Plural amplification, also known as "plural of majesty" or "plural of intensity," is a literary device used in Hebrew poetry where a singular noun is expressed in the plural form to emphasize its magnitude, importance, or intensity. This technique adds a layer of poetic richness and depth, conveying more than the literal meaning would suggest. It's often employed to highlight attributes, actions, or entities that are significant or exceptional in some way.
Example from the Bible:
A well-known example of plural amplification can be found in:
Psalm 29:3 (KJV): "The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters."
Here, "waters" (מַיִם, mayim) is in plural form, which in this context amplifies the vastness and the power of the waters over which God's voice is heard. The plural usage underscores the expanse and the might of the natural elements under divine command, suggesting not just water but an overwhelming, majestic presence of water, enhancing the poetic imagery and the concept of God's omnipotence.
This use of plural amplification helps to evoke a stronger emotional and spiritual response, emphasizing the awe-inspiring nature of the subject described.
3 Nephi 4:69 And now whoso readeth, let him understand; He that hath the scriptures, let him search them and see, And behold if all these deaths and destructions - by fire and by smoke, and by tempests and by whirlwinds, and by the opening of the earth to receive them, and all these things - Are not unto the fulfilling of the prophecies of many of the holy prophets.
Alma 9:53 For on such the plan of redemption could have no power, for the works of justice could not be destroyed according to the supreme goodness of God.
Alma 19:104 But there is a law given, and a punishment affixed, and repentance granted, which repentance mercy claimeth; Otherwise, justice claimeth the creature and executeth the law, And the law inflicteth the punishment; If not so, the works of justice would be destroyed and God would cease to be God.
Deaths
3 Nephi 4:69 And now whoso readeth, let him understand; He that hath the scriptures, let him search them and see, And behold if all these deaths and destructions - by fire and by smoke, and by tempests and by whirlwinds, and by the opening of the earth to receive them, and all these things - Are not unto the fulfilling of the prophecies of many of the holy prophets.
Condescensions
2 Nephi 6:104 Let your hearts rejoice and behold how great the covenants of the Lord, And how great His condescensions unto the children of men;
Jacob 3:8 Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness, that we may know that it is by His grace and His great condescensions unto the children of men that we have power to do these things.
Deceivings, Lyings, Envyings, Strifes, Revilings
Alma 11:29 Now those priests which did go forth among the people did preach against all lyings and deceivings and envyings and strifes and malice and revilings and stealing, robbing, plundering, murdering, committing adultery and all manner of lasciviousness, Crying that these things ought not so to be;
Decrees
Ether 1:32 And the fullness of His wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity; For behold, this is a land which is choice above all other lands; Wherefore, he that doth possess it shall serve God or shall be swept off, For it is the everlasting decrees of God
Mercies
Alma 16:188 For it is not written that Zenos alone spake of these things, But Zenoch also spake of these things, For behold, he saith: 'Thou art angry, O Lord, with this people, Because they will not understand of Thy mercies which Thou hast bestowed upon them, because of Thy Son.'
2 Nephi 1:2 And he spake unto them concerning their rebellions upon the waters and the mercies of God in sparing their lives, that they were not swallowed up in the sea;
Marvelings
Alma 12:89 And he saith unto him: "Is it because that thou hast heard that I defended thy servants and thy flocks and slew seven of their brethren with the sling and with the sword and smote off the arms of others in order to defend thy flocks and thy servants? Behold, is it this that causeth thy marvelings?
Alma 12:90 I say unto you, what is it, that thy marvelings are so great?
Destructions, thunderings, lightnings
2 Nephi 11:68 And they shall be visited with thunderings and lightnings and earthquakes and all manner of destructions;
Groanings
1 Nephi 5:250 And because of the groanings of the earth, many of the kings of the isles of the sea shall be wrought upon by the Spirit of God to exclaim, 'The God of nature suffers! '
3 Nephi 4:22 Yea, great were the groanings of the people because of the darkness and the great destruction which had come upon them.
Heavens
Alma 12:108 And Ammon saith unto him: "The heavens is a place where God dwells and all His holy angels."
3 Nephi 4:44 "Behold, I Am Jesus Christ, the Son of God; I created the heavens and the earth and all things that in them is;
Idolatries deceivings lyings priestcrafts envyings strifes abominations lyings whoredoms
3 Nephi 14:2 "Turn, all ye Gentiles, from your wicked ways! And repent of your evil doings - of your lyings and deceivings, and your whoredoms, and of your secret abominations, and your idolatries, and of your murders, and your priestcrafts, and your envyings, and your strifes, and from all your wickedness and abominations -
Iniquities Idolatries
Ether 3:64 And because the people did repent of their iniquities and idolatries, the Lord did spare them, And they began to prosper again in the land.
