What is an acrostic poem? What examples of acrostic poems are in the Bible?

Response

An acrostic poem is a poetic form in which the initial letter (or sometimes the first syllable) of each line spells out a word, name, or sentence. A notable illustration is Lewis Carroll’s unnamed poem, commonly referred to as “Life Is but a Dream,” found at the conclusion of Through the Looking-Glass. The initial letters of the twenty-one lines in this poem spell the name Alice Pleasance Liddell, the complete name of the young girl who inspired Carroll’s literary works.

Certain scholars suggest that the Bible includes acrostic poems, although there is a dispute regarding whether the original authors intended them to be acrostic. However, it is indisputable that some poems in the Old Testament exhibit an alphabetical structure. While these are sometimes labeled as “acrostic” poems, a more accurate description would be “alphabetical” or “abecedarian.”

Psalm 111 serves as a prime instance of an “acrostic” poem within the Scriptures. Following the opening “Praise the Lord” in verse 1, there are twenty-two lines corresponding to the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each line in the poem commences with a successive letter of the alphabet.

Another illustration of an acrostic or alphabetical poem is Psalm 119. This psalm is segmented into twenty-two divisions, each aligned with a Hebrew letter. Every division consists of sixteen lines, with the initial letter of that division appearing at the start of every other line. For instance, the initial eight verses contain sixteen lines of verse, with every other line commencing with aleph (א), the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The subsequent section of Psalm 119 encompasses verses 9–16, with each verse starting with the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, beth (ב).

Psalms 9 and 10, when combined, reveal a deliberate alphabetic arrangement, albeit not encompassing the entire alphabet. Psalm 25 employs twenty of the twenty-two Hebrew letters, with each letter corresponding to two lines of verse. In verse 2, the anticipated letter is positioned at the beginning of the second word.

Instead of the first.

Other acrostic poems like Psalm 34 (two lines per letter), Psalm 37 (four lines per letter), and Psalm 145 (two lines per letter) also feature some omissions or minor adjustments to the strict alphabetical sequence.

Apart from the book of Psalms, there are two other passages that include acrostic or alphabetical arrangements. One is Proverbs 31:10–31. The poetic portrayal of the virtuous woman is an acrostic, with each verse starting with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet (two lines per letter).

Lastly, Lamentations chapters 1—4 consist of acrostic poems. Lamentations 1 comprises twenty-two verses, allocating three lines to each Hebrew letter in sequence. In Lamentations 2, there are primarily three or four lines for each letter. Lamentations 3 contains twenty-two stanzas of three verses each; each verse commences with the letter of that stanza. Therefore, the final stanza of Lamentations 3 (verses 64–66) has three lines starting with the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, taw (ת). In the twenty-two verses of Lamentations 4, there are mainly two lines of poetry for each letter.

Another passage, Nahum 1:2–8, is a hymn to God with an alphabetic structure. However, only half of the Hebrew alphabet is utilized, and the letter sequence is not strict.

The acrostic or alphabetical format of different parts of Scripture may have served as a memorization tool or simply aimed to enhance the beauty of the reading. In any case, such linguistic techniques serve as a good indication that the Bible is literature and that the biblical authors, inspired by the Holy Spirit, employed the literary forms and tools at their disposal to convey God’s Word.