Reading Genesis 1-2 in Hebrew - Bibal.Net

Reading Genesis 1–2 in Hebrew
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����‘������—transliteration: ˚-b¸-kol hA-reµ-meW hA-rO-mEµW val-hA-'Aµ-rec, “and
over all crawling things that crawl on the earth.” The verbal form WEmOrAh is Qal active participle
sg. masc. from the root Wmr (“creep, crawl, move about”) with the definite article. Note the
compensatory lengthening of the vowel of the definite article because the following r cannot be
doubled and is thus treated as though it were a guttural. The preposition lav (“on”) is attached to
its object erA'µAh (“the earth”) by maqqEp, with compensatory lengthening of the vowel under the
definite article and pausal lengthening of the vowel of the penult.
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�������������������‘��������‹ �������������œ•��—transliteration:
way-yib-rAµ' 'È-lO-hÓµm 'et-hA-'A-dAµm
B¸-cal-mÙµ, “and Elohim created the human in his own image” The verb here is Qal imperfect 3 rd
sg. masc. from the root 'rb (“create”) with Elohim as subject and £AdA'Ah (“the human”) as
definite direct object. The masc. segholate noun £elec (“image”) has the preposition b (“in”) as
prefix and the 3 rd sg. pronominal suffix Ùñ (“his”). Before suffixes, segholates take what is called
their primary form—the original form of the noun, which had but one vowel, that vowel standing
under the first root letter.
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����—transliteration: B¸-ceµ-lem 'È-lO-hÓµm BA-rAµ' 'O-tÙµ, “in the image of
Elohim he created him.” The verb here is Qal perfect 3 rd sg. masc. from the root 'rb (“create”)
with Elohim as subject. The definite direct object marker tE' has the 3 rd sg. masc. prominal suffix
Ùñ (“his”). With pronominal suffixes the vowel changes in this “mark of the accusative” from Eñ (E)
to Oñ (O). According to BDB (p. 84), “In Hebrew the ground-form is tÙ'.”
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���������û�������›����—transliteration:
zA-kAµr ˚-n¸-qE-b‰µ BA-rAµ' 'O-tAµm, “male and female
he created them.” The masc. noun rAkƒz (“male”) and the fem. noun hAbEq¯n (“female”) together
constitute the “image” of G-d. The wau-conjunction become ˚ before shewa. The definite direct
object marker tE' has the 3 rd pl. masc. pronominal suffix £Añ (“them”).
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�����������������������•��—transliteration:
wa-y¸-bAµ-rek 'O-tAµm 'È-lO-hÓµmü, “and Elohim blessed them”
The verb is Piel imperfect 3 rd sg. masc. with wau-conversive from the root ¢rb (“bless”) with
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