A Way With Words

I recently read a scripture as part of a caption to a painting. The scripture went: “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles:
“And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him: and the third day he shall rise again” (Mark 10:33-34).

Read straight forward it had power. But when read as a poem, watch how the impact becomes intensified:

Behold, we go up to Jerusalem;
And the Son of man shall be delivered
Unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes;
And they shall condemn him
To death,

And shall deliver him to the Gentiles:
And they shall mock him,
And shall scourge him,
And shall spit upon him,
And shall kill him:

And on the third day
He Shall Rise Again.

Here’s another example that I did at the end of the story about Hezekiah:
(Isaiah has a way with words!)

Isaiah 40:6-8

All flesh is grass,
And all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth:
Because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it:
Surely the people is grass.
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth:
But the word of our God shall stand for ever.

Try it. Take a scripture and write it out as a poem. When you’re done, print it out and hang it on a bulletin board or the fridge for awhile. And send me a copy.