An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

30. . ךָידֶ֫ בָ ֲע ַל ןתָּ ִנ ןיא ֵ ן ֶבתֶּ ֫
םי ִכּ ֻמ ךָידֶ֫ בָ ֲע ה ֵנּהִ וְ
. .
31. תיר֑ ִ ְבּ ר ֵפהָ ְל ה ָלא ָ הזָ ָבוּ
וֹדָי ןתַ ָנ ה ֵנּהִ וְ
Gen 15:3
Your servants are given no straw…and so your
servants are being beaten.
Exod 5:16
He has reviled an oath in breaking the covenant even
though he had given his hand to it.
Ezek 17:18
40.2.2 Oath and Wish Exclamations
a The expression of wishes and oaths does not require the use of any sort of
exclamation, but a diverse set of exclamations are used, some protases without
apodoses and[Page 679] some phrases headed up by substantives. The particles םא
and אל are involved in a number of these exclamations, not always in a
comprehensible way. While Paul Joüon argues that the unpredictable usages are the
result of contamination among the various patterns, it may be better to confess that the
calculus of the particles is beyond our specification. 18
b An oath need not be introduced by an exclamation. 19 It may have no introduction or
it may be preceded only by the particles יכּ (‘certainly,’ 39.3.4e; positive, # 1), םא
(negative; # 2), 20 אל םא (positive; # 3), or םא יכּ (positive; # 4); with the particles
only, the oath has the form of a protasis with no apodosis. An oath can also be
preceded by the term יח + a name (or some powerful or sacred substitute); the term is
sometimes pointed יח ַ (perhaps a verb 21 but probably a noun 22 ), and sometimes י ֵ֫
םיִיח). ַ 23 The יח + name combination is followed by a clause with יכּ (positive; # 5),
םא (negative; # 6), אל םא (positive; # 7), or םא יכּ (positive; # 8); the two items
ח (<
are grammatically independent (note # 9), despite the standard translation of the ḥy
phrase as a protasis and of the ˒m clause as its apodosis (‘As Yahweh lives, may…’).
1. הוהי ינֹד ָ א ֲ עבַּ ְשׁ נִ
םימָ ִ י ה ֵנּה ִ י ִכּ וֹשׁדְ קָ בְּ
םיאִ ָבּ
The Lord YHWH swears by his holiness: “Surely, the
time will come…”
Joüon Paul Joüon. 1923. Grammaire de l’hébreu biblique.
18
Joüon §165a-j / pp. 503–5 implicates in the contamination the forms treated here
and the self-curse (or imprecation) formula (e.g., kōh-ya˓ăśeh-llî ˒ĕlōhîm wəkōh yôsīp
˒im ya˓ămōd rō˒š ˒ĕlîšā˓…˓ālāyw, ‘Thus [with a gesture?] may God do to me and thus
may he continue (to do) if Elisha’s head…stands on his shoulders,’ 2 Kgs 6:31).
19
Joüon §165b / p. 504.
20
The oath exemplifies what it forbids.
21
Joüon §79s / p 164.
22
M. Greenberg, “The Hebrew Oath Particle ḥay/ḥê,” Journal of Biblical Literature
76 (1957) 34–39; cf. W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986), 1. 128.
23
Joüon §165e / p. 504.