLL R., M. Daniel. The Book of Amos. New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2020.
COUEY, J. Blake; JAMES, Elaine T. (Ed.). Biblical Poetry and the Art of Close Reading. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316659670
FREEDMAN, David Noel. Pottery, poetry, and prophecy: an essay on biblical poetry. Journal of Biblical Literature, v. 96, n. 1, p. 5-26, 1977. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3265324
GELLER, Stephen A. Were the prophets poets? Prooftexts, v. 3, n. 3, p. 211-221, set. 1983.
KSELMAN, John S. Semantic-sonant chiasmus in biblical poetry. Biblica, v. 58, n. 2, p. 219-223, 1977.
KUGEL, James L. The Idea of Biblical Poetry: parallelism and its history. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981.
LANDY, Francis. Vision and poetic speech in Amos. Hebrew Annual Review, v. 11, p. 223-246, 1987. Disponível em: https://kb.osu.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/60f8b2db-b85b-5385-86fc-beb19cb29e50/content. Acesso em: 18 out. 2023.
PETERSEN, David L. The Roles of Israel's Prophets. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1981.
POLLARD, Edward B. The prophet as a poet. The Biblical World, v. 12, n. 5, p. 327-332, 1898. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/472360
REIMER, Haroldo. Amós: profeta da justiça. São Leopoldo: CEBI, 2000.
SCHWANTES, Milton. Profecia e estado: uma proposta para a hermenêutica profética. Estudos Teológicos, v. 22, n. 2, p. 105-145, 1982. Disponível em: http://periodicos.est.edu.br/index.php/estudos_teologicos/article/download/1313/1264. Acesso em: 22 nov. 2023.
WATSON, Wilfred G. E. Classical Hebrew Poetry: a guide to its techniques. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1994.
ZIEBA, Zbigniew. Biblical Hebrew Poetry in Recent Research. Breslávia: Papieski Wydział Teologiczny we Wrocławiu, 2020.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Fabiano Pedroso, Charles Klemz
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish in this journal agree to the following terms:
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits the sharing of the work with proper acknowledgment of authorship and initial publication in this journal;
Authors are authorized to enter into separate, additional agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in this journal (e.g., posting in an institutional repository or publishing it as a book chapter), provided that authorship and initial publication in this journal are properly acknowledged, and that the work is adapted to the template of the respective repository;
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post and distribute their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their personal websites) at any point before or during the editorial process, as this may lead to productive exchanges and increase the impact and citation of the published work (see The Effect of Open Access);
Authors are responsible for correctly providing their personal information, including name, keywords, abstracts, and other relevant data, thereby defining how they wish to be cited. The journal’s editorial board is not responsible for any errors or inconsistencies in these records.
PRIVACY POLICY
The names and email addresses provided to this journal will be used exclusively for the purposes of this publication and will not be made available for any other purpose or to third parties.
Note: All content of the work is the sole responsibility of the author and the advisor.
