For the linguistics definition, see paraphrase

Paraphrase

Paraphrase is restatement of a text or passages, using other words. The term "paraphrase" derives via the Latin "paraphrasis" from the Greek , meaning "additional manner of expression". The act of paraphrasing is also called "paraphrasis."...

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For the paraphrases by Erasmus of the New Testament, see Paraphrases of Erasmus

Paraphrases of Erasmus

The Paraphrases were Latin Biblical paraphrases, rewritings of the Gospels by Desiderius Erasmus. They were composed between 1517 and 1524 and occasionally revised by Erasmus during the remaining years of his life....

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For the medieval Biblical literary genre, see Biblical paraphrase

Biblical paraphrase

A Biblical paraphrase is a literary work that has as its goal not the translation of the Bible but, rather, the rendering of the Bible into a work that retells all or part of the Bible in a manner that accords with a particular set of theological or political doctrines...

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Paraphrases are traditional forms of singing within Presbyterian churches. They are Biblical paraphrase

Biblical paraphrase

A Biblical paraphrase is a literary work that has as its goal not the translation of the Bible but, rather, the rendering of the Bible into a work that retells all or part of the Bible in a manner that accords with a particular set of theological or political doctrines...

s lyrical renderings of sections of the Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

 that have been set to music, in a similar fashion to Metrical Psalms.

Within a Presbyterian Hymnbook, the Paraphrases are usually printed in a separate section from Psalms

Psalms

The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...

 and Hymns. Within the Church Hymnary Revised Edition of the Presbyterian Hymnbook there are 67 Paraphrases. The Irish Presbyterian

Presbyterian Church in Ireland

The Presbyterian Church in Ireland , is the largest Presbyterian denomination in Ireland, and the largest Protestant denomination in Northern Ireland...

Hymnbook (2004) includes 66 Paraphrases along with 150 Psalms of the Irish Psalter and a further 669 hymns and song.

Traditional churches generally sing a Paraphrase, a Psalm and a number of hymns within worship.

In recent decades many congregations have moved from traditional Paraphrases to modern settings of Bible passages to music, in the same way that modern settings of Psalms are often used. This is due to the often archaic language that the Metrical Psalms and Paraphrases use.