An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

4.
5.
6.
וֹל בוֹטו ְ לוּא ָשׁ ְל חוַ רָ ְ
וֹ ֑ל ר ֶצ֫
׃י ִל חוּנָי ַ זא ָ יתִּ ְנ ֫
7. ם֑ עָ ְ ִ
ו Saul was relieved (lit., it was broad to Saul) and felt
good (lit., it was good to him). 44
1 Sam 16:23
ֵי He will be in distress (lit., it will be narrow to him). 45
Job 20:22
ַשָׁי Now I would be asleep, at rest (lit., it would be at rest to
me).
Job 3:13
נִי םיחי ִכוֹמּלַ וְ
It will be well for those who reprove (the guilty).
Prov 24:25
[Page 378] 23 Niphal Stem
23.1 Form and Meaning
23.2 Basic Species of the Niphal
2.1 Middle
2.2 Passive
23.3 Adjectival Species of the Niphal
23.4 Double-Status Species of the Niphal
23.5 Isolated and Denominative Niphals
23.6 Mixed Forms
6.1 Mixture with Qal
6.2 Mixture with Piel
6.3 Mixture with Hiphil
6.4 Mixture with Hithpael
23.1 Form and Meaning
a The Qal and Niphal stems are distinguished from the other stems in that they
essentially lack any element of causation (cf. 23.4h). The two are distinguished from
each other in that the Qal or G stem is unmarked, while the Niphal or N stem is
marked, both morphologically (with n) and semantically. The characteristic n
augment of the stem functioning principally as the marked counterpart of the G stem
is attested over the entire Semitic area with the exception of Aramaic. 1 In Hebrew the
nun appears initially in the suffix conjugation niqtal, participle niqtāl, and one form of
the infinitive absolute, niqtôl; it appears in an assimilated form with the first root
consonant in the prefix conjugation yiqqātēl and related forms with a so-called
44 The Qal impersonal of rwḥ is also used in Job 32:20.
45
The masculine of ṣrr is more common as an impersonal but the feminine is used in
Judg 10:9 and 1 Sam 30:6.
1
S. Moscati et al., An Introduction to the Comparative Grammar of the Semitic
Languages (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1964) 126–27; G. Bergsträsser, Introduction to
the Semitic Languages, trans. and sup. P. T. Daniels (Winona Lake, Indiana:
Eisenbrauns, 1983) 84–85.