The First Book to Record Repetition in the Bible
Since the time of publication of the Bible after 325 A.D., this is the first book to research, record, and compare repetition in the Old and New Testaments as found in the original Greek and Hebrew.

There Is Nothing New in this Book
“There is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 9:1).  There are things misunderstood, forgotten, hidden, and unknown, but not new.  There is nothing new in this book that was not written 3,500 years ago, but there is always more to be learned from the Bible. 

Repetition Is Unique to the Bible
The permeation of repetition in every book of the Old and New Testaments establishes a literary genre and unity unique to the Bible.  The presence of repetition also confirms the uncompromised authenticity and authority of the Bible’s text.  The text we read is the text the prophets and apostles wrote.

Monuments versus Scrolls
The mystery of the Great Pyramid’s construction continues to draw the attention of scholars, documentarians, authors, and archeologists.  Yet, the mysteries of the pyramids pale by comparison to the mysteries of how repetition was written into the Bible.  The Egyptians built stone monuments to achieve immortality, while their slaves pursued the same goal through the word of God they recorded on sacred scrolls.  Immediately after crossing the Red Sea, Moses writes, Until Thy people pass over, O LORD, Until the people pass over whom Thou hast purchased.  Thou wilt bring them and plant them in the mountain of Thine inheritance, The place, O LORD, which Thou hast made for Thy dwelling, The sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands have established (Exodus 15:16b-17 NASB).

Repetition in the Gospels
The first 4 chapters of this book record repetition in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  Repetition in the Gospels follows the same repetition found in Genesis.  At times, identical repetition is found in 2 or more of the Gospels.  In other instances, all 4 Gospels repeat the same phrasing from Genesis.

Repetition: An Aid to Identify the Original Text
With 5,800 complete or fragmented Greek manuscripts, there is much debate among scholars about the original text.  Word by word and phrase by phrase repetition in the Bible is an important tool in selecting the correct variant reading recorded in the original autographs.

Repetition Addresses a Wide Range of Subjects
A study of repetition in the Bible led to an examination of genealogy, chronology, the history of ancient mathematics, Babel, the antediluvian and postdiluvian patriarchs, the Babylonian legacy of recording time, the tȏledȏth [generations] formulas, the Tabernacle, variant readings in ancient Greek manuscripts, chiasm, the taxonomy of repetition, asymmetric versus symmetric order, the Documentary Hypothesis, ancient manuscript authentication, the Gnostic Gospels, the so-called lost Gospel (sayings of Jesus) of Q, the “theorized” Markan Priority, and the alleged influence of the Septuagint and the Vulgate on the Masoretic Text.

Repetition Is About Emphasis, Not Doctrine
Repetition in the Bible does not reveal new doctrine; but there are some unexpected areas of emphasis.  For example, while Jesus Christ is the focal point of all 4 Gospels, prominent names and subjects, such as God the Father, John the Baptist, Peter, David, faith, heaven, Mary the mother of Jesus, John 6, foot washing, the final discourse, and others, are given unique emphasis with repetition.

3 Important Authors on Repetition
After publishing the 1987 and 2012 editions of In Search of the Biblical Order, the work of identifying, naming, and understanding repetition in the Bible was built upon the research of 3 scholars.

Rabbi Eyal Rav-Noy published chiasm and metered words from Moses in his book Who Really Wrote the Bible?  He advised this writer to study the works of Umberto Cassuto.

Hebraic scholar Umberto Cassuto’s 3 commentaries demonstrate individual metered words in Genesis and Exodus, while his series of 8 lectures published as The Documentary Hypothesis defends Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch.  He was the chief Rabbi of Florence until he was hired by the Vatican in 1925 as the archivist of Semitic scrolls.  He fled to Jerusalem in 1938.

Doctor Diana Jill Kirby’s dissertation, presented at American University in Washington, DC, was the first to publish the taxonomy of repetition in Revelation.

These 3 key writers, when combined with this author’s 1987 and 2012 editions, supplied the primary direction for Repetition in the Bible.  Additional insights were gathered from books by John Breck, E. W. Bullinger, David Dorsey, James B. Jordan, and Meir Sternberg.

Errata for Print Copy Corrected in E-book Edition
March 15, 2016