Infirmities
Mosiah 1:41 But I am like as yourselves, subject to all manner of infirmities in body and mind.
Alma 5:22 And He will take upon Him their infirmities, that His bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, That He may know, according to the flesh, how to succor His people according to their infirmities.
Alma 16:109 "O Lord, wilt Thou give me strength that I may bear with mine infirmities? For I am infirm and such wickedness among this people doth pain my soul.
3 Nephi 3:64 And as many as had devils cast out from them and were healed of their sicknesses and their infirmities did truly manifest unto the people that they had been wrought upon by the Spirit of God and had been healed;
Iniquities
Mosiah 9:155 And now the Lord was slow to hear their cry because of their iniquities;
Imaginations
1 Nephi 3:126 "And the large and spacious building which thy father saw is vain imaginations and the pride of the children of men;
Judgements
2 Nephi 1:23 Behold I say, if the day shall come that they will reject the Holy One of Israel, the true Messiah, their Redeemer and their God, Behold, the judgments of Him that is just shall rest upon them –
Justices
1 Nephi 4:48 And I said unto them that our father also saw that the justices of God did also divide the wicked from the righteous,
Lightnings, thunderings
1 Nephi 3:103 And I saw lightnings, And I heard thunderings and earthquakes and all manner of tumultuous noises;
Lusts
Alma 19:13 Now my son, I would that ye should repent and forsake your sins and go no more after the lusts of your eyes, but cross yourself in all these things, For except ye do this, ye can in no wise inherit the kingdom of God;
Manifestations
Mosiah 3:4 "And we ourselves also, through the infinite goodness of God and the manifestations of His Spirit, have great views of that which is to come, And were it expedient, we could prophesy of all things;
Merits
2 Nephi 1:73 "Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, That they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits and mercy and grace of the Holy Messiah,
2 Nephi 13:28 Behold, I say unto you, Nay; For ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ, with unshaken faith in Him, Relying wholly upon the merits of Him who is mighty to save.
Alma 14:32 "And I also thank my God, yea, my great God, that He hath granted unto us that we might repent of these things, And also that He hath forgiven us of these our many sins and murders which we have committed, And took away the guilt from our hearts through the merits of His Son.
Helaman 5:67 And if ye believe on His name, ye will repent of all your sins, that thereby ye may have remission of them through His merits.
Moroni 6:5 And their names were taken that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God to keep them in the right way - To keep them continually watchful unto prayer, relying alone upon the merits of Christ who was the author and the finisher of their faith.
Mischiefs lyings deceits murders, priestcrafts whoredoms abominations
3 Nephi 7:34 "And thus commandeth the Father that I should say unto you: ' At that day when the Gentiles shall sin against My gospel, And shall reject the fullness of My gospel, And shall be lifted up in the pride of their hearts above all nations and above all the people of the whole earth, And shall be filled with all manner of lyings, and of deceits, and of mischiefs, and all manner of hypocrisy and murders, and priestcrafts and whoredoms, and of secret abominations –
Howlings, Mournings
Ether 6:90 Nevertheless, they conquered not; And when the night came again, they did rend the air with their cries and their howlings and their mournings for the loss of the slain of their people.
Murderings, Plunderings Whoredoms Abominations Destructions Quarrelings
Alma 22:22 And we see that these promises have been verified to the people of Nephi; For it has been their quarrelings and their contentions - yea, their murderings and their plunderings, their idolatry, their whoredoms and their abominations which were among themselves - which brought upon them their wars and their destructions.
Murders, Robbings, Plunderings
Alma 17:53 Yea, all their murders and robbings and their plunderings, and all their wickedness and abominations may be made manifest unto this people - Yea, and that ye preserve these directors.
Alma 17:54 For, behold, the Lord saw that His people began to work in darkness, yea, work secret murders and abominations; Therefore, the Lord said if they did not repent, they should be destroyed from off the face of the earth.
Alma 17:61 Therefore, ye shall keep these secret plans of their oaths and their covenants from this people, And only their wickedness and their murders and their abominations shall ye make known unto them,
Alma 17:62 And ye shall also teach them that these people were destroyed on account of their wickedness and abominations and their murders;
Murmurings
1 Nephi 5:31 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came unto my father, And he was truly chastened because of his murmurings against the Lord insomuch that he was brought down into the depths of sorrow.
