An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

[Page
77] 3.
הוהי ינִ ח ָ֫ ךְרֶ דֶּ֫ בַּ י ִכֹנ אָ
As for me, YHWH led me (object) in the way.
4. דמֹע ֵ ר ֶשׁ א ֲ י ַשִׁי שׁרֶ ֫
ֹשׁ
םִיוֹגּ וי ָלא ֵ םימִּ ַע סנֵ ְל
וּ ֑שֹׁר דִי ְ
5. תי ָ ִל֫ ָע־ר ֶשׁ אֲ
ה ָ
טּמִּ הַ
ה ָנּ ֶמּ ֫ ִמ דרֵ ת־אֹ ֵ ל ם ָשּׁ
Gen 24:27
As for the root of Jesse which stands as a banner
for the people—the nations will rally to it
(prepositional object).
Isa 11:10
As for the bed into which you climbed up, you
shall not come down from it (prepositional
object).
2 Kgs 1:4
In # 5 the רשׁא clause includes a resumptive adverb, םשׁ. One reason other
than emphasis for the use of the absolute construction is suggested by ## 4–5: it
allows a grammatically complex part of the clause to stand on its own, thus
increasing clarity. For similar reasons a complex subject may be shifted or
displaced to precede the clause, sometimes being separated from it by a
conjunction, as in # 6.
6. ךָ ְל הָיה־ר ָ ֶשׁ א ֲ ט ַע ְמ י ִכּ With respect to the little you had before I came, (it)
בֹר ָל ץֹר ְפִ יּו ַ ינַ ָפל ְ has increased greatly.
Gen 30:30
d The vocative construction, familiar from English, is similar to the nominative
absolute in being an element of the clause other than subject and predicate.
Vocatives stand in apposition to the second-person pronoun, expressed or
unexpressed, and may occur with either verbless or verbal clauses.
7. הוהי התָּ אַ קידִּ ַצ You are righteous, YHWH.
8.
Jer 12:1
תָּ ְע ַ֫בּ ְשׁ נ ִ התָּ אַ ינֹד ִ אֲ
My lord, you swore…
9. ךְ ֶל ֶמּ ֫ ַ ֫
1 Kgs 1:17
ה ה ָע ִשׁוֹה Save (me), O king.
2 Sam 14:4
After a vocative, a modifying phrase or clause regularly uses the third-person
pronoun (as also in Classical Arabic) and not the second-person pronoun as in
English and other languages. 15
10. ם ָלּ ֻכּ םימִּ ַע וּע ְמ ִשׁ Hear, O peoples, all of you (lit., all of them)!
15
D. R. Hillers, Micah (Hermeneia; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984) 16. He cites also Isa
44:23, 54:1; Ezek 21:30.