An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

c A negative oath may be introduced by the phrase י ִלּ ה ָלי ִל֫ ח, ָ conventionally ‘far be
it from me,’ 24 followed by a dependent clause specifying the undesired outcome; this
clause begins with ןמ, (# 10) followed by an infinitive or םא (# 11) followed by a
prefix form.
10. תא֑ ֹ ז תוֹש ֲע ֵמ י ִלּ ה ָלי ִל֫ חָ Far be it from me to do that!
11.
הוהימ ֵ י ִלּ ה ָלי
ִל֫ חָ
ר ָבדּ ָ ה־ת ַ א ֶ ה ֶשׂ ֱעא־ם ֶ אִ
הזֶּ הַ
Gen 44:17
YHWH forbid me to do that thing!
1 Sam 24:7
d Wishes may be expressed in complete independent clauses (e.g., with ן ֵ
תִּי ימ ִ or
י ַלחֲ א ַ with a prefix form) 25 or in protases lacking apodoses, introduced by םא (# 12)
or, more often וּל (## 13–15). 26
13.
14.
15.
12. ׃י ִל־ע ַמ ְשׁ תּ־ם ִ א ִ לאֵ רָ ְשִׂי O Israel, would that you would hear me!
Ps 81:9
יתוֹ ֑ ָ ְצ ִמ ל ְ תָּ ְב ַשׁ ֫ ְק ה ִ אוּל Would that you had heard my commandments!
Isa 48:18
ישׂ֑ ִ ְע ַכּ לקֵ ָשִּׁי לוֹק ָשׁ וּל Oh that my anguish could be measured!
Job 6:2
םִיר֫ ַ ְצ ִמ ץרֶ א֫ ֶ ְבּ וּנתְ ַמ־וּל Would that we had died in Egypt!
Num 14:2
40.2.3 Nominal Exclamations
a There are three groups of nominal exclamations. 27 One group consists of ad-hoc
creations, that is, nouns or noun phrases used according to need (# 1). 28
24
Joüon §105f / p. 288, §165k / p. 505.
25
Joüon §163d / p. 502; B. Jongeling, “L’Expression my ytn dans l’Ancien
Testament,” Vetus Testamentum 24 (1974) 32–40.
26
Cf. 38.2e. The apparently similar particle ˒ăbî is used in Job 34:36 and not clearly
elsewhere.
27
See also 39.3.4.
28
Joüon §162c / p. 500. Note also lə˒ōholēkā yiśrā˒ēl ‘to your tents, O Israel’ (1 Kgs
12–16); cf. W J. Martin, “Some Notes on the Imperative in the Semitic Languages,”
Rivista degli studi orientali 32 (1957) 315–19, at 316–17. A famously difficult
example may be found in Qoh 8:2: ˒ănî pî-mélek śəmôr, in which the initial pronoun
and the final imperative seem to float freely of each other. C. Rabin has suggested that
the pronoun may be a topic marker and thus that “the MT phrase could possibly be
translated ‘As far as I am concerned, it [the rule of conduct] is “watch the king’s
mouth!”.’ ” See “Lexical Emendation in Biblical Research,” Fucus: A
Semitic/Afrasian Gathering in Remembrance of Albert Ehrman, ed. Y. L. Arbeitman
(Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1988) 379–418, at 391–92.