Zeugma
Unequal Yoke
Zeugma is the figure in which a single verb is “yoked” to two subjects or objects where grammar would require two verbs. The second verb is omitted, and the first must bear the weight for both — sometimes fittingly, sometimes awkwardly. Bullinger places Zeugma among the figures of omission but firmly distinguishes it from ordinary Ellipsis: in Ellipsis the reader supplies a verb of the same kind, whereas in Zeugma the existing verb does not fit the second object cleanly — and that is precisely the point. The law of grammar is deliberately broken, so that emphasis falls on the verb that is used rather than on the one that is missing.
Etymology
Greek ζεῦγμα (zeugma), “yoke”, from ζεύγνυμι (zeugnumi), “to yoke together”, “to bind”. The figure takes its name from the image of two animals under one yoke when only one truly fits. The Greeks distinguished four sub-forms by the position of the single verb relative to the two objects; the Romans gave each sub-form a Latin name: injunctum, conjunctum, adjunctum.
Definition
Bullinger distinguishes four sub-types. Protozeugma (ante-yoke) places the verb at the beginning; Mesozeugma (middle-yoke) places it in the middle; Hypozeugma (end-yoke) at the end; Synezeugmenon (joint-yoke) connects multiple parts through a single shared verb. In all cases the writer refuses to name the second action explicitly, so that the reader supplies the missing verb — while simultaneously perceiving which verb the writer did choose.
Biblical Examples
1. Protozeugma — verb at the beginning (Latin: injunctum):
- Gen. 4:20 — “And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents and cattle”. The verb “dwell” stands before “tents” and is yoked also to “cattle”, though it strictly fits only “tents”. A more proper verb for “cattle” would be “possess”. The figure draws attention to Jabal’s nomadic life — a wanderer — rather than to his shepherd-vocation.
- Exod. 3:16 — “I have surely visited you, and that which is done to you in Egypt”. Not only had Jehovah seen what Israel suffered, but He had visited — i.e. acted in covenant compassion toward them, on the basis of His covenant with the fathers.
- Deut. 4:12 — “And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of words, but saw no similitude, only a voice”. The figure shows that the emphasis is to be placed on the fact that no similitude was seen — by which idolatry is specially condemned, since “idol” literally means “something that is seen”.
- 2 Kgs. 11:12 — “And he brought forth the king’s son, and put the crown upon him, and the testimony”. The verb “put” suits the crown but not the testimony; the figure points us to the importance of the “testimony” itself (cf. Deut. 17:19).
- Isa. 2:3 — “Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob”. Supplied: “[and let us enter into] the house of the God of Jacob”.
- Luke 24:27 — “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself”. The verb “beginning” fits only “Moses” — not “all the prophets”. The figure directs attention not to the act but to the Scriptures themselves as the subject of the Risen Lord’s exposition.
- 1 Cor. 3:2 — “I have fed you with milk, and not with meat”. The Greek verb ποτίζω means “to give drink”, suitable for “milk” but not for “meat”. The emphasis falls not on the feeding but on the contrast between “milk” and “meat”.
- 1 Cor. 7:10 — “And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord”. One verb connected to two subjects — affirmatively with “the Lord”, negatively with “the apostle”.
- 1 Tim. 4:3 — “Forbidding to marry, and to abstain from meats”. The figure emphasises that what marks the latter times is celibacy and abstinence — not the bare act of forbidding or commanding.
2. Mesozeugma — verb in the middle (Latin: conjunctum):
- Mark 13:26 — “Then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory”. In the Greek the adjective “great” stands between the two nouns: “power, great, and glory”. Both are modified — power will be great, glory will be great. The figure heightens both more effectively than repetition could.
- Mark 5:40-42 — “The father of the child and the mother” (v. 40); “the damsel arose and walked” (v. 42).
- Luke 1:64 — “And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue, and he spake and praised God”. Not the act of opening and loosing draws attention, but the fact that after months of enforced silence he praised God with his mouth and his tongue.
3. Hypozeugma — verb at the end (Latin: adjunctum):
- Acts 4:27-28 — “…to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done”. The verb “determined” relates only to “counsel”, not to “hand”; the figure shows that although the power of God’s hand was felt sooner than His counsel, this happened only in consequence of that very predetermined counsel and foreknowledge (cf. 2:23, 3:18).
4. Synezeugmenon — joint-yoke (Latin: adjunctum):
- Biblical examples in Bullinger pp. 135-136 (to be filled in for completeness).
Related Figures
- ellipsis — related figure from which Zeugma is distinguished: in Ellipsis the reader supplies a verb of the same kind; in Zeugma the existing verb does not fit cleanly
- syllepsis — see Exod. 3:16 (one verb with two senses)
- paronomasia — see 1 Tim. 4:3 (companion figure that supplies the missing verb)
- pleonasm — see 1 Cor. 3:2 (cautionary opposite)
Source
E.W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used in the Bible (1898), pp. 131-136.