An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

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1.
ויבִ א־ל ָ א ֶ ר ֶמאֹ יּ֫ וַ
ישׁאֹ ֑ ר י ִשׁאֹ ר
And he said to his father, “My head! my head!”
2 Kgs 4:19
Another consists of nouns or noun phrases used independently of their
אנ ְ ‘declaration(?)
grammatical context; a number of these are important: (a) הוהי ם ֻ
of YHWH,’ almost always used as a closing formula in the prophets; 29 (b) ן ֵמ א ָ
‘amen!’; 30 (c)י ִ
בּ ‘pardon me,’ perhaps with the sense ‘on me be any guilt arising from
what I say/do,’ always followed by ינֹד ִ א ֲ or ינֹד ָ ֲ
ה ָלס, ֶ֫ a word of unknown sense found only in the Psalter and in the psalm of
א in conversation; 31 and perhaps (d)
Habakkuk 3 and apparently some sort of exclamation. These two groups of
exclamations involve contained units.
b A third group of nominal exclamations is more complex: the nouns in this group
introduce phrases of some complexity. Among these are ירֵ ְשׁ א ַ ‘O the blessings of,
enviable the situation of,’ a petrified plural noun found only in construct phrases (# 2–
3) or with suffixes (# 4), and לוֹק ‘O the voice of, hark!’ a noun (‘voice’) widely used
elsewhere but capable of heading an independent phrase (# 5). 32 Other nouns that
form nominal exclamations are הלילח and, if it is a noun, יח (40.2.2).
2. אֹ ל ר ֶשׁ א ֲ שׁיאִ ה ָ ירֵ ְשׁ אַ
םי ִע ָשׁ ר ְ ת ַצ ֲע ַבּ ךְ ַלה ָ
3. ירֵ ְשׁ א ַ ךָי ֶשׁ ֫ נָ א ֲ ירֵ ְשׁ אֵ
םידִ מֹע ְ ה ָ ה ֶלּא ֑ ֵ֫
ךָידֶ֫ בָ ֲע
דימִ תּ ָ ךָינֶ֫ ָפל ְ
4.
לאֵ רָ ְשִׂי ךָיר֫ ֶ ְשׁ ַ
To be envied is the person who does not walk in the evil
doers’ counsel!
Ps 1:1
The joys of your men, the joys of these your aides who
stand before you always!
1 Kgs 10:8
א You are to be envied, Israel.
29
The term n˒m is used 376 times (SA/THAT), almost always with yhwh. The closure
may be slight.
30
Joüon §105f / p. 288. Used repeatedly in Deut 27:15–26 and elsewhere; as a noun in
Isa 65:16bis.
31
Joüon §105c / p. 287.
32
The ˒śry phrase is followed by a statement containing the basis for the
pronouncement; cf. W. Janzen, “˒ašrê in the Old Testament,” Harvard Theological
Revrew 58 (1965) 213–26. On qwl, see Joüon §162e / p. 500. M. H. Pope contends
that qôl “does not mean ‘voice,’ but ‘noise’ or’sound’ and is often used as an
exclamation, as in Isa 40:3…’Hark! one cries: “In the wilderness etc.” See Song of
Songs (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1977) 512, cf. 389. On some other,
unusual uses of qwl, see A. B. Davidson, Hebrew Syntax (3d ed.; Edinburgh: T. & T.
Clark, 1901) 154–55; GKC §144l-m / p. 461; Rabin. “Lexical Emendation,” 391–92.