Is Sarcasm in the Bible?

I have read where some folks consider Genesis 4:9 sarcasm.

"Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Where is Abel your brother?' He said, 'I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?'"

Kind of like saying, "How would I know? It's not my day to watch him."

He would ask rhetorical questions. I'm too innocent to know whether or not asking rhetorical questions qualifies as sarcasm

This response of Job to his unhelpful friends seems sarcastic, "No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you" (Job 12:2 ESV).

AlexDTX said:

In general, I don't like sarcasm, although I know I have been sarcastic. My wife thinks it is one of the spiritual gifts

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The irony is hilarious.

It's been my experience sarcasm doesn't work well in a strictly written form unless there's some way to indicate the writer is being sarcastic. That's one source of misunderstanding on discussion forums. For instance: if I said to you "I really admire that mans abilities!" You'd look at just the written words and think, "Ok, he likes that guys abilities." But if I said to you "I really admire that mans abilities!" and rolled my eyes and shook my head you'd see I was being sarcastic. We lose a lot of our communication abilities when all we have is what we write. It also doesn't help that what we read in the Bible is a translation of something based in a culture we really don't understand most of the nuances of. I suspect when we actually get to meet the authors of the Bible they're going to look at us say, "Dude, seriously?"
tulc(or words to that effect)

AlexDTX said:

In general, I don't like sarcasm, although I know I have been sarcastic. My wife thinks it is one of the spiritual gifts

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The only sarcastic comment I can think of was from Elisha. When the priests of Baal could not produce their god, Elisha cracks the joke that maybe their god is still on the toilet, or something to that effect. Did Jesus ever say anything sarcastic? I think when he said, "Behold an Israelite in whom there is no guile," I think he was being sincere. What do you think?

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Isaiah 47:12 regarding the humiliation and destruction of "Babylon":
“Stand now with your enchantments
And the multitude of your sorceries,
In which you have labored from your youth—
Perhaps you will be able to profit,
Perhaps you will prevail."

The sarcastic message taunts Babylon to meet the judgments coming to her with her enchantments and sorceries as if those things could save her from the things that will fall upon her.
However, I believe the main purpose for the use of sarcasm in my above example is to illustrate both how unrepentant and "self reliant" Babylon will be at the time this occurs and to press home the point the sheer stupidity of having the arrogant attitude "I am and there is none like me" and so on. In other words, I see sarcasm in the Bible as being a form of emphasis to get across to the message's recipients of how serious, ridiculous, etc., a particular Scripture is and what it is relating to.

I forgot to mention, since some might read it the wrong way, I don't mean the Scripture would be ridiculous, but the subjects being addressed, in this case, Babylon with its attitude, would be considered "ridiculous" in the Scripture and not the Scripture itself.

Jesus said He could raise up children of Abraham from the stones on the ground. Is that sarcasm, realism, or what?

AlexDTX said:

In general, I don't like sarcasm, although I know I have been sarcastic. My wife thinks it is one of the spiritual gifts

View attachment 205919

The only sarcastic comment I can think of was from Elisha. When the priests of Baal could not produce their god, Elisha cracks the joke that maybe their god is still on the toilet, or something to that effect. Did Jesus ever say anything sarcastic? I think when he said, "Behold an Israelite in whom there is no guile," I think he was being sincere. What do you think?

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I think that Paul was being sarcastic in 1 Corinthians 8 when he was describing those who have been buffed up by their knowledge.

It is a pity there is no poll with this thread. I think it would have provided an interesting snapshot of people's perceptions.

AlexDTX said:

I did not even think of making a poll. Maybe I can on another thread.

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Thank you.

AlexDTX said:

I posed this question in another forum as well. This point was made by another person. Sarcasm in the Bible when it comes on behalf of God is always directed at the wicked who are unrepentant and rely on their own strength. Sarcasm has veiled hostility in some uses and that should never be used upon the family of God, nor the lost who are not trying to be wicked but are still in their state of confusion.

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The Lord uses sarcasm with Job in Job 38:21. I wouldn't consider Job to be a wicked man.