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Redundant

Oral

Works composed orally repeat ideas, concepts, words, and their forms.

Example

See how a transparent version of Genesis lets readers peer through to the original Hebrew text to get an idea of the repetitive and redundant language.

Transparent English Bible (in progress) and Dr. Tabor's comments
New Revised Standard Version
New American Standard Bible
New International Version
Genesis 1:11 (TEB) reads: And ELOHIM said, “Let the land sprout the sprout, a plant seeding seed, a fruit tree making fruit, according to its type, its seed, within it, upon the land.” Then God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.” Genesis 1:11 (NASB)
11 Then God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them"; and it was so. 		“Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds,”
Referring to the above, Tabor notes: "The verbs 'bring forth,' 'produce,' 'yield,' and 'bear,' are fine in English, but 'sprouting sprouts' 'seeding seed,' and even 'making' fruit, wonderfully convey the flavor one gets when reading the Hebrew, while remaining easily comprehensible in English.
In verse 20 the waters “swarm a swarm” of living beings, and “flyers fly” upon the earth. Genesis 1:20 (NRSV)
20 And God said, "Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky." 		Genesis 1:20 (NASB) 20 Then God said, "Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens." Genesis 1:20 (NIV)
20 And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky."
In Genesis 2:7 God “shapes the soil-man (Adam)—dust from the soil (adamah).” The root words are the same, ... Genesis 2:7 (NRSV)
7 then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.

Genesis 2:7 (NASB)
7 Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Genesis 2:7 (NIV)
7 the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
God later (Gen. 3:17) curses the soil, and sends the soil-man forth to work the soil, until he returns to the soil, from which he was taken. Genesis 3:17-19 (NRSV)
17 And to the man he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree about which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return." 		Genesis 3:17-19 (NASB)
17 Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.
18 "Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field;
19 By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return."
Genesis 3:17-19 (NIV)
17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."
Both Eve and Adam experience “distress”—hers in bringing forth children, and his in bringing forth bread from the earth (Gen 3:16-17)—but the Hebrew word is the same. The NRSV has “pain” for the woman, but “toil” for the man, interjecting a subtle but significant difference that the original text does not support. Genesis 3:16 (NRSV)
16 To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you." 		Genesis 3:16 (NASB)
16 To the woman He said, "I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you."
Genesis 3:16 (NIV)
16 To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."
In Genesis 6:11-13 (TEB) the earth is “ruined” through wickedness, because all flesh has “ruined” its way, thus God will “ruin them” with the great Flood. This sequence of interconnected ideas is important to bring out the narrative signals of the writer. Genesis 6:11-13 (NRSV)
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God saw that the earth was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon the earth.
13 And God said to Noah, "I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; now I am going to destroy them along with the earth.
Genesis 6:11-13 (NASB)
11 Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.
13 Then God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. 		Genesis 6:11-13 (NIV)
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence.
12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.
13 So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.

Literate

The forward progress of ideas in varied, original expression is privileged.

Example

See the modern translations above.

Exception: Primally-strong emotions trigger a default back to the oral mode.

These lines above come from the Dr. James Tabor's Transparent English Bible version; the original is the pdf file that jumps from the page titled, "Genesis Samplev1.0" here. See the Works Cited for more info on the sources.

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