Pattern Analysis for Psalm 146:1-10

Within Pattern Analysis, rhetoric is the persuasive portion of a literary unit based on its structure. Certain locations within each literary unit are potentially persuasive–they are presented below for the sake of analysis. Normally, many of the potential locations can be persuasive, but often not all. The student is encouraged to listen to what the Holy Spirit seems to be emphasizing.

Most commonly it is an A-A'-B-B' arrangement. It can also be an A-A'-B-B'-C-C' or occasionally with a larger number of repeated elements such as an A-A'-A''-A'''-B-B'-B''-B''' structure. In an immediate repetition, a theme is repeated then a second theme with its repetition, a third theme with its repetition, and so on. As few as two elements may have been used, A-A'. Usually the emphasis, if there is one, is found in the X center point or in a summarization. Sometimes the second element augments the first with greater meaning, B and what’s more B'.

A frame is the repetition of a theme near the beginning and end of a structure or substructure. The surrounding layer of a frame encapsulates an inner portion. Scholars often mention a similar concept called an inclusio or inclusion where the repetition may be confined to a literary unit or it may span multiple literary units. Both portions of the frame are required. The two frame elements often do not have the same words—instead, they have the same general theme and sometimes they are antithetical. Other related names for frames are bookends, brackets, and envelopes. Oftentimes the frame contains an emphatic statement.

A summarization that concludes a basic structure which is designated with the letters SUM. For example, A-B-C-A'-B'-C'-SUM. A closing summary is also known as a concluding epitome, final unit, and an epilogue. It serves two functions: to summarize and to motivate. It is always emphatic and should be easily detected.

An opening or closing summarization that appears within a substructure. The schematic representation is the lowercase letters sum. This summarization may appear at the end of a substructure, a-b-x-a'-b'-sum, or at the beginning, sum-a-b-c-d. All the substructure summaries are emphatic.