INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW Thomas O. Lambdin HARVARD UNIVERSITY D/1RT0N-LONGMAN +TODD PREFACE First published in Great Britain in 1973 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd 1 Spencer Court 140-142 Wandsworth High Street London SW18 4JJ Copyright © 1971 Charles Scribner's Sons ISBN-10: 0-232-51369-4 1SBN-13: 978-0-232-51369-1 Reprinted (as paperback) 1976 19th Printing 2009 Note The key to Lambdin's Introduction to Biblical Hebrew is published by Sheffield Academic Press Ltd, 343 Fulwood Road, Sheffield, S10 3BP. Printed and bound in Great Britain by Page Bros, Norwich, Norfolk This textbook is designed for a full year's course in elementary Biblical Hebrew at the college level. In its choice of vocabulary and grammar it is essentially an introduction to the prose, not the poetical language. While my aim has been to include only what I consider necessary for the grammatically intelligent reading of the texts on which the work is based, experienced teachers may nevertheless wish to expand or condense one portion or another according to the needs of their own courses and the problems of their particular students. By keeping the grammatical discussion at a relatively unsophisticated level I have tried to make the book as serviceable as possible to those who want to study the language without a teacher. Although the present work clearly falls within the category of traditional grammars, there are several features in the presentation which require a brief comment. The generous use of transliteration is meant to serve three purposes: to enable the student to perceive Hebrew as a language, and not an exercise in decipherment; to remove the customary initial obstacle, wherein the student was required to master innumerable pages of rather abstract phonological and orthographic details before learning even a sentence of the language; and to facilitate the memorization of the paradigms, where the essential features are, in my opinion, set in greater relief than in the conventional script. The morphology of the verb is presented in a way that best exploits the underlying similarities of the various forms, regardless of the root type; this permits the introduction of the most common verbs at an appropriately early point in the grammar and also allows the discussions of the derived "conjugations" to be unhampered by restricts] PREFACE tion to examples from sound roots. As much space as possible has been given to the systematic treatment of noun morphology and to the verb with object suffixes; the simplification of this material attempted in many elementary grammars is actually a disservice to the student. When he turns to his first page of unsimplified reading, he finds that what he should have learned systematically must instead be learned at random, inefficiently and with no little difficulty. And finally, special attention has been given to an orderly presentation of prose syntax, beginning with a characterization of the various types of individual clauses and proceeding to sequences of interrelated clauses. In the initial stages of preparing this book I was greatly aided in the selection of vocabulary by George M. Landes' A Student's Vocabulary of Biblical Hebrew (New York, 3961), furnished to me in page proof at that time by the author, to whom I now wish to acknowledge my thanks. In the nearly ten years since that time the innumerable suggestions and corrections submitted by my students and colleagues working with various drafts of the book have been of enormous help in improving the quality of the finished product. I am especially grateful, however, to Dr. Avi Hurwitz, now at the Hebrew University, for his great kindness in giving an earlier draft of this book a thorough and critical reading and in providing me with many corrections. The errors that remain are of course due to my own oversight. The setting of pointed Hebrew with a special sign marking stress always proves to be a difficult job, even in this age of technological marvels. I wish to thank the publisher and the printer for their unstinting efforts to ensure correctness in this regard. Cambridge, Mass. thomas o. lambdin May 1971 CONTENTS Preface [Hi] Introduction; Sounds and Spelling 1. The Sounds of Biblical Hebrew. 2. Syllabification, 3, Stress. 4. The Consonants Known as the Begadkepat. 5. Vowel Reduction. 6. Special Features of the Guttural Consonants and R. 7. The Hebrew Alphabet. 8. Some Features of Hebrew Orthography (Spelling). 9. The Daghesh. 10. The Vowel Points. 11. Metheg. Lesson 1 [3] 12. The Noun: Gender. 13. Number. 14. The Definite Article. 15. Prepositions. 16. Sentences with Adverbial Predicates. 17. Vocabulary 1. Lesson 2 [8] 18. The Definite Article (cont.). 19. Noun Plurals. 20. Vocabulary 2. Lesson 3 [12] 21. The Definite Article (concluded). 22. Adjectives. 23. The Use of Adjectives. 24. Vocabulary 3. [V] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW Lesson 4 [17] 25. Noun Plurals (cont.). 26. The Active Participle. 27. The Object Marker ~m 'el-. 28. Vocabulary 4. Lesson 5 122] 29. The Prepositions a ba-, \ b-, and a tea-. 30. The Preposition ja min. 31. The Comparative. 32. The Relative Word -itix 'user. 33. Vocabulary 5. Lesson 6 [27] 34. Noun Plurals (cont.). 35. Participles (cont.). 36. Vocabulary 6. Lesson 7 [30] 37. Predication of Existence. 38. The Prepositions a ha-, V b-, and-riN 'et- with Pronominal Suffixes. 39. Vocabulary 7. Lesson 8 [34] 40. The Demonstrative Adjectives and Pronouns. 41. Participles (cont.). 42. Vocabulary 8. Lesson 9 [37] 43. The Perfect of ana kcitab. 44. The Meaning of the Perfect. 45. Word Order in the Verbal Sentence. 46. The Forms of the Conjunction l ira-. 