176 FORMS OF HEBREW POETRY
qdcb lbt Fpwy xvhv^1
Myrwymb Mymxl Nydy
And 'tis He^1 will judge the world in righteousness,
He will pass sentence on the peoples in equity.
Before we pass to a further consideration of
4 : 2 rhythm it will be convenient to refer briefly
to what might in the abstract appear to be
natural variations of 4 : 3 and 3 : 2, viz. 3 : 4 and
2 : 3; as a matter of fact both these last-named
rhythms are exceedingly rare. Nor is this diffi-
cult to understand, if the desire that was satisfied
by 4 : 3 and 3 : 2 was a desire for an echoing
effect : for 3 : 2 produces a rhythmical echo,
2 : 3 does not; whether 4 : 3 commonly produced
such an echo is more doubtful, and certainly the
proportion of apparent examples of 3 : 4 to
4 : 3 distichs is much greater than that of 2 : 3
to 3 : 2. The unambiguous examples of 2 : 3 are
so few that some scholars, even where nothing
but rhythmical considerations suggest it, would
simply convert 2 : 3 into 3 : 2 by transposing the
longer and shorter lines. As good an example
of 2 : 3 as any may be found in the first of the
two following long and incompletely parallel lines
from Isaiah xxxvii. 26:
ytyWf htvx qvHrml | tfmw xlh
hytxbh htf | hytrcyv Mdq ymym
Hast thou not heard? 1 Long ago I wrought it;
In days of old I formed it; I now I have brought it to pass.