Mosiah 13:48 Yea, all the travails of soul for their people, and also all the murmurings of the people to their king; And he explained it all unto them,
Pollutions
Mormon 4:38 Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be great pollutions upon the face of the earth;
Mormon 4:51 O ye pollutions! Ye hypocrites! Ye teachers which sell yourselves for that which will canker! Why have ye polluted the holy church of God?
Powers
3 Nephi 10:4 And then shall the powers of heaven come down among them, And I also will be in the midst; And then shall the work of the Father commence at that day, even when this gospel shall be preached among the remnant of this people.
Preachings/Prophesyings
Omni 1:22 And they departed out of the land into the wilderness, as many as would hearken unto the voice of the Lord; And they were led by many preachings and prophesyings,
Prophesyings
Words of Mormon 1:9 But behold, I shall take these plates which contain these prophesyings and revelations and put them with the remainder of my record, For they are choice unto me and I know they will be choice unto my brethren;
Punishments
Alma 12:64 Behold, is not this the Great Spirit which doth send such great punishments upon this people because of their murders?"
Quakings
3 Nephi 4:16 And it came to pass that when the thunderings and the lightnings and the storm and the tempest and the quakings of the earth did cease - For behold, they did last for about the space of three hours, And it was said by some that the time was greater;
Quarrelings
Alma 22:22 And we see that these promises have been verified to the people of Nephi; For it has been their quarrelings and their contentions - yea, their murderings and their plunderings, their idolatry, their whoredoms and their abominations which were among themselves - which brought upon them their wars and their destructions.
Rebellions
2 Nephi 1:2 And he spake unto them concerning their rebellions upon the waters and the mercies of God in sparing their lives, that they were not swallowed up in the sea;
Alma 12:117 And he also rehearsed unto them concerning the rebellions of Laman and Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael, Yea, all their rebellions did he relate unto them.
Rejoicings
Mosiah 11:27 And it came to pass that He did deliver them.
And He did show forth His mighty power unto them.
And great were their rejoicings.
Revilings
2 Nephi 5:83 Fear ye not the reproach of men, Neither be ye afraid of their revilings.
Alma 11:29 Now those priests which did go forth among the people did preach against all lyings and deceivings and envyings and strifes and malice and revilings and stealing, robbing, plundering, murdering, committing adultery and all manner of lasciviousness, Crying that these things ought not so to be;
Robbings
Alma 17:53 Yea, all their murders and robbings and their plunderings, and all their wickedness and abominations may be made manifest unto this people - Yea, and that ye preserve these directors.
Helaman 2:13 But behold, a hundredth part of the proceedings of this people - Yea, the account of the Lamanites and of the Nephites, And their wars and contentions and dissensions, And their preaching and their prophecies, And their shipping and their building of ships, And their building of temples and of synagogues and their sanctuaries, And their righteousness and their wickedness and their murders and their robbings and their plunderings, And all manner of abominations and whoredoms - Cannot be contained in this work.
Slaughters
1 Nephi 3:99 And it came to pass that I beheld multitudes gathered together to battle one against the other; And I beheld wars and rumors of wars and great slaughters with the sword among my people.
Sobbings
Jacob 2:46 Ye have broken the hearts of your tender wives and lost the confidence of your children because of your bad examples before them, And the sobbings of their hearts ascendeth up to God against you;
Strugglings
Enos 1:17 And after that I, Enos, had heard these words, my faith began to be unshaken in the Lord, And I prayed unto Him with many long strugglings for my brethren the Lamanites.
Enos 1:21 For at the present our strugglings were vain in restoring them to the true faith,
Mosiah 5:27 "O ye my people, lift up your heads and be comforted; For behold, the time is at hand, or is not far distant, when we shall no longer be in subjection to our enemies, notwithstanding our many strugglings which have been in vain; Yet I trust there remaineth an effectual struggle to be made.
Sufferings
Mosiah 9:29 Yea, concerning that which was to come, And also concerning the resurrection of the dead and the redemption of the people, which was to be brought to pass through the power and sufferings and death of Christ, And His resurrection and ascension into heaven.
Torments
Alma 9:30 "Then is the time when their torments shall be as a lake of fire and brimstone whose flames ascendeth up forever and ever.