Thus Balaam expressed himself to Balak: "The Lord is not man, that he should lie, nor the son of man, that he should repeat. Hath he said it? and shall he not do it? Hath he spoken it? and shall he not make it good?" "Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?"
12. EXCLAMATIONS are the effect of strong emotions, such a surprise, admiration, joy, grief, and the like.
"O that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of way-faring men!" "O that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest!"
13. IRONY is expressing ourselves in a manner contrary to our thoughts; not with a view to deceive, but to add force to our remarks. We can reprove one for his negligence, by saying, "You have taken great care, indeed."
The prophet Elijah adopted this figure, when he challenged the priests of Baal to prove the truth of their deity. "He mocked them, and said. Cry aloud for he is a god: either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is on a journey, or, peradventure, he sleepeth, and must be waked."
14. AMPLIFICATION or CLIMAX consists in heightening all the circumstances of an object or action, which we desire to place in a strong light.
Cicero gives a lively instance of this figure, when he says, "It is a crime to put a Roman citizen in bonds: it is the height of guilt to scourge him; little less than parricide to put him to death: what name, then, shall I give to the act of crucifying him?"