3 Ways the Bible Quotes Itself

First, and most obviously, a writer can directly quote other material. ​

​The New Testament authors do this frequently. For example, Matthew quotes Jeremiah 31:15 when he writes, "Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: 'A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.'" (Matthew 2:17-18 NRSV).

The New Testament writers don't always identify the prophet or book of the Bible when they quote older material. Instead, they will sometimes say something like "As it is written" or "In the prophet(s)."

The Old Testament authors also quote older material. Unlike the New Testament, however, they seldom introduce the quotations formally. Instead, they assume you know the Bible really well and can recognize the quotation.

The most abundant example of one Old Testament author quoting older material comes from the 1-2 Chronicles. There are many passages where the material is almost verbatim from 1-2 Samuel or 1-2 Kings.

Allusion is a second way biblical authors reference older material.

An allusion is “an implied or indirect reference” to something (Webster’s Dictionary).

For example, if I say, “This ain't Kansas,” I’m referencing The Wizard of Oz. If you know the movie, you’ll catch the reference even if I never acknowledge where the thought originated.

Allusions happen all the time in the Bible. The most well-known examples occur when the New Testament alludes to stories in the Old Testament. Famously, Jesus’s birth mirrors some events from Moses’s birth. But it happens within the Old Testament, too.

An allusion differs from a quotation because the author never formally acknowledges the reference.

A third way biblical authors reference older material is called an "echo."

Just as an echo is a sound that reverberates off the walls of a cave, a literary echo refers to an often unintentional repetition of an earlier text.

Whereas an author will often identify the source of a quote and an allusion will be signalled by substantial parallels, a literary echo usually only contains a couple of words or phrases that can be traced back to the earlier material.

One of my favorite examples of a literary echo occurs in 2 Kings 4:16 when Elisha tells the Shunnamite woman that she will give birth to a son. He says, "At this season, in due time, you shall embrace a son" (NRSV). Those words resemble the ones an angel spoke to Abraham in Genesis 18:10. "I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son" (NRSV). The similarities are more apparent in Hebrew, but you can see them in English.

Echoes often go unnoticed by readers because they require significant familiarity with the material to catch them. Additionally, you can usually understand the passage without noticing the subtle reference to another section of Scripture. But if you can notice these echoes, a whole other layer of meaning opens up to you. In my opinion, this deeper layer brings us a step closer to the intent of the author and serves as a great guide for interpretation.

Learning to recognize these literary techniques will greatly improve your ability to study Scripture. But it can be challenging in the beginning.

Here's a question for you: Have you ever studied the Bible as literature? Why or why not?