Paraphrase

Paraphrase (Gr. para, 'beside,' and phrazein, 'to speak') is the name given to a verbal expansion of the meaning either of a whole book, or of a separate passage in it. A paraphrase consequently differs from Metaphrase, or strictly literal translation, in this, that it aims to make the sense of the text clearer by a lucid circumlocution, without actually passing into commentary. The versified passages of Scripture forming part of the Psalmody of the Scottish Church are known as 'the Paraphrases.' See HYMN, Vol. VI. p. 48.