Giving Voice to the Bible: Expository Scripture Reading

Expository reading takes into account the genre of the text. Different kinds of literature should be read in different ways. Robert Jacks, in Just Say the Word, identifies three basic kinds of texts for reading: didactic, narrative and empathic. Didactic texts are driven by ideas. Narrative texts are driven by the story. Empathic texts are driven by emotion. Each kind of text is read aloud in a way different from the others. Within these categories are numerous other factors that require a particular style of reading.

Each of these kinds of literature has a sound in the reader’s language that fits the genre and expresses its particular dynamics. We do not read the Nativity story in Luke 2 the same way we read the theology of Romans 3. Nor do we read the poetry of Psalm 23 in either of those styles. Our aim is to give the text a voice to the contemporary audience, so we read it as the literature requires.

Any oral reading of a biblical text is an interpretation of it. Not only does the reader indicate what he thinks it says, he expresses what he thinks it means. He tries to recover for himself and his audience the original intention of the text writer. He intends to give the text a voice. To do so he will have to overcome the common disconnect between what he has in mind and what his speech actually expresses. He will have to move out of his comfort zone and become a servant of the text rather than a master of it.

Planning an Expository Reading

Planning an expository reading is very similar to preparing an exegesis of the text. The primary difference is that you are thinking about the text as oral rather than written. You want to hear the text rather than just read it. You want to express it instead of just analyzing it.

Instead of marking your Bible, I recommend copying the text in larger print and marking that copy for your analysis for oral interpretation. Answer for yourself the following questions, realizing that many of them require you to express a particular interpretation of the text:

1. What kind of literature is it: didactic, empathic or narrative? This will set the pattern for your vocal variables as you read, either to communicate ideas, feelings or a story.

2. What seems to be the writer’s purpose for the material? What does he want from the audience?

3. What seems to be the writer’s attitude or state of mind as indicated by the words of the text and context?

4. What are the words you want to emphasize in each sentence or phrase? Underline them with single or double lines. These are interpretive decisions, so you must base them on the passage as a whole and allow the text to speak as intended.

5. Where do you think you should pause and for how long? Mark your reading with one or two slashes to indicate a one-beat pause or longer.

6. What new characters, circumstances or ideas appear as the passage unfolds? Introduce a new character in the story with a slight pause and an emphasis on the name or identification (Tada!). Do the same with a change of scene or the introduction of a new element in the writer’s argument.

7. What questions does the writer or a speaker ask? Allow a pause for the question to register with the audience. Be sure to ask it with

the inflection appropriate to a question.

8. Which ideas in the text are striking—a surprise, an unconventional view, an unexpected twist in a story? Allow your voice to communicate the impact of these ideas on the original audience.

9. What is the melodic pattern most appropriate for this text in light of the type of literature and the attitude and purpose of the writer? This is the “music” of your voice as you read.

10. How will you allow your voice to communicate the various meanings of words in the text? Remember: think it, see it, feel it and then say it. The vocal mechanism has a marvelous capacity for communicating your understanding of a word, with the image and emotion it carries.

11. If the writer himself were reading the text aloud to this audience, how would it sound? Try to make the material your own and allow it to speak through your voice for the contemporary audience.

12. At what rate should you read it to reflect the significance of every word and phrase in the text? This will usually be a much slower and more deliberate rate than with normal speech, with meaningful pauses at the appropriate places.

Reading the text in an expository fashion is a learned skill for most of us. By temperament and personality, some may naturally be more expressive in any form of speech. But that natural expressiveness may yet be eisegetical, with the reader imposing himself on the text instead of letting it speak. Whether the reader is expressive or inhibited, the aim is to read the text in its own terms. The principle is simple: we aim to read the meaning of the words and not just the sound of the words.