He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five.

• 1 Kings 4:31

David and all the Israelites were celebrating with all their might before God, with songs and with harps, lyres, timbrels, cymbals and trumpets.

• 1 Chronicles 13:8

The Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and also Mattaniah, who, together with his associates, was in charge of the songs of thanksgiving.

• Nehemiah 12:8

“And now those young men mock me in song; I have become a byword among them.

• Job 30:9

Six weeks ago, I started this quiz journey through the Bible.  It all pertains to poems found in each book of the Bible, at least those that have them.  This confirms the first thirty-nine books of the Bible have them, although a few of the books the poetry has been sparse.  Some might argue over Esther and Ruth.

The concept of this quiz will be simple, but this may be the hardest one yet.  I will quote between a fraction of one verse up to three verses, from what is formatted in the Bible as poetry.  The primary question is what book of the Bible did this verse or two come from.  But then the bonus is what are the circumstances?

As to the difficulty, without having just done the research, I would only know the answer to three of these questions.  That is shameful since much of the poetry in these questions are Messianic prophecies.  Sure, I knew those verses were in the Bible, but where?  One of the three that I knew was because I knew that a one chapter book in the minor prophets was the only book dedicated to a prophecy against Esau’s descendants (Hint).

Since much of these nine books are poetry, I tried to pick verses that might be memorable, mostly Messianic prophecy.  But these nine books are all minor prophets, Obadiah through Malachi.  One of these books has nothing formatted as a poem in either the CSB or the NIV.  One has a couple of short passages formatted as a poem in the CSB, but not the NIV.  Yet, other sources confirm these passages have characteristics of biblical poetry.

The verses are in alphabetical order and all from the Old Testament, Obadiah through Malachi.

Since the primary answers are the Bible References, there will be no Bible Reference Section this week.

The Questions:

	Poetry	Book	who? And circumstances?
1	“Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”
2	But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.
3	“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,     though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me     one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old,     from ancient times.” Therefore Israel will be abandoned     until the time when she who is in labor bears a son, and the rest of his brothers return     to join the Israelites.
4	“In that day,” declares the Lord,     “will I not destroy the wise men of Edom,     those of understanding in the mountains of Esau? Your warriors, Teman, will be terrified,     and everyone in Esau’s mountains     will be cut down in the slaughter.
5	Plague went before him;     pestilence followed his steps. He stood, and shook the earth;     he looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains crumbled     and the age-old hills collapsed—     but he marches on forever.
6	Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!     Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you,     righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey,     on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
7	Sing, Daughter Zion;     shout aloud, Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,     Daughter Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away your punishment,     he has turned back your enemy. The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you;     never again will you fear any harm. On that day     they will say to Jerusalem, “Do not fear, Zion;     do not let your hands hang limp.
8	The Lord has given a command concerning you, Nineveh:     “You will have no descendants to bear your name. I will destroy the images and idols     that are in the temple of your gods. I will prepare your grave,     for you are vile.” Look, there on the mountains,     the feet of one who brings good news,     who proclaims peace! Celebrate your festivals, Judah,     and fulfill your vows. No more will the wicked invade you;     they will be completely destroyed.
9	You hurled me into the depths,     into the very heart of the seas,     and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers     swept over me. I said, ‘I have been banished     from your sight; yet I will look again     toward your holy temple.’ The engulfing waters threatened me,     the deep surrounded me;     seaweed was wrapped around my head.
10	To make this a ten question quiz… Please read the question carefully.   Can you spell Micah backwards?

As of yet, I have not checked every book in the Bible, but I have the Old Testament accounted for.  This means that over half of the books in the Bible use poetry, at least in part.  But if you take the six books where the CSB or the NIV did not agree to format something in poetic form, you still have 33 books, which is half.  Only two books of the Old Testament were not formatted in both of those translations: Esther and the answer to question 2 above.  That would leave 37 books thus far.

But then again, what is biblical poetry?

Biblical poetry rarely rhymes, even in its original language.  While there are lines, meter is rarely considered.  But there are some things that are keys to look for, other than many translations format them differently.

Parallelism (grouped in two or three verses usually): lines saying the same thing, but using different words.  Or lines of contrast. Or lines building on a theme.