47. Vocabulary 9. Lesson 10 [43] 48. The Perfect of Verbs with Guttural Root Consonants. 49. The Perfect of jna nätan. 50. Noun Plurals (cont.). 51. Vocabulary 10. Lesson 11 [47] 52. The Perfect of Verbs III-Aleph: usa mäsä('). 53. Noun Plurals (cont.). 54. Interrogative q ha-. 55. More on "KSK 'aser. 56. Vocabulary 11. Lesson 12 [51] 57. The Perfect of Verbs III-He: rna bünäh. 58. Directive n- -ah. 59. Vocabulary 12. Lesson 13 [55] 60. Sentences with a Nominal Predicate. 61. The Verb rrrr Imyah (to be). 62. Noun Plurals (concluded). 63. Vocabulary 13. [VI] contents] Lesson 14 [59] 64. The Perfect of Oj? qmn and xa ba!. 65. The Prepositions 1» min and s/ca with Pronominal Suffixes. 66. ba tö/. 67. Vocabulary 14. Lesson 15 [63] 68. The Perfect of aaD siibab. 69. The Prepositions DV 'im and 'el with Pronominal Suffixes. 70. Final Remarks omra. 71. Vocabulary 15. Lesson 16 [67] 72. The Construct Chain. 73. The Form of the Construct Singular. 74. Vocabulary 16. Lesson 17 [73] 75. The Construct Singular: Minor Types. 76. The Construct Singular of Feminine Nouns in -ah. 77. Vocabulary 17. Lesson 18 [77] 78. The Construct Forms of Plural Nouns in -im. 79. The Construct Form of Plural Nouns in -of. 80. Vocabulary 18. Lesson 19 [82] 81. The Independent (Subject) Form of the Personal Pronoun. 82. The Interrogative Pronouns. 83. The Prepositions ba, nrjri and nq« with Pronominal Suffixes. 84. Vocabulary 19. Lesson 20 [86] 85. The Noun with Pronominal Suffixes. 86. Vocabulary 20. Lesson 21 [93] 87. Stative Verbs. 88. The Nouns as, m and ns. 89. Vocabulary 21. Lesson 22 [99] 90. The Imperfect. 91. The Meaning of the Imperfect. 92. The Dual. 93. Vocabulary 22. Lesson 23 [103] 94. Imperfects in a. 95. Verbs III-Aleph: the Imperfect. 96. The Nouns [a and am. 97. Vocabulary 23. Lesson 24 [107] 98. The Narrative Sequences. 99. The Segholates. 100. Remarks on Some Prepositions. 101. Vocabulary 24. [VII] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW contents] Lesson 25 [113] 102. The Imperative. 103. Verbs I-guttural: Imperfect and Imperative. 104. The Segholates (cont.). 105. Vocabulary 25. Lesson 26 [118} 106. The Jussive and Cohortative. 107. Sequences Involving the Imperative, Jussive, and Cohortative. 108. Verbs I-Aleph: Imperfect and Related Forms. 109. Vocabulary 26. Lesson 27 [123] 110. Temporal Clauses and Phrases. 111. Feminine Nouns Ending in -ef and -at. 112. Nouns of the Type ns. 113. Vocabulary 27. Lesson 28 [127] 114. The Infinitive Construct. 115. Some Uses of the Infinitive Construct. 116. Final Remarks on Some Noun Types. 117. Vocabulary 28. Lesson 29 [133] 118. Verbs I-Nun: Imperfect and Related Forms. 119. Vocabulary 29. Lesson 30 [138] 120. Verbs I-Yodh: Imperfect, Imperative, and Infinitive Construct. 121. Vocabulary 30. Lesson 31 [143] 122. Verbs Ill-He: Imperfect, Imperative, and Infinitive Construct. 123. Vocabulary 31. Lesson 32 [148] 124. Hollow Verbs (II-Waw/Yodh): Imperfect, Imperative, and Infinitive Construct. 125. Vocabulary 32. Lesson 33 [153] 126. Geminate Verbs: Imperfect, Imperative, and Infinitive Construct. 127. Vocabulary 33. Lesson 34 [157] 128. The Passive Participle. 129. The Infinitive Absolute. 130. The Numbers from 3 to 10. 131. Vocabulary 34. Lesson 35 [162] 132. Clauses Joined with iya-. 133. and r>N. 134. Vocabulary 35. Lesson 36 [168] 135. nan. 136. xa and Hj-nari. 137. Tisiandrra. 138. Vocabulary 36. Lesspn 37 [175] 139. Derived Verbs. 140. Niphal Verbs: Meaning. 141. Niphal Verbs: Stems and Inflection. 142. Vocabulary 37. Lesson 38 [183] 143. Niphal Verbs: Stems and Inflection (cont.). 144. Niphal Verbs: Mixed Types. 145. Vocabulary 38. Lesson 39 [188] 146. Niphal Verbs: Stems and Inflection (concluded). 147. Vocabulary 39. Lesson 40 [193] 148. Piel Verbs: Meaning. 149. Piel Verbs: Stems and Inflection. 150. Vocabulary 40. Lesson 41 [200] 151. Piel Verbs: Stems and Inflection (concluded). 152. Pausal Forms. 153. Vocabulary 41. Lesson 42 [205] 154. The Pual. 155. Proclisis, Retraction of Stress, and Conjunctive Daghesh. 156. Vocabulary 42. Lesson 43 [27/] 157. Hiphil Verbs: Meaning. 158. Hiphil Verbs: Stems and Inflection. 159. Vocabulary 43. Lesson 44 [218] 160. Hiphil Verbs: Stems and Inflection (cont.). 161. More on Numbers. 162. Vocabulary 44. Lesson 45 [222] 163. Hiphil Verbs: Stems and Inflection. 164. The Numbers from 11 to 19. 165. Vocabulary 45. Lesson 46 [227] 166. Hiphil Verbs: Stems and Inflection (cont.). 167. The Numbers from 21 to 99. 168. Vocabulary 46. Lesson 47 [231] 169. Hiphil Verbs: Stems and Inflection (cont.). 170. An Idiomatic Use of f?n. 171. Vocabulary 47. [VIII] [IX] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW Lesson 48 [237] 172. Hiphil Verbs: Stems and Inflection (concluded). 173. Verbal Hendiadys and Related Idioms. 174. Vocabulary 48. Lesson 49 [243] 175. The Hophal. 176. Vocabulary 49. Lesson 50 {248] 177. The Hithpael. 178. Vocabulary 50. Lesson 51 [253] 179. The Qal Passive. 180. Pole!, Polal, and Hithpolel. 181. Other Verb Types. 182. Final Remarks on the Numbers. 183. Vocabulary 51. Lesson 52 [260] 184. The Verb with Object Suffixes. 185. Object Suffixes on the Perfect: Third Person Masculine Singular. 186. Object Suffixes on the Perfect: Second Person Masculine Singular. 187. Vocabulary 52. Lesson 53 [266] 188. Object Suffixes on the Perfect: Third Person Feminine Singular. 189. Object Suffixes on the Remaining Forms of the Perfect. 190. A Group of Irregular Qal Verbs. 191. Vocabulary 53. Lesson 54 [271] 192. Object Suffixes on the Imperfect. 193. Object Suffixes on the Imperative. 194. Object Suffixes on the Infinitive Construct. 195. Vocabulary 54 Lesson 55 [276] 196. Conditional Sentences. 197. Concluding Remarks on Clause Sequences. 198. Vocabulary 55. contents] Hebrew-English Glossary. English-Hebrew Glossary. Index. [342] [316] [329] Appendix A. A Classified List of Nouns. [285] Appendix B. Qal Verbs: The Principal Parts According to Root Types. Appendix C. The Derived Conjugations: A Synopsis. [311] Appendix D. Chronological Table. [314] Appendix E. Brief Bibliography. [315] [XI [301 [XI] INTRODUCTION The Hebrew Bible (Christian Old Testament) is a collection of writings whose composition spans most of the millennium from c. 1200 B.C. to c TJO B.C. Because a spoken language does not remain constant over so long a period of time, we must recognize Biblical Hebrew as a form of the spoken language standardized at a particular time and perpetuated thereafter as a fixed literary medium. It is generally assumed that Biblical Hebrew, to the extent that it is linguistically homogeneous, is a close approximation to the language of the monarchic periods preceding the Babylonian Exile {thus, before 587 B.C.), during which a major portion of biblical literature was compiled and composed. The sparse inscriptional materia! of the ninth to seventh centuries B.C. corroborates this view, but does not permit us to establish more precise limits. In the post-exilic period spoken Hebrew came under the strong influence of other languages, especially Aramaic, but also Persian and, later, Greek. The literary language of biblical writings during this time remained relatively free of this influence, which shows up more clearly in post-biblical sources such as the Rabbinic Hebrew of the Mishna and other traditional works lying beyond the scope of this grammar. Exactly when Hebrew ceased to be a spoken language is difficult, if not impossible, to determine, but in all probability its demise was concurrent with the devastation of Judaea in the Jewish revolts against Roman rule in the first two centuries A.D. Hebrew is a member of the extensive Semitic language family, whose principal divisions are as follows: (1) Northeast Semitic: Babylonian and Assyrian (Akkadian); (2) Southeast Semitic: Ancient South Arabic and the related modern languages of South Arabia and Ethiopia; (3) Southwest Semitic: Classical Arabic and the host of related modern Arabic dialects; (4) Northwest Semitic, comprising (a) Aramaic (b) Canaanite (Ugaritic, Phoenician, Hebrew) Our knowledge of Biblical Hebrew is directly dependent on Jewish oral tradition and thus on the state of that tradition during and following the [XIII] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW various dispersions of the Jews from Palestine. This dependence arises from the peculiarly deficient orthography in which the biblical text was written: it is essentially vowelless, or at most, vocalically ambiguous (see below, §8). The actual pronunciation of the language was handed down orally, and as the Jews left or were expelled from Palestine and formed new communities in Babylonia, Egypt, and eventually throughout most of the civilized world, the traditional reading of biblical texts diverged gradually from whatever norm might have existed prior to these dispersions. The written consonantal text itself achieved a final authoritative form around the end of the first century A.D. This text was successfully promulgated among all the Jewish communities, so that texts postdating this time do not differ from one another in any important particulars. Prior to the fixing of an authoritative text, however, the situation was quite different, and the reader is referred to the bibliography (Appendix E) for the names of a few works that will introduce him to the complex problems of ancient texts and versions. Modern printed versions of the Hebrew Bible derive from several essentially similar sources, all reflecting the grammatical activity of Jewish scholars (or Masoretes, traditionalists) in Tiberias, who during the 9tli and 10th centuries A.D. perfected a system of vowel notation and added it to the received consonantal text. Because the vowel system reflected in this notation is not exactly the same as that of the tradition used in other locales, we must recognize that Hebrew grammar, as based on the vocalized Tiberian Masoretic text, is no more or less authentic than that which would derive from other traditions: it is simply the best preserved and has received, by universal adoption, the stamp of authority. A treatment of the fragmentary evidence of the non-Tiberian traditions lies beyond the scope of an elementary grammar. The standard Masoretic text is also known as the Ben Asher text, after the family name of the Tiberian scholars identified with the final editing. The Bibiia Hebraka (3rd edition, Stuttgart, 1937) used by most modern students and scholars is based on the copy of a Ben Asher manuscript now in Leningrad and dating from 1008/9 A.D. Most other printed Hebrew Bibles are based ultimately on the text of the Second Rabbinic Bible (Venice, 1524-25); the manuscript sources of this work have not been fully identified, but it does not differ substantially from the text of the Bibiia Hebraka. A new and comprehensive edition of the Hebrew Bible is in progress in Israel; it will utilize the partially destroyed Aleppo Codex, which is convincingly claimed as an authentic manuscript of the Ben Asher family. A limited number of variant readings are indicated marginally in the Masoretic text. These are commonly referred to as kaiib-qare, i.e. one word is written (katib) in the consonant text itself but another, as indicated in the margin, is to be read {qare). [XIV] SOUNDS AND SPELLING [Note: The material in this section has been presented as a unit for ready reference. After studying § § 1-3 the reader should begin Lesson 1 (p. 3). The reading of further paragraphs will be indicated as required.