An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

א ֻל,אוּל), which introduces optative clauses (‘Oh that…!’) and subordinate clauses of
unreal and concessive force (‘even if…’). 93 Further, it is strongly possible that the
emphatic or asseverative lamed is etymologically distinct from the preposition,
though the Masoretes do not distinguish the two. Emphatic lamed stands (a) before a
noun in a verbless clause (# 65), 94 (b) before a verb form in a verbal clause (# 66), 95
and (c) before vocatives (# 67). 96 A different emphatic use involves other
prepositions: l may follow another[Page 212] preposition directly ( ְל ביבִ ָ
complement ( . . . ןיבֵּ termed emphatic.
65. בוֹט אוּה יח ַ בלֶ ֶכ֫ ל־י ְ ִכּ Indeed a live dog is better than a dead lion.
׃ת ֵמּ ה ַ הֵירְ אַ ה־ן ָ ִמ
66.
67.
11.2.11 ן ִמ
ס) or as a
ְל , Gen 1:6), and its use in such constructions can also be
Qoh 9:4
ינִ עי ֑ ֵ֫
ִשׁוֹה ְל הוהי YHWH, do save me!
הוהי ֑ בּ ַ םי ִקידִּ ַצ וּנ ְנּר ַ
׃ה ָלּהִ ת ְ הוא ָ נ ָ םירִ ָשְׁי ַל
Isa 38:20
Rejoice, O you just, in YHWH; O you upright, praise is
fitting.
Ps 33:1
a This preposition shows its canonical form ן ִמ before the article regularly and only
irregularly otherwise; otherwise, the nun assimilates to the following consonant, and
the forms ־ ִמ or ־ ֵמ result. There are two long variants: ינִּ ִמ, without suffixes, and
־ נ ֶמּ ִמ , with suffixes (e.g., ינִּ ֶמּ ֫ ִמ). The relations that the preposition designates
involve origins and causes.
b The spatial senses of mn are both static and dynamic. The locational mn describes
the place where a thing or person originated (# 1) or the direction where a thing is
located (# 2). More basic is the ablative sense of mn, designating movement away
92 On the material discussed in this paragraph, see John Huehnergard, “Asseverative
*la and Hypothetical *lu/law in Semitic,” Journal of the American Oriental Society
103 (1983) 569–93; a supplementary note dealing with the shape of the particle is
given by R. C. Steiner, “Lulav versus *lu/law,” Journal of the American Oriental
Society 107 (1987) 121–22.
93 See Huehnergard, “Asseverative *la,” 571.
94 See also Ps 89:19.
95 Huehnergard allows emphatic lamed with finite verb forms except imperatives;
“Asseverative *la,” 591.
96 Huehnergard (“Asseverative *la,” 591) and P. D. Miller (“Vocative Lamed in the
Psalter,” Ugarit-Forschungen 11 [1979] 617–37) are dubious about vocative lamed.
For an argument that vocative lamed is best taken as identical to the preposition, see
O’Connor, Hebrew Verse Structure, 80–81. On Ugaritic vocative lamed see Pardee,
UF 7: 371; 8:326.