An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

suggests that יכּ is a subordinating conjunction, which it often is not when used in the
logical sense. The two clausal uses, which can occur in adjacent clauses (# 20, first
logical, then emphatic), should not be too strictly separated.
18.
17. . . ה֑ דֶ פָּ תּ ִ ט ָפּ ְשׁ מִ ְבּ ןוֹיּ ִצ
. . . םי ִליאֵ ֵמ וּשׁ ֫בֵ י י ִכּ .
ה ָלאֵ ְכּ וּיהְ ת ִ י ִכּ
Zion shall be redeemed justly.…They (its inhabitants)
shall indeed be ashamed of oaks.…You shall indeed be
like an oak.
Isa 1:27, 29–30
הוהי ה ָמוּק Arise, YHWH,
יהלֹ ַ א ֱ ינִ ֵעי ֫ ִשׁוֹה Deliver me, O my God.
יבְ ַ יֹא־ל ָכּ־תא ֶ תי ָ ִכּ֫ ה־י ִ ִכּ
יח֑ ִ לֶ
Indeed, strike all my enemies on the cheek.
Ps 3:8
֫ ִ ִ ַ
ֵ ֶ ֫ ִ
ָ ֶ ֫ ִ
֫
19. ת ֶשׁ ֶל ְפ יח ְמ ְשׂ תּ־לא ךְ ֵלּ ֻכּ
Do not rejoice, all of you, Philistia
ךְ֑ כּ ַמ טב ֵשׁ ר ַבּ ְשׁ נ י ִכּ (over the fact) that the rod of your smiting is broken—
א ֵצֵי שׁח ָנ שׁרֹשּׁמ־י ִכּ
ע ַפ ֶצ
(because of the fact) that an adder will emerge from
20.
the serpent root.
Isa 14:29
ה Bring me back so I can come back,
ה ָבוּ ֫שׁ אָ ו ְ ינִ ֵ֫בי ִשׁ ֲ
׃יהלֹ ָ א ֱ הוהי התָּ א ַ י ִכּ because you are YHWH my God.
יתִּ ְמ חַ֫ ִנ יבוּשׁ ִ ירֵ חֲ א־י ַ ִכּ Indeed after I turned away I repented.
Jer 31:18–19
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The particle ןכּ is regularly used in the apodosis of a comparative sentence (‘thus’;
38.5); when it stands in a clause that is not a comparative apodosis, it has a general
comparative sense with no specific referent (## 21–22); the referent is usually clear
from context. Adverbial ןכּ is common in the two combinations ןכל and ןכ־לע. 82 The
first of these usually introduces a proposed or anticipated response after a statement of
certain conditions (‘the foregoing being the case, therefore’; ## 23 twice, 24). In
82
On kn, see the articles of M. J. Mulder, “Die Partikel ן ֵכּ im Alten Testament,” and
E. Talstra, “The Use of ן ֵכּ in Biblical Hebrew,” Oudtestamentische Studiën 21 (1981)
201–27, 228–39. The combinations are discussed here because of their frequency: lkn
occurs 188 times and ˓l-kn 145 times. See also H. Lenhard, “Über den Unterscheid
zwischen ןכל und ןכ־לע,” Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 95
(1983) 269–72; B. Jongeling, “Lākēn dans l’Ancien Testament,” Oudtestamentische
Studiën 21 (1981) 190–200.