An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

לאוּת ֵ ְבּ (Gen 22:22), לאוּמ ֵ ל ְ (Prov 31:1), and לאוּמ ֵ ְנ (Num 26:9) are unknown,
as is that of לטוּמ ַ ח ֲ (2 Kgs 23:31)~לטי ַ מִ ח ֲ (2 Kgs 24:18 Kethiv).
c The old genitive singular ending is preserved and lengthened in the suffixed
forms of some monosyllabic words for family members: בא ָ ‘father,’ but ךָי בִ֫ אָ
‘your father’; חא ָ ‘brother,’ but ךָי חִ֫ אָ
‘your brother’; םח ָ ‘father-in-law,’ but
הי ָ מִ ֫ חָ
‘her father-in-law.’ 5 יבִ א ֲ and יחִ ֲ
א also serve as the first element in a great
many compound personal names; there the î may be a case vowel or the firstperson
singular pronoun: ךְ ֶל ֶמי ֫ בִ אֲ
‘the/my father is king’ and so also בדָ ני ָ בִ א, ֲ
ךְ ֶל ֶמי ֫ חִ אֲ
, ץ ַע ַמי ֫ חִ אֲ
; cf. קד ֶ ֶצ־י ֫ ִכּל ְ ַמ ‘my king is righteous’ and לאי ֵ רִ ְב ַגּ ‘the/my
man is God’. 6
d It is possible that the old accusative ending may still be seen in a few forms, for
example, ה ָלְי ַל ‘night’ and ה ָצר ְא֫
ַ ‘land.’ These are probably rather faded
survivors of the directional he suffix (10.5). Grammarians used to derive that
suffix from the old accusative ending, but evidence from Ugarit now rules out this
explanation. 7
e An obscure phenomenon often associated with the case system is presented by
the suffixes of connection (litteræ compaginis), otherwise debated and unexplained
-î and -ô endings usually found on a noun in construct (see 9.2). 8 The second of
these is rather rare, but the ḥireq compaginis occurs in a variety of passages,
almost all poetic. If these endings were to be treated as case endings, the -î would
~ approximately equal to
5
Note also the linking vowels on forms of kōl in which “the case-endings [have] the
same vowel as that of the suffix,” e.g., kullāk (Mic 2:12) and kullāh (he with mappiq;
Isa 48:6), with an accusative source for the ā vowels; kullēk (Isa 14:29), with a
genitive source (-i-) for ē; and kullōh (Isa 15:3), with a nominative source (-u-) for ō;
T. O. Lambdin apud J. Huehnergard, “Three Notes on Akkadian Morphology,”
“Working with No Data”: Semitic and Egyptian Studies Presented to Thomas O.
Lambdin, ed. D. M. Golomb and S. T. Hollis (Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns,
1987) 181–93, at 189 n. 47.
6
On the debate, see BL §65g/ p. 524, who believe that the vowel is a pronominal
suffix. The name of Melchisedeq is spelled on both occasions it is used (Gen 14:18,
Ps 110:4) with the elements of the name separated by a maqqep, an unusual usage for
Hebrew compound names.
7
For the outmoded view, see GKC §90a / p. 249; for the Ugaritic evidence, see UT
§8.56. Note also ˒ăbî-milkâ in Gen 11:29, probably not another name for Haran, but
an epithet,’father of Milcah.’
8
This construction is not to be confused with the construction where the pronominal
suffix anticipates the noun, for example, bəbō˒ām hakkōhănîm ‘at their entrance, the
priests(‘)’ (Ezek 42:14) and perhaps bənô ṣippōr ‘his son, Zippor(‘s)’(Num 23:18).