An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

c This construction has a “selective-exclusive” force, in Muraoka’s term: the subject/
focus is singled out and contrasted with other possibIe or actual alternatives. 26 In
some cases the passage is concerned with the uniqueness of the subject/focus. 27
2.
ןיא ֵ םיהלֹ ֑ ִ אֱ ה ָ אוּה
הוהי
׃וֹדּבַ לְ ִמ דוֹע
3. םיהלֹ ִ אֱ ה ָ אוּה הוהי
׃םיהלֹ ִ אֱ ה ָ אוּה הוהי
4. ךְ ֵלֹהה ַ אוּה הוהיוַ ךָינֶ֫ ָפל ְ
5. הוהי רחַ ְבִ י־ר ֶשׁ א ֲ שׁיאִ הָ
שׁוֹד֑ קָּ ה ַ אוּה
YHWH is God; there is none beside him.
Deut 4:35
YHWH is God. YHWH is God [in sharp contrast to Baal].
1 Kgs 18:39
YHWH is the one who walks before you. 28
Deut 31:8
The man whom YHWH chooses, he is the one who is
holy. 29
Num 16:7
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In this focus construction the subject/focus can be a pronoun (first- or second-
person). 30
6.
םיהלֹ ִ אֱ ה ָ אוּה־התָּ א ַ You are God.
7. החֹמ ֶ אוּה י ִכֹנ א ָ י ִכֹנ אָ
ךָי ֶע֫ ָשׁ פ ְ
8.
י ִכּל ְ ַמ אוּה־התָּ ַ
2 Sam 7:28
I, I blot out your transgressions.
Isa 43:25
א You are my king.
Ps 44:5
The focus constructions can also be used when there is a change in the center of
attention.
26
Muraoka, Emphatic Words, 72–74 (quotation from p. 72).
27
Compare the relative clause headed by hû˒ in Gen 2:14.
28
In the clause that immediately follows this one, hû˒ is the subject and is probably
used because the underlying subject yhwh and the verb form yihyeh used there are so
similar.
29
Contrast the clauses cited here with other identifying clauses that have a predicate
with a definite article and lack an independent pronoun, e.g., Exod 9:27, 1 Kgs
3:22bis.
30
The demonstrative sense of hû˒ is plain here; cf. Muraoka, Emphatic Words, 69–70,
especially on related patterns in Aramaic. On the interpretation of Ps 44:5 as ‘You are
he—my king,’ see pp. 67–69. Other examples of the construction in Isa 37:16; 51:9,
10, 12; 52:6; Jer 14:22, 29:23 Qere; the preponderance of Isaianic material is
noteworthy.