VARIETIES OF RHYTHM 181
Though several apparent instances^1 of 2 : 3
are found on examination to be open to suspicion,
it is probable that this rhythm was actually
used though with extreme infrequency. In-
stances, at least apparent instances, of 3 : 4 are
actually rather more numerous than those of
2 : 3, and consequently the proportion of 3 : 4
to 4 3, itself a rare rhythm, is much greater than
that of 2 : 3 to 3 : 2. One or two illustrations
may suffice here : in Exodus xv. 14 we have
twlp ybwy zHx lyH^2 | Nvzgry Mymf vfmw
The peoples heard, they trembled;
Pangs took hold on the inhabitants of Philistia.
Another; example may be found in Psalm iv. 8—
vbr Mwvrytv Mngd tfm | yblb hHmW httn
Thou hast put gladness in my heart
Greater than when their corn and new wine increase.
In addition to seven^3 examples of 3 : 4 which
he regards, whether rightly or wrongly, as incon-
testable, Sievers (pp. 113 f.) examines thirty-one
possible examples, including Numbers xxiv. 3,
1 In addition to those given above Sievers (p. 111) gives as possible,
but not all of them probable, examples, Isa. i. 19, v. 1 (to
Ps. v. 11 (to Mhytvcfmm), all of which might perhaps be 2 : 2 Jonah ii.
5, Jer. ii. 28 (from rpsm-yk); Isa. xl. 4 (but? read lpwy rh-lkv and so
obtain a ditich 2 : 2). The two consecutive examples of 2 : 3 at the
end of Jonah i. 7 occur in a passage commonly treated as prose, but by
Sievers as poetry.
2 But if zHx lyH (|| to Nvzgry) be makkephed, even this example becomes
3.3.
3 Jer. ii. 20 (to rvgfx), 24 (to Hvr), Ezek. ii. 1, xv. 7 (to Mlkxt), Hos. ii.
4, 7 (from yntn), Prov. iii. 7.