An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

one point is especially important. The MT form ךָ - (-kā) is a blend of an unvoweled
suffix -k (so the consonantal text) and a final long-vowel form -kā (so the
vocalization). The long form of the suffix is attested regularly at Qumran in the
writing הכ - and sporadically in the MT (e.g., ה ָכאֹבּ ֲ ‘your coming,’ Gen 10:30).
Similarly, ךְ - is a blend of unvoweled -k and -kī the form expected on etymological
grounds. Qumran regularly uses the suffix in the form יכ -, and the MT rarely shows
this form, too (e.g., י ִכתֵ ֫ ָע ָ
ר ‘your miseries,’ Jer 11:15). 46
b The masculine pronoun is often used for a feminine antecedent (## 1–2; 6.5.3).
1.
׃ה ָנסְ כַּ ֫ ַעתּ ְ םהי ֶ ֵלגְ רַ ְבוּ with ornaments jingling on their (masc. for תוֹנ ְבּ)
2. . . . תֹראֵ ְבּה־ל ַ ָכו ְ
םיתִּ ְשׁ ִל ְפּ םוּמתְּ סִ
׃ר ָפ ָע םוּא ְל ַמְ יוַ ankles
Isa 3:16
And as for all the wells (fem.)…the Philistines stopped
them (masc.) up and filled them (masc.) with earth.
Gen 26:15
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Singular suffixes can have a collective reference (# 3), and, conversely, plural
suffixes may be used after collective singulars (# 4; 7.2.1b).
3. ידוּהְי ִ אוֹר ְק ִכּ יהְי ִ וַ
ה ָע ָבּר ְאַ
ו ְ תוֹתלָ דּ ְ שׁלֹ ָשׁ
הָ ֶע֫ רָ ְקִי
Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns (pl.),
(the king) cut them (sing.) off.
Jer 36:23
4. ץרֶ א֫ ֶ ְבּ ךָ ֲערְ ז ַ הֶיהִי ְ ר ֵגּ Your descendants (sing.) will be strangers (sing.) in a
small number of) scribal errors. For a review, see Z. Zevit, “The Linguistic and
Contextual Arguments in Support of a Hebrew 3 m.s. Suffix -y,” Ugarit-Forschungen
9 (1977) 315–28. As for the possessive/ objective distribution, it should be noted that
the third person plural forms -hem, -hen are very rarely used on verbs.
46
On the long forms, see Qimron, Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls, 58–59; he reports
that the long form -kh is found approximately 900 times, the short form -k about 160
times. With regard to the feminine -ky, note that Jer 11:15 is very difficult; see
William L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986), 1. 348.
The MT pausal form -āk, sometimes attributed to specifically Aramaic influence,
is rather to be seen as an example of apocope in pause found in both Semitic and non-
Semitic languages; on analogy with -hā and -āh the -āk form was extended to general
(i.e., non-pausal) use in post-biblical texts in the three major reading traditions of
Hebrew-Tiberian, Babylonian, and Palestinian. See Richard Steiner, “From Proto-
Hebrew to Mishnaic Hebrew: The History of ךְ ָ◌, and הּ ָ◌,” Hebrew Annual Review
3 (1979) 157–74.
sing. singular