} 1. The Sounds of Biblical Hebrew. As stated in the Introduction, we cannot determine absolutely the sounds of Biblical Hebrew in the period during which the literary language was fixed. The pronunciation used in this book has been chosen to preserve as faithfully as possible the consonantal and vocalic distinctions recognized by the Masoretes, but, at the same time, to do the least violence to what we know of the earlier pronunciation. A uniform system of transliteration has been idopted which attempts to represent the Hebrew orthography simply and accurately. a. Consonants Type Labial Labio-dental Interdental Dental or alveolar Transliteration b P m w b P t d t d z Pronunciation* [b] as in bait [p] as in pay [m] as in main [w] as in well [v] as in vase [f] as in face [8] as in thin [S] as in this [t] as in time [d] as in door [s] as in sing [z] as in zone Square brackets enclose currently used phonetic symbols as a guide to those who are familiar with them. Do not confuse these with the transliteration. [XV] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW sounds and spelling] n [n] as in noon Prepalatal s [J] as in show y [y] as in yes Palatal k [k] as in king g, g [g] as in go k [x] as in German Bach Velar q [q] There is no exact English equivalent of this sound. It is a type of [k], but with the contact between the tongue and the roof of the mouth as far back as possible. Guttural ' [''] the glottal stop h [h] as in house [r] no Eng. equivalent h [h] no Eng. equivalent The glottal stop f] is used in English, but not as a regular part of its sound system. It is made by a complete stoppage of breath in the throat and may be heard in certain Eastern pronunciations of words like bottle and batik, in which the glottal stop replaces the normal /, thus [ba'l], [bae'I]. The sound [hJ is an /i-sound, but with strong constriction between the base of the tongue and the back of the throat, thus- with a much sharper friction than ordinary h. The f] is similarly produced, but with the additional feature of voicing. Most modern readers of Biblical Hebrew do not use these two sounds, replacing them with [x] and [''] respectively. Those making such a simplification should be careful not to confuse these four sounds in spelling. The four sounds which we shall call gutturals throughout this book are more precisely described as laryngeals and pharyngealized laryngeals, but because the modern terminology is often inconsistently applied, we find no compelling reason to abandon the more traditional designation. Liquids Modified Dental [r] as in rope [I] as in line [t] as in time [ts] as in hits The pronunciation indicated for f and s is a standard modern substitution for the original sounds, whose true nature can only be conjectured as [t] and [s] accompanied by constriction in the throat (pharyngealization or glot-talization), thus producing a tenser, duller sound. [XVI] i, i i e, e e, ? a a, ä u, ü u 6, ö o [u] as in mood [u] as in book [o] as in note [a] as in bought [a] as in above, and very brief in duration b. Vowels It is customary in treating Hebrew vowels to speak of length as well as quality. Though this distinction is probably valid for the earlier pronunciation, it is doubtful whether vowel quantity played any important part in the original Masoretic system. The diacritical marks used in our transcription are thus t0 be taken as devices reflecting the Hebrew spelling and not necessarily as markers of real length, [i] as in machine [i] as in it [e] as in they [e] as in bet [a] as in father or-[a] as in that [a] as in father or [3] as in bought Some distinction between the two vowels a and a should be made, since they must always be clearly distinguished in spelling. The choice is left to the reader: either [a] as opposed to [a] or [a] as opposed to[o]. In addition to the vowels listed above there are three others (a e o) which, together with a, are known as reduced vowels. They are of very brief duration but with the same quality as the corresponding full vowel": a is a very short a, e a very short e, and o a very short o. The following diphthongal combinations of vowel + y or w occur frequently at the ends of words: iw the vowel 1 + a very short [a]. Also pronounced as [iv], as in English eve. ew, ew e/e + [a]. Also [ev], as in save. aw, aw a + [u] like the ou of house, or as [aw] or [av] aw a + [u], or as [av] or [av] ay [ay] like the y of sky; or [ay], similar to the oy of toy. ay [ay] or [ay] oy, oy [oy], similar to the owy of showy, but without the n>. uy, uy [uy] somewhat like the uey of gluey. For descriptive purposes we shall refer to the vowels according to the following classification, without prejudice to the actual length of the vowels involved: (1) unchangeable long: e 6 u and sometimes 0 (2) changeable long: e a o (3) short: i e a o u (4) reduced: b a e 0 [XVII] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW 2. Syllabification. With very few exceptions a syllable must begin with a single consonant followed at least by one vowel. This rule alone will suffice for the accurate division of a word into syllables. Consider the following examples: midbar (wilderness): mid-bar 'abiw (his father): 'a-biw dabdrim (words): da-ba-rlm mimmenni (from me): mim-men-nt gibborim (warriors): gib-bo-rim yislahenl (he will send me): yis-la-lw-iu pronounced [mi^'bdr] ['a'viw] [dsva'rim] [mimmenni] [gibbo'rim] [yijln i-irai] [malks xa] [malxe'xEm] malkaka (your king): mal-ka-ka malkekem (your kings): mal-ke-kem In none of these examples is any other division of syllables possible without violating the basic rule. Syllables are of two types: open and dosed. An