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

He said, “Go and tell this people:
“‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
    be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
Make the heart of this people calloused;
    make their ears dull
    and close their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”

• Isaiah 6:9-10

Who has believed our message
    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

• Isaiah 53:1

Eight weeks ago, I started this quiz journey through the Bible, every other week.  It all pertains to poems found in each book of the Bible, at least those that have them.

The Old Testament had some poetry in every book.  Some might argue over Esther and Ruth.

The concept of this quiz will be simple.  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.  The bonus is threefold in most cases: Who said it and if a quotation, what was quoted, and what were the circumstances?

As to the difficulty, this is a combination of well-known verses, but where were they written.  A couple marked significant events, and only two are not quotes.

The tenth question has an interesting answer.

The verses are in alphabetical order and all from the New Testament, Matthew through Galatians.

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	“Be glad, barren woman,     you who never bore a child; shout for joy and cry aloud,     you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman     than of her who has a husband.”
2	“Blessed are the poor in spirit,     for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn,     for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek,     for they will inherit the earth.
3	“‘In the last days, God says,     I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy,     your young men will see visions,     your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women,     I will pour out my Spirit in those days,     and they will prophesy.
4	“I will live with them     and walk among them, and I will be their God,     and they will be my people.” Therefore, “Come out from them     and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing,     and I will receive you.” And, “I will be a Father to you,     and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
5	“Lord, who has believed our message     and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
6	“My soul glorifies the Lord     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful     of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed,     for the Mighty One has done great things for me—     holy is his name.
7	“There is no one righteous, not even one;     there is no one who understands;     there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away,     they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good,     not even one.”
8	“‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,     and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”
9	“What no eye has seen,     what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”—     the things God has prepared for those who love him—
10	To make this a ten question quiz…   What do many call the love chapter of the Bible?  And does that chapter contain poetry?

As of yet, I have not checked every book in the Bible, but I have the Old Testament accounted for, and the first third of the New Testament.  Some of the poetry that has been found was not formatted as poetry in either the NIV or the CSB.  Only in one or two occasions was it not formatted as such in both translations.

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.

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The Answers:

	Poetry	Book	who? And circumstances?
1	“Be glad, barren woman,     you who never bore a child; shout for joy and cry aloud,     you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman     than of her who has a husband.”	Galatians 4:27b	Paul quoting Isaiah 54:1 Jerusalem who had been barren due to exile, would flourish once again
2	“Blessed are the poor in spirit,     for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn,     for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek,     for they will inherit the earth.	Matthew 5:3-5	Jesus said it Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount and a sermon unto itself
3	“‘In the last days, God says,     I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy,     your young men will see visions,     your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women,     I will pour out my Spirit in those days,     and they will prophesy.	Acts 2:17-18	Peter is quoting Ezekiel 39:19 and others Part of his Pentecost sermon.
4	“I will live with them     and walk among them, and I will be their God,     and they will be my people.” Therefore, “Come out from them     and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing,     and I will receive you.” And, “I will be a Father to you,     and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”	2 Corinthians 6:16b-18	Paul writes that God said this: Leviticus 26:12 and also Jeremiah and Ezekiel After therefore: Isaiah 52:11 and Ezekiel 20 After And: 2 Samuel 7:14 and others Paul explains that we are the temple and God dwells within us.
5	“Lord, who has believed our message     and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”	John 12:38b	John quotes Isaiah 53:1 John is explaining how there was a division amongst the Jews, with that believed and those that did not.
6	“My soul glorifies the Lord     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful     of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed,     for the Mighty One has done great things for me—     holy is his name.	Luke 1:46b-49	Mary, expectant mother of Jesus The first verses of the Magnificat when she met Elizabeth who was the expectant mother of John the Baptist (Baptizer)
7	“There is no one righteous, not even one;     there is no one who understands;     there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away,     they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good,     not even one.”	Romans 3:10b-12	Paul is quoting Ps. 14 or Ps. 53 and Ecc. 7:20 Paul is teaching that no one is righteous, but as this chapter continues, we gain righteousness by our faith.
8	“‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,     and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”	Mark 4:12b	Jesus quotes Isaiah 6:9-10 He explains to the twelve disciples why He speaks in parables.  It boils down to what Jesus says a few time (here a couple of verses earlier) “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
9	“What no eye has seen,     what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”—     the things God has prepared for those who love him—	1 Corinthians 2:9b	Paul quotes Isaiah 64:4; 65:17 Paul is explaining the works of the Holy Spirit as He reveals Himself and Truth itself.
10	To make this a ten question quiz…   What do many call the love chapter of the Bible?  And does that chapter contain poetry?	N/A	1 Corinthians 13 There is debate over whether it is poetic or not.  Verses 4-7 form parallelism, but some scholars think that to be more rhetorical than poetic.  If you take the poetic direction, tying Verses 4-7 with verse 13, you have a rough climactic parallelism.  But Bill Mounce says on his website, we do the chapter a disservice by calling it poetry.

Whether you did well on this quiz or, ummm, not so well, for the first video, here is Chris Tomlin singing Jesus.

Here is Anne Wilson singing My Jesus.

Here is Katy Nichole singing In Jesus Name (God of Possible).

Out of ashes, great things can come, but to a person who is hurting, deep down hurting, those platitudes do not seem to work.  Sometimes, you have to cry it out.

And after the tears slow down a bit, you might see the light at the end of the tunnel.  All things work for the good for those that love the Lord, but they might not feel good at the moment.

Sorry, I searched for songs about Jesus and this is what I got.  As usual, if I do not have something specific in mind, I think God leads me to certain songs.  If one person needed to hear each of these songs today, thank God.  I just copied the links that He led me to.

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.