An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

27.2 Hiphils of Qal and Niphal Verbs Used Intransitively
27.3 Hiphils of Qal Verbs Used Transitively
27.4 Denominative and Isolated Hiphils
27.5 Modal Senses
27.1 Form and Meaning
a The stem system of the Hebrew verb works as a system, and the two major points of
system stress and development involve the Qal : Piel contrast and the Piel : Hiphil
contrast. These two contrasts are discussed in 21.2.2; we treat the relevant points more
briefly here. Hebrew grammars traditionally represent the Hiphil stem as the causative
of the Qal stem. Since they also teach that the Piel stem sometimes signifies this same
notion, they cannot effectively distinguish the two stems; for some verbs at least they
assert that there is no practical distinction. Thus, writes one grammar, “The meaning
of Hiph˓îl is primarily, and even more frequently than in Pi˓ēl,…causative of Qal…In
some verbs, Pi˓ēl and Hiph˓îl occur side by side in the same sense…” 1 The use of both
stems for the so-called “declarative sense” further exacerbates the confusion.
b Ernst Jenni, beginning with the assumption that the two morphologically distinct
stems have different semantic values, undertook an exhaustive study of the Piel,
focusing on the Piel and Hiphil stems of the same verbal root in similar contexts.
According to Jenni, the Piel signifies to bring about a state, and the Hiphil, to cause
an event. 2 His distinction involves two contrasting ideas: state versus event, and to
bring about versus to cause actively. 3 According to Jenni, the differences between
Piel and Hiphil can be understood by appealing to deep differences: the Piel is
analogous to a nominal clause, the Hiphil to a verbal clause.
[Page 434] c In our discussion of stative verbs we contrasted the Hebrew predicateadjective
construction with the stative construction (22.2.2). The former predicates a
state or condition without any verb, that is, without marking for aspect, mood,
Aktionsart. In the latter construction, by contrast, the root has all the markings of a
verb. Thus, the predicate-adjective construction presents the subject’s state or
condition and the stative construction presents a situation involving a state or
condition. Consider these pairs.
1a. הוהי ֑ י ֵשׂ ֲע ַמ םי ִלֹד גּ ְ Great (are) YHWH’s works.
1
GKC §53c / p. 144; cf. R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax: An Outline (2d ed.; Toronto:
University of Toronto, 1976) 28. Due to the complex morphology of the Hiphil the
weak verbs are largely straightforward. The contrast of l-w and l-y verbs is best
preserved in the Hiphil; the l-w group is much larger than the l-y group, of which only
yṭb is common. Cf. also n. 10.
2
Ernst Jenni, Das hebräische Pi˓el (Zurich: EVZ, 1968) 20–52. Cf. W. T. Claassen,
“On a Recent Proposal as to a Distinction between Pi˓el and Hiph˓il,” Journal of
Northwest Semitic Languages 1(1971) 3–10.
3
There are cases in which the sense of the Hiphil is lexicalized, i.e., distinctively
specified for the root; see below, 27.4b, on škm.