An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

questions (## 9–11). 55 When the infinitive absolute is used as an interjection the
reader must supply the appropriate person and aspect on the basis of semantic
pertinence. The distinction between the use of the infinitive as interjection or as an
adverbial is somewhat blurred and subjective. For example, in # 11, the infinitives
could be rendered as below (or as ‘You rely…You conceive…’), or they could be
interpreted as qualifying adverbials and rendered, ‘No one calls for justice…, relying
on empty argument and speaking lies, conceiving trouble and giving birth to evil!’
9. . . . ףֹאנָ ו ְ חֹצ ַ ר ָ בֹנ ָגהֲ םיהלֹ ִ א ֱ ירֵ חֲ א ַ ךְלֹהָ וְ
םירִ חֵ א ֲ
10. ה ֵנּהִ ו ְ ה ֵבּר ְה־ל
ַ א ֶ הֹנ ָפּ
ט ָע ְמ ל ִ
11. ןיאֵ ו ְ קדֶ ֶצ֫ ְב ארֹק־ןי ֵ אֵ
חוֹט ַ בּ ָ ה֑ נוּמ ָ אֱ ֶבּ ט ָפּ ְשׁ נִ
אוְ ָשׁ־ר ֶבּד ַ ו ְ וּהֹתּ־ל ֫ ַע
׃ןוֶ א ָ֫
די ֵלוֹהו ְ ל ָמ ָע וֹרה ָ
Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery…and
follow after other gods?
Jer 7:9
You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little.
Hag 1:9
No one calls for justice, no one pleads his case with
integrity. They rely on empty argument and speak lies!
They conceive trouble and give birth to evil!
Isa 59:4
b According to A. Rubinstein the infinitive absolute with the conjunction at the
beginning of its clause continues a preceding finite verb in about forty-five
passages. 56 This usage belongs to a later stage of the language, to judge from the
relatively greater frequency of this construction in Jeremiah (ten times), Zechariah
(three times), Esther (nine times), and Nehemiah (four times) and from the rarity of
this construction in the Pentateuch (twice) and in the earlier prophets.
c The purpose served by this construction can just as well be served by other
constructions; 57 its use has been explained as an expression of a desire for stylistic
variation, but this explanation does not account for its predominance in late Biblical
Hebrew. Rubinstein suggests that it is the result of the disappearance of waw-
55
Cf. also Isa 5:5, Ps 17:5, Job 40:2. On the origin of this usage, see Goddard, Hebrew
Infinitive Absolute, 87.
56
A. Rubinstein, “A Finite Verb Continued by an Infinitive Absolute in Hebrew,”
Vetus Testamentum 2 (1952) 362–67; cf. Hammershaimb, “Infinitivus Absolutus,” 90;
cf. also Sperber, Historical Grammar, 73–75; Huesman, “Infinitive Absolute.”
57
Note the variety attested in these cases: hakbēd in Exod 8:11 MT and wykbd in
Exod 8:11 Sam; wenātōn in Isa 37:19 and wenatenû in 2 Kgs 19:18; wehassēk in Jer
19:13 and wehissikû in Jer 32:29; šábtî werā˒ōh in Qoh 9:11 and wešabtî ˒ănî wē˒er˒eh
in Qoh 4:1, 7. Further, Qumran biblical manuscripts ohen shift infinitive absolute
forms to finite forms; see, e.g., Rubinstein, “Finite Verb,” 365–67; Hammershaimb,
“Infinitivus Absolutus,” 91.