Parables, Miracles, Humankind, The Divine

There is something intriguing about the Bible. Forever holding the rank of the most sold book, there is good reason. Whether one believes in God or not, scripture pervades everyone’s life even if they are not aware. Many common sayings, especially about positivity, success, wealth, and so on were and are taken directly from scripture.

My quadra-haiku builds upon this very thought. There are scriptures, stories, parables, miracles, and individuals in the Bible that people know about without ever picking up and reading the Bible or original reference for themselves. It is uncanny—or maybe not—how many of the writings in Bible focus on the four elements: earth, wind, water and fire.

My first entry for this challenge, “Genesis and Revelation: The Creation and Destruction of Humanity”, fits all four elements and the whole span of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation (66 books) into 17 syllables.

This entry—my second—could be considered an expanded version, a macrocosm, to my first entry, a microcosm. I equally paid attention to the Old and New Testaments. Let’s see what happens when the four elements are captured in haiku from some of the most famous depictions in the Bible.

The original scripture for each element is given from two versions of the Bible, the King James Version (KJV) and the New Living Translation (NLT).

Water Into Wine

Water into wine,

how divine and a good time.

Jesus saves the day!

“When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,” (John 2:9, KJV)

“When the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had come from (though, of course, the servants knew), he called the bridegroom over.” (John 2:9, NLT)

Tower Of Babel

Oh vain humankind,

trying to reach God above.

Blown away you go!

“Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.” (Genesis 11:9, KJV)

“Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.” (Genesis 11:9, NLT)

Burning Bush

The Lord is ablaze.

Moses stares in amazement.

This is holy ground!

“There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up.” (Exodus 3:2, KJV)

“There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up.” (Exodus 3:2, NLT)

The Parable of the Sower

Good or bad, something

will grow. But what’s in your heart,

The Lord surely knows!

"4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold." (Matthew 13: 4-8, KJV)

"4 As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. 5 Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. 6 But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn’t have deep roots, they died. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants. 8 Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted!" (Matthew 13: 4-8, NLT)

If you want to see the super truncated version of Genesis to Revelation, read my first entry here: