Search for Words Repeated Three Times - "emphatic Semitic triplet"

Removed duplicate

Thanks David

NIDOTTE:
Jenson, P. P. שָׁלֹשׁ, שְׁלֹשָׁה in New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology & Exegesis. Edited by Willem VanGemeren. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1997, 4:144-145

The quote from BDF is as follows:

(E) Figures Involving Repetition

493.  (1) Epanadiplosis, i.e. the repetition of an important word for emphasis, is not unknown in the NT, but it can nowhere be considered rhetorical. It is rather a direct report of words actually spoken, which is best seen in A 19:34: μεγάλη ἡ Ἄρτεμις Ἐφεσίων, μεγάλη ἡ Ἄ. Ἐ. (thus , which was shouted for two hours. (2) Distributive doubling is not rhetorical, but vulgar. It appears not only with numerals (s. §248(1)) but occasionally also elsewhere (Hebrew, but also MGr, cf. Dieterich 188; Psichari 183f.): Mk 6:39 συμπόσια συμπόσια, 40 πρασιαὶ πρασιαί = κατὰ συμπόσια, κ. πρασιάς; cf. §158. (3) Climax consists in taking up the key word of the preceding member in the following one: R 5:3ff. ἡ θλῖψις ὑπομονὴν κατεργάζεται, ἡ δὲ ὑπομονὴ δοκιμήν, ἡ δὲ δοκιμὴ ἐλπίδα, ἡ δὲ ἐλπὶς οὐ καταισχύνει; cf. 8:29f.