open syllable is one which ends in a vowel; a closed syllable ends in a consonant. Syllables containing a diphthong may be considered as closed, taking the y or u> as a consonant. The distinction is irrelevant in this case. When determining syllabification note that a doubled consonant, such as -bb- or -mm-, is always to be divided in the middle. This does not mean that there is any perceptible pause between the syllables in pronunciation: a doubled consonant is simply held longer than a single one. Contrast the long n of English meanness with the normal short ;i of any. Examples are SOUNDS AND SPELLING] cir spirantized counterparts b, g, d, k, p, and t on the other. Although no u|e can be given for the choice between the sounds of one set and those of the other without important exceptions, the following observations will vide a safe guide for the majority of occurrences, (a) Of the two sets, only the stops occur doubled. Thus we find -bb- (as ■ habbdyil, the house), -dd- {haddelet, the door), -kk- (hakkali, the vessel), etc., but'never -bb-, -gg-, -dd-, etc. ' (b) The stops b, g, d, k.p, t occur (excluding the doubling just mentioned) only at tne beginning of a syllable when immediately preceded by another consonant: mcilki (my king): mal-ki but melek (king): me-lek. Elsewhere one finds the spirantized counterpart, which, by a simple process of elimination, occurs (a) mainly at the close of a syllable, or (b) at the beginning of a syllable when the preceding sound is a vowel. Contrast, for example, the b of midbar (mid-bar) and the b of ndb'C (na-hi).* When a word begins with one of these sounds, it usually has the stop when it occurs in isolation (thus: bdyit, a house), but when some element ending in a vowel is prefixed, the stop is automatically replaced by the corresponding spirant. Be sure the following examples are clear: libbaka (your heart): lib-ba-ka mimmskd (from you): mim-ma-ka hassamdyim (the heavens): has-sa-md-yim [libbs'xa] [mimms'xa] [hajja'mayim] 3. Stress, Words are stressed on the last syllable (ultima) or on the next to last (penul-tima). The former is more frequent. ultimate stress: ddbdr (word); dabdrim (words); nabV (prophet) penultimate stress: milek (king); Idyldh (night); nahdset (bronze) Only penultimate stress will be marked in this book. The stressed syllable is often referred to as the tonic syllable, and the two preceding it as the pretonic and propretonic respectively. 4. The consonants known as the begadkepat. Two sets of six sounds each are closely related to one another, both in sound and distribution. These are the six stops b, g, d, k, p, t on the one hand and [XVIII] bdyit a house kali a vessel delet a door but kabdyit like a house ukalt and a vessel ladelet to a door. In a sentence the-mere fact that the preceding word ends in a vowel is enough lo warrant the spirant; thus, bOnu bdyit they built a house not baiiu bdyit. There are, however, many exceptions to this, depending on the degree of grammatical relationship between the words in question. It is best, at least hypothetically, to regard the stop g and the spirant g as two distinct sounds, although no modern tradition except the Yemenite has preserved the difference. 5. Vowel Reduction. Many of the changes that characterize Hebrew inflections follow distinct and predictable patterns, of which the most consistent is that of vowel reduction. (a) Propretonic reduction. The vowels a and e are regularly reduced to a in open propretonic syllables. That is, when in the course of inflection the • Note that our statement does not preclude the possibility or a spirant occurring at the beginning of a syllable preceded by another consonant: malkekem (your kings). [XIX] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW sounds an13 spelling] accent is shifted so as to place these two vowels in propretonic position, the replacement just mentioned is made. For example, when the plural ending -im is added to the stem of the noun nab? (prophet), the accent is on the ending, leaving the a in propretonic position. Thus, nabV + im -i *na-bi-tm -* nabi'im Similarly with e: lebab + dt -> *le-ba-bdt -> hbabot Other examples are maqdm + of -» *ma-qo-mat -» maqomdi zaqen -f im -* *za-qe-m"m -> zaqenim This type of reduction is regularly found in the inflection of nouns and adjectives, but is less common among verbs other than those with object suffixes. (b) Pretonic redaction, A second reduction pattern, often conflicting with the above, involves reduction of a or e in a pretonic open syllable. In noun inflections this is true mainly for those words whose first syllable (propretonic) is unchangeable (i.e. contains one of the unchangeable long vowels or is a closed syllable) and whose pretonic syllable would contain e: sdpe( + im -> sopathn Pretonic reduction is very frequent in verbs, regardless of the vowel: yikidb + u -» yiktdbu (they will write) yitten + u -> yillanft (they will give) yisma' + u ~* yisma'u (they will hear). Attention has been called to these two reduction patterns since one or the other figures in most of the inflections to be studied. Unfortunately, however, it is not always possible to predict accurately which pattern will be followed, so that each paradigm should be carefully analyzed. The Rule of Shewa. A sequence of two syllables each with 3 (shewa) is not tolerated by Hebrew structure. When such a sequence would arise in the course of inflection or when combining various words and elements, the following replacement is made: consonant + 3 + cons. + a -» cons. + i 4- cons. Thus: h (to)+ rwbti (my prophet) -* linbVi (not hnabVi). 