Hyperbole (pronounced hye-PER-buh-lee; “HYE-per-bowl” is a common mispronunciation) comes from ancient Greek “ὑπερβολή” (meaning excess or exaggeration) and is a figure of speech in which statements are exaggerated. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is rarely meant to be taken literally.

Hyperbole is used to create emphasis. It is a literary device often used in poetry, and is frequently encountered in casual speech. It is also a visual technique in which a deliberate exaggeration of a particular part of an image is employed. An example is the exaggeration of a person’s facial feature in a political cartoon.

Etymology

Derived from the Greek ὑπερβολή (literally ‘overshooting’ or ‘excess’), it is a cognate of hyperbola. Antonyms to hyperbole include meiosis, litotes, understatement, and bathos (the ‘let down’ after a hyperbole in a phrase).

Some examples of use of hyperbole include:

These books weigh a ton. (These books are heavy.)

I could sleep for a year. (I could sleep for a long time.)

The path went on forever. (the path was really long.)

He must have jumped a mile. (He jumped very high into the air.)

I’m so hungry, I could eat a horse. (I’m so hungry, I could eat a lot.)

I’m doing like 15 trillion things right now. (I’m busy.)

“Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve been to Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and I can say without hyperbole that this is a million times worse than all of them put together.” This uses hyperbole to illustrate the use of hyperbole.

He was so big he used a tree trunk for a toothpick. (He is a huge person.)

This coffee tastes like an old man has been heated to render out the earwax. (This coffee tastes horrible.)

A common source of unwitting humour is when hyperbole is preceded by the word “literally”:

 I was literally bullied at work in several different ways. I was forced to literally work with both hands tied behind my back. If I wanted time off I literally had to fight for it.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbole

Much of the Bible was written in normal, everyday language used by common people of that culture and time. And just as we normally use hyperbole in everyday language, so did they. Just like we exaggerate and say things like, “this is the worst day of my life”, so did they. Let’s take a look at an example of hyperbole used in the Bible:

2 Kings 18:5 talks about King Hezekiah, and says that “after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.”

2 Kings 23:25 talks about King Josiah, and says that “like unto him was there no king before him, . . . neither after him arose there any like him.”

Note that both verses use “universal negative” statements, something along the lines of, “there was never before . . . and there will never be again”. Now if we take these 2 verses in a completely wooden, literal sense, and if we do not accept the fact that the Bible uses hyperbolic language, then we would have to say that the Bible contradicts itself. But of course that is not the case. King Hezekiah was not absolutely the best king of all time, but he was a very, very good king. And King Josiah was not absolutely the best king of all time, but he also was a very, very good king. The apparent contradiction becomes no problem at all once we realize that such “universal positive” and “universal negative” language is usually hyperbole.

Let’s take a look at some more cases where hyperbole is used in the Bible:

In Ezekiel, God speaks judgment upon Israel before He has them carried off into captivity to Babylon. And God says, “because of all your abominations, I will do among you what I have not done, and the like of which I will never do again” (Ezekiel 5:9). The book of Daniel was written after the Babylonian captivity, and confirmed Ezekiel’s prophecy. “Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem.” Of course, the Babylonian captivity of Israel happened hundreds of years before the Great Tribulation. Nevertheless, even in the light of Ezekiel 5:9 and Daniel 9:12, Jesus says in Matthew that the Great Tribulation is to be unequaled: “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:21). These sayings by Ezekiel, Daniel, and Jesus do not contradict each other any more than 2 Kings 18 and 2 Kings 23 contradict each other. They are simply using hyperbole to say that what’s happening is really, really bad.

There are many more examples of hyperbole in Scripture. Look at the “universal negative” used in Isaiah 13:20. Speaking of Babylon’s judgment in the Old Testament, it says, “It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation; nor will the Arab pitch his tent there, nor will shepherds make their flocks lie down there.” Yet we know that long since the Old Testament judgment upon Babylon, people have in fact lived there. We also see hyperbole used regarding the judgement of Tyre. Ezekiel 26:14 says, “And I will make you a bare rock; you will be a place for the spreading of the nets. You will be built no more, for I the Lord have spoken.” Yet long afterwards, Jesus ministered there, as did the apostles (Matt. 15:21-28, Mark 3:8, Luke 6:17, Acts 21:3). This is not error; this is hyperbolic, poetic talk regarding powerful judgment. Such language is for dramatic effect, and is not meant to be taken in a wooden, literal sense.