Lesson 1 | The First Pass: Divide
The Nine Types of Phrases
Now that you’re familiar with the landmarks of phrasing, you need a deeper understanding of the nine types of phrases you’ll encounter in the biblical text. There is a cheat sheet at the end of this lesson step that contains a description and example of each type of phrase. You will use it primarily in the first pass. You won’t need to identify the types of phrases after the first pass, but you will need to be familiar with them.
Why do you still need to know them, then? There are two reasons.
- Knowing what type of phrase you’re working with will help you eliminate certain types of uses it can’t have when labeling it in the Fourth Pass.
- In the Third and Fourth Passes, we are going to add arrows and labels differently depending on whether a phrase is a relative phrase, genitive phrase, or another kind of phrase.
Introduce yourself to the nine types of phrases, with scriptural examples, in the following video.
To help you get better at identifying the nine phrase types, here's a quiz for you. Identify the phrase type of the words in ALL CAPS.
“And you shall rejoice before the Lord YOUR GOD, you and your sons and your daughters…” (Deut 12:12).
phrase
Log in / create an account to enroll or continue where you left off.
“Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, SHAME SHALL COVER YOU, and you shall be cut off forever” (Obad 10).
phrase
Log in / create an account to enroll or continue where you left off.
“An inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven FOR YOU” (1 Pet 1:4)
phrase
Log in / create an account to enroll or continue where you left off.
“For the Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, SO THAT THE LORD MIGHT BRING HARM upon Absalom” (2 Sam 17:14).
phrase
Log in / create an account to enroll or continue where you left off.
“And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, GLORIFYING GOD” (Luke 18:43).
phrase
Log in / create an account to enroll or continue where you left off.
“Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days OF HIS LIFE that God has given him, for this is his lot” (Ecc 5:18).
phrase
Log in / create an account to enroll or continue where you left off.
“I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both WHAT TO DO” (Ex 4:15).
phrase
Log in / create an account to enroll or continue where you left off.
“Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, … FOR THEN HE WOULD HAVE HAD TO SUFFER REPEATEDLY since the foundation of the world” (Heb 9:25-26).
phrase
Log in / create an account to enroll or continue where you left off.
“And the angel said to those WHO WERE STANDING before him, ‘Remove the filthy garments from him’” (Zech 3:4).
phrase
Log in / create an account to enroll or continue where you left off.
“I will betroth you to me IN FAITHFULNESS” (Hos 2:20).
phrase
Log in / create an account to enroll or continue where you left off.
“Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off TO MAKE WAR on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus” (Rev 12:17).
phrase
Log in / create an account to enroll or continue where you left off.
After you have watched the above video, and passed the above quiz, you’re ready to start the first pass!
But if the quiz above was pretty rough, and you feel trapped in the Slough of Grammatical Despond, don’t be discouraged! We have a short, six-lesson course called Grammar that introduces you to the grammar you need to know to study the Bible well, and does so much more slowly. Consider pausing your progress in this course to work through the Grammar course.
If you’re moving forward in this course, I want to encourage you to continue to grow in your grammatical knowledge because of how vital it is to Bible study. Consider the quotation below from the eminent Greek scholar A.T. Robertson. I’ve bolded the most important parts.
The doctor does not complain at the details of his science. He has to know the minutiae of nature's handiwork. Nothing is too small for his investigation. ... Surely the life of the soul is as important as that of the body. ... Generalities are the peril of the preacher who has a fine scorn of technicalities. One must be able to make the proper generalization out of a mass of details, but he is no theologian who is not first a grammarian, as Dr. A. M. Fairbairn said. ... The preacher is of necessity a student of words. He is the interpreter of language and employs language to convey his interpretation of life to the minds of men. ... Thus there are all sorts of pitfalls for the preacher as the exponent of the message of the New Testament. If the blind guide leads the blind, they will both fall into the ditch. One simply has to know his parts of speech if he is to keep out of the ditch and avoid dragging his followers after him. Schisms have arisen around misinterpretations of single words. Grammar is a means of grace.”
