An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

8.
שׁדֶ ֹח ֫ ר ָשׂ ָע םינֵ ְשׁ ִבּ in the twelfth month
2 Kgs 25:27
15.3.2 Dates
a There are three components to a full date, each numerical. The two simpler elements,
day and month, are reckoned absolutely (i.e., by a fixed calendar). 25 Year reckoning is
usually by reign (e.g., 2 Kgs 25:1) or by era, for example, of the Exile in Babylonia
(e.g., 2 Kgs 25:27). The day and year are usually indicated by cardinal numbers, the
month by ordinals.
[Page 285] b If the day alone is mentioned, there are two common formulas. 26 The first
is used for the ordinals ‘first-tenth’ and involves םוֹי with the article, followed by the
ordinal with the article.
1. ןוֹשׁארִ ה ָ םוֹיּבּ ַ on the first day
2. י ִעיבִ ְשּׁ ַ ַ
3.
Exod 12:16, Num 7:12
ה םוֹי בּ on the seventh day
ירי ִ ִשׂ ֲעה ָ םוֹיּ ַ
Exod 12:16, Num 7:48
בּ on the tenth day
Num 7:66
For the higher numbered days, the formula is םוֹי + numeral + םוֹי; neither
occurrence of םוֹי has the article.
5.
4. םוֹי ר ָשׂ ָע יתֵּ ְשׁ ַע םוֹיבְּ on the eleventh day
םוֹי ר ָשׂ ָע םינֵ ְשׁ םוֹי ְ
Num 7:72
בּ on the twelfth day
Num 7:78
If the month is mentioned, there is more variety.
6. ה֑ זֶּה ַ שׁדֶ ֫
7. םוֹי ר ָשׂ ָע ה ָע ָבּר ְא
ַ ד ַע
ה֑ זֶּה ַ שׁדֶ ֹח֫ ַל
ֹח ַל רֹשׂ ָע ֶבּ on the tenth (day) of this month
Exod 12:3
until the fourteenth day of this month
Exod 12:6
8. ר ָשׂ ָע ה ָע ָבּר ְאַ
ְבּ ןֹשׁארִ ָבּ in the first (month), on the fourteenth day of the month
25
Days and months are both usually numbered. Day names are largely post-biblical.
Month names follow two calendars, one old calendar (attested in the time of Solomon,
1 Kgs 6:1, 37–38; 8:2, and usually considered pre-exilic) and one more recent
(attested in the Persian period, e.g., Neh 2:1; Esth 3:7, 8:9); neither set of month
names is fully attested in the Bible, although the later, so-called Babylonian calendar
was and remains standard for later Jewish practice.
26
Although we are concerned here with dating formulas, we may say that it is rare for
a numbered day to be mentioned outside a dating formula, notably, in Deut 5:14, yôm
has̆s̆əbî˓î is the subject of a sentence.