Search for "not …, but …"

E

Eric

Beta Tester
Messages
885
Hi, I am intrigued by what I think must be a literary device in Mr 13:11: "But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost."

Obviously, the Lord is saying that His hearers will speak words, but the important thing is that the Holy Ghost will be doing that speaking through them. Thus, the text is clear that the "not" in "it is not ye that speak" means something other than "it is not your mouths that are communicating." The command, "that speak ye" makes it clear they are to speak. I would like to find out what this literary device is called and see where else it's used in the Bible.

I tried searching the SwordSearcher module of E. W. Bullinger's Figures of Speech Used in the Bible, but I didn't find anything. I tried by searching (Alt-L) for "Mr 13:11" (with the quotation marks). Some references came up, but no relevant ones.

I thought maybe I could look for other verses in the Bible where the words "not … but …" occur. My problem is that I don't know how to do that without getting hundreds of hits. If I just do a regular F2 search for the words "not but" (w/o quotation marks), I can't stipulate that they have to be in that order, so I get all verses in which those two words occur (a few too many!). Maybe RegEx is what I need? But how to do that? It'd be good if I could do it with various numbers of words between "not" and "but" and see what I get.

P.S. I noted these verses with a similar literary device:
Ro 7:17-20 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

1Co 1:16-17 And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. 17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
 
I agree with Bill -- the RegEx is the only way to go for a search like that.

This one returns more matches though:

Code: 
\bnot\b.*?\bbut\b

Here is a more restrictive version:

Code: 
\bnot\b[^.,;]*[,;] but\b

That one returns 529 matches in 521 verses. The difference is that it disallows multiple period/comma/semicolons between the "not" and "but" and enforces a specific sentence structure where the "but" comes after a comma or semicolon. The first few results looks like this:

Ge 15:4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
Ge 17:15 And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.
Ge 31:5 And said unto them, I see your father's countenance, that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my father hath been with me.
Ge 35:10 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.
Ge 40:23 Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.
​
 
I googled some stuff and found that the not...but construction seems to be called a correlative expression. An interesting subset in the Bible is the not only... but expression. There are 21 occurrences and they are in the NT only.

I used this regex search:
\bnot only.*\bbut\b

See http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/parallelism.htm

Thanks for the interesting topic.
 
Brandon and Bill,

Thank you both! I'll have to spend some time on this (if I can). I appreciate your help with the Regex, and, Bill, with the link. I looked it up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top