6. Special Features of the Guttural Consonants and R. (a) The gutturals and r do not occur doubled. (b) The gutturals are never followed immediately by a. These two characteristics account for certain regular deviations from an expected norm. For example, since the definite article before non-gutturals is ha + doubling of the following consonant, we should expect the article to [XX] be somewhat different before words beginning with a guttural or r. We shall see in the lessons that ha- occurs in some cases, ha- (without doubling) in others. Whenever a long vowel (a e a) occurs before a guttural or r and corresponds formally to a short vowel before a doubled non-guttural, the vowel is said to be long by compensatory lengthening, i.e. to compensate for the non-doubling of the guttural. When a short vowel {a i it o) occurs before a guttural in similar situations, the guttural is said to be virtually doubled. As for the second feature listed above, the presence of a guttural means a substitution of a (less commonly of e or 0) for an expected a. This is illustrated by hakam (wise person) + im -» Itakamim (not hdkdmim) hazaq (strong person) + im -» hdzaqim (not Iwzaqim). It is convenient to think of a, 2, and 0 as varieties of a to be used after gutturals and to see that a word like halom (dream) has essentially the same vowel pattern as bakor (first-born). When a word ends with' , h, or h (when this is not a vowel letter, see §8), a preceding i e u 6 is followed by a non-syllabic glide element a. Thus, sits (horse) but lu"h (tablet) koteh (writing) but sole"!) (sending) gadol (big) but gabd"h (high). The Rule of Shewa as applied to sequences involving gutturals: cons. + 3 + guttural +& -» cons. + a + gutt. -|- a E.g. ba (in) + halomi (my dream) -* baltalomi Similarly with e and d. Another sequence arising from vowel reduction is illustrated by hakam + e (which requires double reduction) -» *hdkame -t> hakme. I.e. gutt. + a 4- cons, +■ 3 -* gutt. + a + cons. N.B. Rules given in the grammar to account for the peculiarities of gutturals do not apply to r unless so stated. 7. The Hebrew Alphabet. The alphabet used in writing all the traditional texts of the Old Testament is more properly Aramaic than Hebrew. The situation is summarized by the table on the following page. Sometime during the first half of the second millennium B.C. the alphabet was invented in the Syro-Palestinian area. This alphabet was a new creation, not directly based on any other system of writing then in use, but it seems to have been most clearly influenced by certain features of Egyptian hieroglyphic writing, especially in the lack of symbols to represent vowels. The most prolific branch of the alphabet was the Phoenician, attested in [XXI] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW Prolo-Alphabet / \ B.C. 1500 Proto-South Sinaitic Semitic 1000 500 North Arabic A.D. 0 /\ Hebrew South Arabic Samaritan Ethiopic Prototype Phoenician Ugaritic Prototype Prototype Phoenician ~A^n Ear)y Greek Etruscan, Latin, etc. SOUNDS AND SPELLING] The Present Syriac, Arabic, etc. Mod. Hebrew Script inscriptions from about the eleventh century onward. The Hebrews borrowed their script from the Phoenicians in the tenth century B.C., and this new "Hebrew" script, subsequently diverging from the parent Phoenician, was used in various types of inscriptions down to the beginning of the Christian Era. With the exception, however, of the manuscript traditions of the Samaritan sect, which still employs a form of this genuinely Hebrew script, the old script was replaced, especially in manuscript uses, by a cursive form of the Old Aramaic script, itself a daughter of the parent Phoenician of nearly the same age as the Hebrew, It is this Aramaic manuscript hand which is already employed in Hebrew papyri and parchments of the second and first centuries B.C. and is attested as the normal alphabet for writing Hebrew from that time until the present. THE HEBREW ALPHABET NAME LETTER OUR TRANSCRIPTION PHONETIC VALUE 'alep N t glottal stop or zero bit 3 b [b] a b [v] gimel .i 1 [g] a I [g] dalet t t d [d] t d m he ÍI h [h] or zero [XXII] NAME LETTER OUR TRANSCRIPTION PHONETIC VALUE lťííll' 1 w [w] or zero závin T z [z] llél n h [H] fel D t [t] yod - y [y] or zero kap k [k] 1 k [X] lámecj 1 [1] mém n Ü m [m] nůn : 1 n [n] sámek 0 s m 'áyin v - [<■] péh B •1 P [p] B 1 P [(] saděh X V s [ts] qdp P q [q] rěš 1 r [r] Šili i» é N Sin si š rj] taw n i W n i m 8. Some Features of Hebrew Orthography (Spelling). a. Hebrew is written from right to left. b. Five of the letters have a special form used only at the end of a word: l/c, am, ]n, <]p, fs. c. In the earliest Hebrew and Phoenician inscriptions (10th cent. B.C.) no vowels were indicated in the writing. Thus the words melek (king), inolek (ruling), malak (he ruled), malkah (queen), mataku (they ruled), etc., would all be written simply as "pa mlk. From the ninth to the sixth centuries (i.e. pre-Exilic period, before the fall of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. and the Babylonian Exile) the consonants iand n h were used at the end of a word to indicate final vowels: i u' = u e.g. iDba mabku, they ruled « y = i e.g. oVn malki, my king n h = any other final vowel e.g. ro^n malkah, queen. In the post-Exilic period 1 and 1 were used as vowel indicators also inside a word, and values slightly different from those just cited were acquired: l w = u or o ' y = e, e, or i [XXIII] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW SOUNDS AND SPELLING] The letter n h was still used only at the end of a word as a vowel letter representing any vowel other than those just mentioned. The three letters ,i, and n in their function as vowel indicators are called matres lectionis (literally, mothers of reading), following