: ''For the linguistics definition, see

paraphrase A paraphrase () or rephrase is the rendering of the same text in different words without losing the meaning of the text itself. More often than not, a paraphrased text can convey its meaning better than the original words. In other words, it is a ...

.'' : ''For the paraphrases by Erasmus of the New Testament, see

Paraphrases of Erasmus The ''Paraphrases'' were Latin Biblical paraphrases, rewritings of the Gospels by Desiderius Erasmus. Composed between 1517 and 1524, Erasmus occasionally revised them until his death in 1536. In 1547, Edward VI of England ordered an English-l ...

.'' : ''For the medieval Biblical literary genre, see

Biblical paraphrase A biblical paraphrase is a literary work which has as its goal, not the translation of the Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as ...

.'' Paraphrases are traditional forms of singing within

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

churches. They are

biblical paraphrase A biblical paraphrase is a literary work which has as its goal, not the translation of the Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as ...

s: lyrical renderings of sections of the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

that have been set to music, in a similar fashion to

metrical psalms A metrical psalter is a kind of Bible translation: a book containing a verse translation of all or part of the Book of Psalms in vernacular poetry, meant to be sung as hymns in a church. Some metrical psalters include melodies or harmonisatio ...

.{{Cite book , last=Church of Scotland , url=https://archive.org/details/psalterinmetresc00chur/page/n1/mode/2up , title=The Psalter in metre and Scripture paraphrases with tunes, authorized for use in public worship by the Church of Scotland, the Free Church of Scotland, the United Presbyterian Church ndthe Presbyterian Church in Ireland , date=1899 , publisher=Edinburgh H. Frowde , others=Faculty of Music Library University of Toronto

Usage

Within a Presbyterian

Hymnbook A hymnal or hymnary is a collection of hymns, usually in the form of a book, called a hymnbook (or hymn book). They are used in congregational singing. A hymnal may contain only hymn texts (normal for most hymnals for most centuries of Christi ...

, the Paraphrases are usually printed in a separate section from

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of B ...

and

Hymns A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...

. Within the Church Hymnary Revised Edition of the Presbyterian Hymnbook there are 67 Paraphrases. The '' Irish Presbyterian Hymnbook'' (2004) includes 66 Paraphrases along with 150 Psalms of the Irish Psalter and a further 669 hymns and song. Traditional churches generally sing a Paraphrase, a Psalm and a number of hymns within worship. In recent decades many congregations have moved from traditional Paraphrases to modern settings of Bible passages to music, in the same way that modern settings of Psalms are often used. This is due to the often archaic language that the Metrical Psalms and Paraphrases use.

References

Presbyterianism Biblical paraphrases