An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

5. She gave him the books.
6. She gave away the books.[Page 164]
The verb ‘to give’ can be simply transitive, alone (# 3), with a particle (# 6), or
with a prepositional (“indirect”) object (# 4). But it can also be used with no
expressed object (# 1) or with two (# 5) or with a particle (# 2). Such complexities
as these, combined with Biblical Hebrew’s status as a written language, make it
difficult to draft a full scheme of Hebrew accusative types. Both similarities and
differences in verbal government between Biblical Hebrew and English also
complicate our task, and we will devote attention to insisting on some of the
distinctions between the two languages.
c The direct-object accusative is the recipient of a transitive verb’s action.
7.
םיהלֹ ִ א ֱ הוהי חקִּיּ ַ וַ
םד֑ ָאָ
ה־ת ָ אֶ
And YHWH God took Adam.
ִ ַ֫
ִ ֱ
8. ינאיבה Gen 2:15
It brought me.
Ezek 40:2
Both Hebrew חקל and איבה are transitive, as are both English ‘to take’ and
‘to bring.’ In prose, the direct object, if definite, may be governed by תא.
Contrast # 9 and # 10.
9.
10.
וֹ ֑כּסְ נ־ת ִ אֶ ךְסַּיּ ֵ וַ
And he poured out his libation.
2 Kgs 16:13
םהי ֶ ֵכּסְ נִ ךְיסִּ א־ל ַ בַּ
I will not pour out their libations.
Ps 16:4
Often a Hebrew transitive verb does not correspond to an English transitive
that can appropriately be used in glossing or translating it. 7
11. ןִיק־ת ַ֫ ֶ ֵ֫
א ד ֶלתּוַ She gave birth to Cain. 8
7 This fact should be borne in mind in evaluating the frequently made claims that it is
somehow “better” to translate a Hebrew transitive with an English, and so on; such
claims are hogwash and are frequently used to distort the work of translation.
8 This clause illustrates clearly that there is no rigid barrier between transitive verbs
and verbs that govern a prepositional object. The gloss given corresponds to the
translation of the NIV; AV renders, ‘She…bare Cain.’ The difference between the
translations is a function of the difference between sixteenth- and seventeenth-century
English and twentieth-century English; it is not a matter of Hebrew at all. It must be
admitted, however, that the verb yld, with its several quite distinct referents, presents
special difficulties of its own; see 10.3.2, ## 6–7.