traditional Hebrew grammatical terminology. d. The MT in general reflects this stage of orthographic development. There are, however, some inconsistencies and irregularities to be noted: (I) - and \ are sometimes missing when we should otherwise have expected them. The shorter spelling is called defective and the longer, full. Full yáqúm yärim gädôl BjT cn- Defective yäqüm he will arise yärim he will raise gädöl big Note that the only distinction between the vowels transcribed by «, w; (, 7; and 6, b is that the former of each pair is represented in the script by a mater lectionis while the latter is not. (2) A final a is not always indicated by n: tj1? hka (to you) jarort tiktobnd (they shall write). (3) « is unpronounced in many instances, but is always an integral part of the spelling: fflti ros (head), k^d masa(') (he found). It does not, however, belong to the category of matres lectionis discussed above since its appearance is limited mainly to words whose roots occur elsewhere in the language with the « retained in pronunciation. We have generally indicated quiescent K in our transliteration. Sometimes, for the sake of clarity, we have added the ' in parentheses, as in masa(') above. Points (2) and (3) will be mentioned later in the section dealing with the grammatical forms in which these irregularities are commonly found. 9. The Daghesh The Masoretes employed a dot or point within a letter to indicate (a) that the consonant in question is doubled: "l^sn hammelek the king (b) that, in the case of the ambiguous letters n D a 13 a, the one with the point is the stop; the one without, the spirant: b or bb g or gg d or dd 3 b 3 g 7 d (c) that a final n is not to be taken as a vowel letter but as a morphologically significant consonant. Contrast [XXIV] m^a malka(h) a queen [n is a mater for final -a] FD!?a malkah her king [ a is part of the suffix meaning "her"] rua banah he built [ n is a mater] naa gabb^li high [n is a root consonant, pronounced in this case]* When the point indicates doubling, it is called daghesh forte (strong daghesh). When it indicates stop instead of spirant, it is called daghesh lene (weak d.). In a final n it is known as mappiq. The only use of daghesh where there is a possible source of confusion is in the bdgadkdpai letters. Technically we should expect two dagheshes when these represent doubled consonants, one to show the doubling (d. forte) and one to show b not b. But since the spirant values for these six letters do not occur doubled, a second dot is superfluous and never written. 10. The Vowel Points. Following their traditional pronunciation, the Masoretes added vowel points to the Hebrew text (see the Introduction). Because these points were superimposed on a text that already had a crude system for indicating vocalization, i.e. the matres lectionis, a large number of combinations were created (and hence the apparent complexity of our transliteration). The following table shows the form of the vowel signs and their position in relation to the consonants (here 3 b and n h): Name of Sign Plain pdtah a ba qames 3 bä or bo hireq 3 bi (or fil) sere a. be sagö I a be holem 3 bö qibbus 3 bu And the reduced vowels: 3 ba With mater , y 'a bä (rare) ■■a bi ■3 M -3 bé With mater With mater 1 w n h (final only) — — na bäh 13 in bô bU n 3 beh na beh na böh (rare) n ha n hě n hö Remarks: (I) In the case of defective writings, where 1* or u is meant but there is no y or w in the text, the vowel signs for i and 11 are used. The vowel 1 (3) is * It is doubtful that every n with mappiq is to be given a consonantal value |h]. The distinction betweenro'M (queen) andrO^Other king) was probably a graphic and not a phonological one. [XXV] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW called sureq. Note thai the reduced vowels did are represented by a combination of the sign for 3 and that of the corresponding non-reduced vowel. The names of the reduced vowels are sawa (our Shewa), hd\ep pdtalj, hd\ep sagol, and lu'uep games respectively. (2) The distinction between. — = a (qames) and — = 0 (qames ha(up) is usually clear: — = o in a closed, unaccented syllable (e.g. 'iati> somri', 7W yosmad), but — = a elsewhere. There is ambiguity when a following consonant is pointed with —: should, e.g., id "pa be read mahku or molkul To resolve this ambiguity, a metheg is used (see §11). (3) When a consonant closes a syllable (except at the end of a word), the Masoretes placed beneath it the Shewa sign: "SiVa mal-ki (my king). For the beginning student this constitutes one of the1 biggest problems in reading Hebrew: when does the sign — represent the vowel 3 and when does it represent nothing (i.e. end of a syllable)? The answer to this question is not simple; in fact there are several schools of thought on the subject among the traditional Hebrew grammarians. Since it is completely immaterial to the understanding of the language and to translation, we shall not enter into the dispute, but rather adopt the following simple conventions: (a) When two Shewa signs occur under consecutive consonants (except at the end of a word), the first represents zero and the second a: yismarii (not yisamru or yissmafu). (b) When a preceding syllable has any one of the long vowels («[«, 0/0, f/J, eje, e, a), the Shewa sign represents a: inpirt hiupmu they were established "D~p bdrokft they were blessed Tjirir ydsimaka he will place you H"E yeraitit they will go down nnniy satatdh she drank (see §11) But after any other vowel it represents zero: V]PL? limka your name 'obn malice kings tfifflzr yismorka he will watch you But under the first of two identical consonants the Shewa sign always represents the vowel s, regardless of the type