An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

Verbless clauses are negated with ןי ֵ
א (in the construct; ## 6–7) or rarely ןִי ַ֫
א (in the
absolute; # 8). 61 Two frequent negative verbless clause types are ןיא followed by a
participle (# 9) and ןיא with a possessive suffix denoting the subject (## 10–11).
Various negative types may occur together (# 12).
7.
8.
9.
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10.
11.
12.
6. הוהי ןיא ֵ י ִכּ וּל ֲעתּ־ל ַ אַ
ם֑ כֶ בְּ רְ ִק בְּ
םֹת ְמ וֹבּ־ןי ֵ
׃הדָ ֵל ְל ןִיא ַ֫
חֹכ ַ ְ
Don’t attack! YHWH is not in your midst!
Num 14:42
א There’s no health in it!
Isa 1:6
ו There’s no strength to give birth!
Isa 37:3
דיר֑ ִחֲ
ַמ ןיאֵ ו ְ םתֶּ ְב ַכ ְשׁוּ You shall lie down and there will be no one to terrorize
׃ן ֶבתּ ֶ֫
ם ֶכל ָ ןתֹנ ֵ ינִּ ֶני ֫ ֵ
(you).
Lev 26:6
א I am not giving you straw.
Exod 5:10
וֹמני ֑ ֵ֫
א ֵ שׁוֹנא ֱ ל ַמ ֲע ַבּ They are not (involved) in human pain.
וֹבּ ל ֵשׁוֹכּ־ןיאֵ ו ְ ףֵי ָע־ןי ֵ
Ps 73:5
א There is no one who is weary, no one who stumbles in
it (the road?),
ןשׁיִי ֑ ָ אֹ לו ְ םוּנָי אֹ ל no one dozes, no one slumbers.
Isa 5:27
39.3.4 Emphatic Adverbs
a The category of emphatic clausal adverbs includes adverbs that modify the clause in
itself (as negatives do), those that modify the clause in relation to preceding or
following clauses (dependent or independent), and those that modify the clause in
relation to the whole discourse. In traditional Hebrew grammars, some of these are
called particles and others adverbs; 62 some are associated with clause types, while
61
˒áyin/˒ên occurs 789 times; its conventional antonym yēš occurs 140 times
(SA/THAT). The latter is often considered an adverb (e.g., GKC §100o / pp. 296–97).
For ˒ên as an item adverb, note compounds such as ˒ên-qēs ‘endless’ (Isa 9:6), ˒ên
qēṣeh ‘endless’ (Isa 2:7bis), ˒ên mispār ‘innumerable’ (Jer 2:32, 1 Chr 22:4), ˒ên
mišqāl ‘beyond weighing’ (1 Chr 22:3). Note the discussion of J. Carmignac,
“L’emploi de la négation ןיא dans la Bible et á Qumrân,” Revue de Qumran 8 (1974)
407–13, who emphasizes the increase in item-adverbial use at Qumran.
62 See Joüon §164 / pp. 502–3.