Biblical paraphrase refers to the practice of restating scripture in new wording, in prose or verse, for purposes ranging from education and interpretation to devotion and literary artistry. Emerging from classical rhetorical traditions and Jewish interpretive practices such as the Targumim, Biblical paraphrase developed through the Middle Ages and Early Modern era into a genre that blended translation, commentary, and creative expansion. It served as a means of clarifying scripture, shaping theology, and engaging readers unable to access the Bible in its original languages. By the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, paraphrase had become a literary and devotional genre, enabling both men and women writers to interpret biblical texts, express personal or political convictions, and take part of sacred narratives through art.
Christian paraphrase was part of early Christian literature, and appeared in sermons, homilies, and poetic retellings. Early narrative retellings, like Cursor Mundi and the Historia scholastica, influenced later paraphrase works. The Middle English Metrical Paraphrase of the Old Testament paraphrased multiple Biblical narrative sources. Paraphrases that followed the Bible's text more closely, especially the Psalms, became popular in the 15th century. In the early modern era, humanist scholarship renewed interest in paraphrase as a form of commentary, exemplified by Erasmus’s influential paraphrases of New Testament books. English paraphrasers, including Thomas Wyatt, Philip Sidney, Mary Herbert, Anne Locke, and Anne Wheathill, used the form to clarify doctrine, express personal devotion, and engage with contemporary political and theological debates. Both Protestant and Catholic writers engaged in paraphrase in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when it was a venue for literary experimentation as well as spiritual reflection.