(1) Rev 14:8 = 18:2 ἔπεσεν ἔπεσεν Βαβυλὼν ἡ μεγάλη, Mt 25:11 κύριε κύριε, Lk 8:24 ἐπιστάτα ἐπιστάτα, Mt 23:7 (DΓ etc.) and Mk 14:45 (AEFG etc.) ῥαββὶ ῥαββί, Mk 5:41 acc. to e τὸ κοράσιον τὸ κοράσιον, Jn 19:6 σταύρωσον σταύρωσον, Lk 10:41 Μάρθα Μάρθα, Rev 4:8 ἅγιος ἅγιος ἅγιος (LXX Is 6:3). Dyadic word combination and composition: Morgenthaler, Die lukanische Geschichtsschreibung als Zeugnis (I 17f.: Lk 7 times, A 9:4 = 22:7 = 26:14 Σαοὺλ Σαούλ). Rhetorical: 1 Clem 47.6 αἰσχρά, ἀγαπητοί, καὶ λίαν αἰσχρὰ καὶ ἀνάξια etc. Cf. LXX (e.g. Jdth 4:2 σφόδρα σφόδρα) and pap. (e.g. the magic formula ἤδη ἤδη ταχὺ ταχύ PGM II 7.373 (iii AD), BGU III 956 (c. iii AD). Cf. Jannaris §§513, 521; Raderm.2 68f., 225 and IF Anz. 31 (1913) 8; Bonaccorsi 140, 562; Norden 169, and on Virgil’s Aeneid VI 46 (2nd ed.); E. Hofmann, Ausdrucksverstärkung, especially 16f. (adj.), 24 (address), 24f. (impera.), 38 (adv.), 44f. (stylistic usage); W. Schulze, BPhW 1895, 8 = Kl. Schr. 680. Hebr. J. Muilenburg, VT Supplement I (1953) 101f., Brockelmann, Hebräische Syntax §129b. MGr e.g. Thumb2 264.4 [276] κλαίει κλαίει, 263 [275] ἔκλαιε ἔκλαιε twice, 263 σφιχτὰ σφιχτά ‘very tight’, 257 [269] γύμναζε γύμναζε ‘he exercised untiringly’; Ljungvik, Aegyptus 13 (1933) 162 ἐπερίμενα ὧρες ὧρες ‘I waited for hours’. With καί: μείζων καὶ μείζων Herm Vis 4.1.6, ἔτι καὶ ἔτι ‘again and again’ Barn 21.4. Cf. Ἑρμῆς ὁ μέγας καὶ μέγας Dit., Or. 90.65 (196 BC; decree from Rosetta), similarly in the pap. (Mayser II 1, 54; with and without καί).
(2) In Mt 13:30 δεσμὰς δεσμάς (Epiph Or) also appears to be the correct reading. Cf. §158. Hofmann, op. cit. (supra (1)) 21 (subst.), 37f. (numbers). LXX e.g. ἄνθρωπος ἄνθρωπος ‘everyone’ Num 9:10, ἔθνη ἔθνη ‘every nation’ 4 Km 17:29, συνήγαγον αὐτοὺς θημωνιὰς θημωνιάς ‘in heaps’ Ex 8:14 (10) (all in Hebr. as well; cf. Brockelmann, Hebräische Syntax §129a). With καί: ἡμέρᾳ καὶ ἡμέρᾳ §200(1); Brockelmann, op. cit. §129d (syndetic pairs of this type are rare in Hebr.). On the other hand ἐν γενεᾷ καὶ γενεᾷ 1 Clem 7.5, εἰς γενεὰς καὶ γενεάς (v.l. εἰς γενεὰν καὶ γενεάν like LXX Ps 48:12 etc., γενεὰς γενεῶν et al.) Lk 1:50 more nearly means ‘on many generations to come’ than ‘for every generation’; M.–H. 439f. Also with distributive κατά (cf. §248(1)): LXX 1 Km 7:16 κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἐνιαυτόν and the like (M.–H. 439), κατὰ πρᾶγμα πρᾶγμα ‘for every thing’(?) PLond V 1732.7 (586 AD?).
(3) R 10:14 is decidedly rhetorical: πῶς οὖν ἐπικαλέσωνται εἰς ὃν οὐκ ἐπίστευσαν; πῶς δὲ πιστεύσωσιν οὗ οὐκ ἤκουσαν; πῶς δὲ ἀκούσωσιν χωρὶς κηρύσσοντος; πῶς δὲ κηρύζωσιν, ἐὰν μὴ ἀποσταλῶσιν; 2 P 1:5ff. likewise: ἐπιχορηγήσατε ἐν τῇ πίστει ὑμῶν τὴν ἀρετήν, ἐν δὲ τῇ ἀρετῇ τὴν γνῶσιν, ἐν δέ etc. (7 members in all; but the purpose of the figure here is difficult to understand). Herm Man 5.2.4 ἐκ τῆς ἀφροσύνης γίνεται πικρία, ἐκ δὲ τῆς πικρίας θυμός, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ θυμοῦ ὀργή, ἐκ δὲ τῆς ὀργῆς μῆνις· εἶτα ἡ μῆνις …. There is a similar figure in a fragment of the comedian Epicharmus (Frag. 148 Kaibel) ἐκ μὲν θυσίας θοίνα, ἐκ δὲ θοίνας πόσις ἐγένετο … ἐκ δὲ πόσιος κῶμος, ἐκ κώμου δʼ ἐγένεθʼ ὑανία (‘swinish behavior’), ἐκ δʼ ὑανίας δίκα …. The rhetoricians found the climax as early as Hom., Il. 2.102ff. (Ἥφαιστος μὲν δῶκε Διὶ …, αὐτὰρ ἄρα Ζεὺς δῶκε διακτόρῳ ἀργεϊφόντῃ, Ἑρμείας δὲ ….)—Cf. Wilke, Rhetorik 398, who adduces Ja 1:14f. and (incorrectly) 1 C 11:3 in addition.

Blass, Friedrich, Albert Debrunner, and Robert Walter Funk. A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961, pg 261

I though this topic needed another David to chime in. Thanks for sharing all of this. Is there a way to search for thrice repeated phrases like Jer 7:4 

הֵיכַל יְהוָה הֵיכַל יְהוָה הֵיכַל יְהוָה

and 2 Sam 19:1 [Eng. 18:33]?

בְּנִי אַבְשָׁלוֹם בְּנִי בְנִי אַבְשָׁלוֹם

I don't believe these are instances of epizeuxis technically, but I'd think any discussion on the topic should include these references. For what it's worth, I don't think there are any other examples of this repetition.  

Mark, would you mind giving the exact citation for the quotation from NIDOTTE?

Shakes head in shame. Didn't see the second page. 

In response to the objection to the original poster's comment that Epizeuxis isn't of Semitic orgin. .. The fact that many writers use Epizeuxis only shows that the literary tool isn't exclusively Semitic. It does not suggest the tool was foreign to ancient Hebrew nor does it suggest Hebrew wasn't the origin (I'm guessing it wasn't). The tool is used throughout scripture and shouldn't be ignored.

First time ever posting, I lead a bible study at my church. I was researching why the bible sometimes has repeated words. I am currently looking at Genesis 9:12 in the blue letter bible and it has the word bayin (H996) repeated 3 times in a row. I am wondering why this didn't show up in your search?

 Revelation 8:13 "Woe, woe, woe..."