Other identifiers can be Figurative Language, Figurative Imagery, Repetition, Compression, and Emotional Expression.

Our present pastor preached a sermon some time ago about the transitions from prose to poetry.  He said that when that happens, you need to pay close attention.  God is trying to make a strong statement.  That is why I included the bonus about what the circumstances were when that poetry was inserted into the story.

Note that in one of these poems, Aaron remained silent when the poem was first uttered.  That may not be a great hint, but it points to the importance of the poem and the emotions involved.

Editor’s Note:  The Bible References in the answers below often use the letter “b” in that the first part of the verse gives away the person who said it.

   …

   …

   …

The Answers:

	Poetry	Book	who? And circumstances?
1	“Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”	Haggai 1:9b-10-11	During the reign of Darius, Haggai sent this message from the Lord to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah to rebuild the temple as commanded by King Cyrus.  Why have a nice house when God’s house is in ruin?
2	But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.	Malachi 3:2-4	Malachi 3 starts with God sending a messenger (John the Baptist), and then He (Jesus) will come.
3	“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,     though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me     one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old,     from ancient times.” Therefore Israel will be abandoned     until the time when she who is in labor bears a son, and the rest of his brothers return     to join the Israelites.	Micah 5:2-3	Micah prophesies as to the town that she who is in labor shall bear a son.  Proclaiming Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Savior.
4	“In that day,” declares the Lord,     “will I not destroy the wise men of Edom,     those of understanding in the mountains of Esau? Your warriors, Teman, will be terrified,     and everyone in Esau’s mountains     will be cut down in the slaughter.	Obadiah 1:8-9	Obadiah is the only book in the Bible dedicated to a prophecy against Edom (Esau).
5	Plague went before him;     pestilence followed his steps. He stood, and shook the earth;     he looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains crumbled     and the age-old hills collapsed—     but he marches on forever.	Habakkuk 3:5-6	Habakkuk is prophesying about Jesus coming after a time of tribulation in Habakkuk’s prayer.
6	Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!     Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you,     righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey,     on a colt, the foal of a donkey.	Zechariah 9:9	Zechariah is prophesying about the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
7	Sing, Daughter Zion;     shout aloud, Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,     Daughter Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away your punishment,     he has turned back your enemy. The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you;     never again will you fear any harm. On that day     they will say to Jerusalem, “Do not fear, Zion;     do not let your hands hang limp.	Zephaniah 3:14-16	Zephaniah is prophesying the second coming about Jesus Christ and the Messianic Age, His reign on earth.
8	The Lord has given a command concerning you, Nineveh:     “You will have no descendants to bear your name. I will destroy the images and idols     that are in the temple of your gods. I will prepare your grave,     for you are vile.” Look, there on the mountains,     the feet of one who brings good news,     who proclaims peace! Celebrate your festivals, Judah,     and fulfill your vows. No more will the wicked invade you;     they will be completely destroyed.	Nahum 1:14-15	Nahum prophesies the destruction of Nineveh, but then with his call to look on the mountains, he focuses this prophecy on the coming of the Messiah.
9	You hurled me into the depths,     into the very heart of the seas,     and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers     swept over me. I said, ‘I have been banished     from your sight; yet I will look again     toward your holy temple.’ The engulfing waters threatened me,     the deep surrounded me;     seaweed was wrapped around my head.	Jonah 2:3-5	This is part of Jonah’s prayer while still inside the fish.
10	To make this a ten question quiz… Please read the question carefully.   Can you spell Micah backwards?	N/A	Yes, or no as the case may be.  I did not say “Spell Micah backwards.”  The answer would then be H-A-C-I-M.

Whether you did well on this quiz or, ummm, not so well, for the first video, here is Matthew West singing Breakthrough’s Coming.

Here is the Gaither Homecoming Crowd singing Jesus is Coming Soon.

Here is the Gaither Vocal Band (Guy Penrod, David Phelps, Mark Lowry, Bill Gaither) singing The King is Coming.

The King is definitely coming.  And it boggles my mind that He loves broken people such as I.  The King is coming for me!!!!  Praise God!!

If you like these Saturday morning Bible quizzes, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Saturday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.