An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

a This preposition is the only extremely common particle of relation that has no basic
spatial or temporal sense; it describes comparison and correspondence (‘like, as, just
as’). In most cases כּ is used in ways comparable to other prepositions, but it is
distinctive in two of its syntactic features: its capacity to head a noun phrase (e.g.,
ע ַשׂ ֶפ ֫ ְכּ ‘(a distance) like/the like of a footstep,’ 1 Sam 20:3) and its ability to “absorb”
other prepositions (e.g., רהַ ְכּ ‘as on the mountain,’ Isa 28:21). It is because of these
features that k is sometimes referred to as a substantive, ‘the like of.’ The variant form
וֹמ ְכּ occurs alone and with suffixes, cf. ה ָנהֵ ֫ ָכּ and ךָוֹמ֫ ָכּ. In combination with ˒sr, k
forms the most common temporal conjunction in Hebrew, ר ֶשׁ אֲ ַכּ. 49
b There are three facets to the basic use of כּ . (1) The preposition may denote
agreement in quantity or measure, as in ‘Moses is as tall as Joshua’ (# 1). Related to
this is the use of the preposition before approximations, as in ‘Moses is about that
tall’ (# 2).[Page 203] (2) Agreement in kind is also marked with k (# 3), cf. ‘Joshua is
like Moses as a prophet.’ In this English example, ‘as a prophet’ specifies the point of
comparison or tertium quid, the “third thing” in terms of which the likeness is
proposed. The “third thing” need not be specified—it is often evident from the
discourse; in poetry the point of comparison may be left vague in order to allow an
analogy to open up, inducing the reader to engage the analogy and find not one but
many contacts between the things compared. 50 Agreement in manner or norm (cf.
‘Joshua is a prophet in the manner of Moses’) is akin to agreement in kind (## 4–7).
(3) The logical outcome of comparison is correspondence or identity, cf. ‘Moses
loves Joshua as (he does) himself.’ The agreement of the things compared is
complete, insofar as the discourse is concerned (kaph veritatis; # 8). Identity
constructions formed with k often involve a double use of k: in discourse about X, we
find either kX kY or, more often, kY kX(## 9–10); both are used in legal materials. The
second of these patterns has come into English: ‘Like father, like son.’
1. ם ֶכי ֵל ֲע ףסֹי ֵ . . . הוהי May YHWH…make you a thousand times as many as
םימ֑ ִ ָע ְפּ ףלֶ א ֶ֫
ם ֶכ ָכּ you are.
2. ר ֶשׂ ֶע֫ ְכּ ם ָשׁ וּב ְשׁ ֵיּ֫ וַ
׃םינִ ָשׁ
Deut 1:11
They lived there about ten years.
Ruth 1:4
49
Alone, k is used rarely as a conjunction; see, e.g., Gen 12:14; k in # 7 may better be
taken as a conjunction.
50
Biblical similes and metaphors require both grammatical and theoretical restudy.
The character of the problem is becoming more widely appreciated; see, e.g., Michael
D. Goulder, The Song of Fourteen Songs (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1986) 4–8, 71, and,
on particular passages, e.g., 32–34, 45. The preposition k also plays an important role
in ancient exegesis; see M. Fishbane, Biblical Interpretation in Ancient Israel
(Oxford: Clarendon, 1985) 352–53.