An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

questions ask not about the factuality of the action but about the desirability or
necessity of it.
11. בה֑ ָ אֱ תּ ֶ הוהי יאֵ נֹשׂ ְ ְלוּ 29
Should you love the enemies of YHWH?
12.
ם ֶכינֵ ְשׁ־ם ַגּ ל ַכּ ְשׁ א ֶ ה ָמ ָ
13. ה ֶשׂ ֲעַי ה ָנוֹז ְכהַ ׃וּנתוֹח ֵ֫
א־ת ֲ אֶ
14.
2 Chr 19:2
ל Why should I lose both of you?
Gen 27:45
Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?
Gen 34:3–1
׃םחֶ ָל ֫ ךָאֲ ָב ְצ ִל ןתֵּ ִנ־י ִכּ …that we should give bread to your troops?
Judg 8:6
g The non-perfective of obligation refers to either what the speaker considers to be the
subject’s obligatory or necessary conduct or what the subject considers to be an
obligation. This use is similar to the one above, but instead of occurring in an
interrogatory clause it occurs in a declarative statement. This use is closely related to
both the use of the prefix conjugation to express volition and to its use for
consequential results.
15. ךָ ְל וּשׁחֲ ַכְי ךָזְּ ֻע בֹר ְבּ
׃ךָיבְ ֶ֫ יֹא
16. תא ֵ ם ֶכתְ א ֶ יתי ִ רוֹה ֵ וְ
ןוּשׂ ֲעתּ ַ רשׁאֲ [Page
509]
17.
ידָיּ ִ מ ִ ה ָנּטּ֫ ֶ חַ אֲ
ה ָנּשׁ֑ ֶ֫
ְק בַ
תְּ
18. ר ֶשׁ א ֲ םי ִשׂ ֲע ַמ
׃ידִ מָּ ִע תי ָ ִשׂ ֫ ָע וּשׂ ָעֵי־אֹ ל
So great is your power that your enemies (must) cringe
before you.
Ps 66:3
I will teach you what you should do.
Exod 4:15
I would have to bear the loss of it myself.
Gen 31:39
You have done things to me that should not be done.
Gen 20:9
h The non-perfective of desire denotes a desire or wish of the subject.
19. ה֑ זֶּה ַ שׁיאִ ה־ם ָ ִע י ִכל ְ תֵ הֲ Will you (i.e., do you wish to) go with this man?
20.
21.
חק ָ ךָ ְלּ־חקַּ תּ ִ הּתֹא־ם ָ ִ
וי֑ לָ ָע ְבּ וּנּר֫ ֶ ְמ ְשִׁי אֹ ל ְ
Gen 24:58
א If you want to take it, do so.
29 Cf. ˒ăšer-˒āhábtā ‘whom you love,’ in Gen 22:2.
1 Sam 21:10
ו yet the owner would not keep it penned up