An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

I have heard that the cry is gone round about the borders [Isa 15:8] of Bologna, has
broadened and wound about higher and higher [Ezek 41:7] in the full assemblies [Ps
68:27]. In your house of prayer [Isa 56:7] my glory has been put to shame [Ps 4:3] by
men of blood and deceit that shall not live out half their days [Ps 55:24]. It is an
enemy that taunts me [Ps 55:13], and all the people perceive the thunderings [Exod
20:15].
The author claims here that “an enemy’s slanderous vilification…has been
spread throughout the whole of the Jewish community of Bologna. He has been
held up to public obloquy even in the house of divine worship by destructive and
deceitful persons, who accordingly are under the curse of a shortened life.” 21 This
passage is one example of the style of meliṣa ‘adornment’; there are other ways in
which Hebrew authors of all ages have infused their writings with the language of
scripture and the other sources. 22
b The first stage in the post-biblical history of Hebrew is one unknown to the
tradition. The scrolls and fragments of manuscripts found in the vicinity of the
Dead Sea, mostly at the site of Qumran, include, in addition to biblical texts and
anthologies, a great number of contemporary texts in Hebrew; the texts date from
around 200 B.C.E. through 135 C.E., some of them antedating the founding of
Qumran. Since the Qumran texts are often close in subject matter to the biblical
text, dealing with cultic behavior, for example, and divine praise, the Hebrew of
these texts is of special interest. 23
[Page 10] c The first major work in the post-biblical Jewish tradition, the Mishnah,
deals with the discussion and resolution of problems involving the application of
the religious law; it was compiled in the mid-second century C.E. Mishnaic
Hebrew is the language of the Mishnah and various related contemporary
documents. The two Talmuds, the Babylonian (י ִלבְ ַבּ) and the Palestinian
( ימִ לְ ַשׁ וּרְי ), supplement the Mishnah and contain Mishnaic Hebrew materials, as
21 Translation and summary from I. Rabinowitz, The Book of the Honeycomb’s
Flow…by Judah Messer Leon (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University, 1983) xxxiixxxiii.
22 The enormous role of the Luther Bible in German and the Authorized Version in
English is not comparable, since there is no real Hebrew (real in the sense of
contributing to the rhythm and lexis of the language) before, behind, or around
Biblical Hebrew.
23 On the distinctive Hebrew of Qumran, see E. Qimron, The Hebrew of the Dead Sea
Scrolls (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1986); S. A. Kaufman,”The Temple Scroll and
Higher Criticism,” Hebrew Union College Annual 53 (1982) 29–43. On the texts
generally, see, e.g., T. H. Gaster, The Dead Sea Scriptures (3d ed.; Garden City, New
York: Anchor/Doubleday, 1976); many scrolls remain to be published.