About the "element + plural verb + et + element" word order

Question

In the "Libera me" prayer, the following verse is said:

Libera me, Domine, de morte æterna, in die illa tremenda
Quando cœli movendi sunt et terra
Dum veneris iudicare saeculum per ignem.

There are similar phrases in other religious texts with the same ordering (element + plural verb + element). Examples from the Vulgata:

• 1 Chronicles 29:11

Tua est, Domine, magnificentia, et potentia, et gloria, atque victoria : et tibi laus : cuncta enim quae in caelo sunt, et in terra, tua sunt : tuum, Domine, regnum, et tu es super omnes principes.

• 2 Corinthians 10:10

quoniam quidem epistolae, inquiunt, graves sunt et fortes : praesentia autem corporis infirma, et sermo contemptibilis :

• 2 Timothy 6:2

Qui autem fideles habent dominos, non contemnant, quia fratres sunt : sed magis serviant, quia fideles sunt et dilecti, qui beneficii participes sunt. Haec doce, et exhortare

I find the ordering of these phrases in bold "awkward", at least compared with other languages like English and Spanish, where it is (always?) "element + element + plural verb" or "verb + element + element". The phrases are of course perfectly fine, and the plurality of the verb tells you that it applies to both the preceding and the following elements. But, still.

Is there some particular function of such word order, that it is preferred to the "simpler" (more intuitive?) ordering "movendi sunt coeli et terra" or "coeli et terra movendi sunt"? Perhaps more poetic, or emphasising something? Actually, is the above ordering common at all, or are these rather exceptions?

Answer 1

I see a difference in tone between graves sunt et fortes and graves et fortes sunt. I would read graves et fortes sunt as "they are heavy and strong" (or perhaps "weighty" or "important" instead of "heavy"), and graves sunt et fortes as "they are heavy — and also strong". That is, adding the second subject after the verb makes it look more like a side remark.

However, when it comes to Biblical Latin, it is very much possible that some idiosyncrasies are inherited from Greek and Hebrew. I can't tell whether this is a case of such influences, but it does not strike me as weird within Latin. An unusual word order can be used to give emphasis.

The Latin word order is almost free, but certainly not irrelevant. There is such a thing as typical word order (like SOV in simple clauses). Deviations are a tool for style, emphasis, and metric flexibility.