of vowel in the preceding syllable: •"V^S sjlale shadows (not silli). (c) The Shewa sign under the first consonant of a word always represents a: i~P3 bsvado in his hand sounds and SPELLING] [The various forms of the number two (fern.) are the only exceptions: P'ŕuff štáyim -TW Sté] (4) The glide vowel a (see §6) is represented by -- placed under the final guttural but pronounced before it: Vľwšsmô"'; naiĽ šämiŕh. It is traditionally called páiah furtivum. (5) The vowel sign Iwhin may coincide with one of the dots differentiating šín and sin; printed texts may vary. E.g. Kt?a näšô' (to lift); W3 bôš (ashamed). (6) The coincidence of a mater y and a consonantal * y is frequent: nnaa nokriyäh (could also be transcribed as nokriyyäh) (7) The consonant 1 at the end of a word always has a shewa sign if it has no other vowel; thus ^7 klk (to you f.) but tjV bkä (to you m.). (8) In the rather rare situation where a final syllable of a word closes with two consonants, e.g. wayyebk (and he wept), the sign shewa is placed under both: 333. 11. Metheg. The metheg is a short perpendicular stroke placed under a consonant and to the left of the vowel sign (if any). It serves several purposes in the orthography, of which the following are the most important: (1) Since the vowels a and e are regularly replaced by s in open syllables two or more places before the main stress, their appearance in such positions may be regarded as anomalous. They are usually marked with metheg: "■SJK 'andki I 'a^iDia beraktani you blessed me (2) In fact, any long vowel occurring two or more syllables before the main stress may be so marked, although manuscripts are inconsistent in this. Compare iNihn hosa' save! ^©in hosteni save me! This usage is particularly important with the vowel —, which is a short vowel 0 [d] in closed, unaccented syllables and a long vowel d elsewhere. The metheg is used with — = d in any doubtful position to ensure the correct reading: 'li")!^ ytbdrskeni he will bless me (not yaborkhii). [Another device used in a word like the one just given to ensure correct reading is to point with — instead of —: •■ai^T yabardkeni This is an irregular use of d for a, since the consonant under which it appears need not be a guttural.] [XXVI] [XXVII] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW (3) Short vowels before the main stress usually occur in closed syllables. Whenever the contrary occurs, the vowel may be marked with metheg: ihsjp ta'amod she will stand i^rm 'ohold his tent. This last example, with = o, would seem to cancel out the usefulness of metheg for distinguishing between the two values of — mentioned above. Actually, this is not often so, since — = a is very rarely followed by — 6 in the next syllable, but rather by ^- a: e.g. nna baharu (they chose). (4) Metheg with a short vowel in what appears to be a closed syllable indicates that the normal doubling of the following consonant has been given up: D,l?J"ian hamraggalim (the spies) for □,17n'?? hamimraggolim. In this book metheg will be used consistently only with to mark, the distinction between the o and 5 values of the sign. Thus ri"?DK 'akalah she ate n'joK 'oklsh food It is also employed sporadically to alert the reader to a syllabic division that might otherwise escape his notice. INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW [XXVIII] LESSON J [Read §§/-J o/" the section "Sounds and Spelling," pp. xv-xviii] 12. The Noun: Gender. Nearly all Hebrew nouns belong to one of two grammatical categories called gender: masculine and feminine. Nouns denoting animate beings usually have grammatical gender corresponding to natural gender (sex), but there is otherwise no clear correlation between gender and meaning. For example in liar (mountain) is masculine, while nsnj gih'uh (hill) is feminine. There are some formal indications of gender: nouns ending in -oh, -c[. and -at are nearly always feminine, such as Nouns without these endings are usually masculine, but there are important exceptions, such as Gender should therefore be learned for each noun, since it cannot be deduced safely from form or meaning. In the vocabularies of the lessons all nouns ending in -ah, -et, and -at are to be taken as feminine and all others as rt^Pp nurfkah queen r.a hat daughter DVi da'at knowledge rnftpn tip'eret glory ]2K \'ben stone (fern.) T» '/r city (fern.) ■p& 'eres earth (fern.) [1] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW LESSON i] masculine unless there is a remark to the contrary. Typical listing will be r\m iSšäh ■m däbär woman word f$g 'eres earth pT ^oao/i n*!^? gaiiHi niu>pT fQift much, many bitter evil strong living poor beautiful hard, difficult Other types of adjectives will be commented upon as they occur. 23. The Use of Adjectives. Adjectives occur in two functions, attributive and predicative. By attributive is meant an adjective which forms a phrase with the noun it modifies, and this phrase as a whole has a single function in the sentence. For example, [13] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW in I read a good book, good modifies book and the phrase a good book is the object of the verb read. The attributive adjective in Hebrew follows its noun and agrees with it in number, gender, and definiteness. aio iľ-k 'iš 0b ľňorj ěsxn liä'íš ha\\ôb D-giu D5f3K -äiiäšim [ôbim B'aiBíj D'fasn hffůndMm hauôbim naio niľx 'iššáh [ôbäh naien ntí>Nn hä'iššäh haaôbäh rmio t™ naším [ôbôt nuion crán hannašim ha([ôbôt nbi-n t» 7r gadôläh nVnarj -ran táVr haggadôläh rvbiia B'is 'ärfwj gadôlôt □■""isn he'ôrítn haggadôlôt a good man the good man good men the good men a good woman the good woman good women the good women a great city (f.) the great city great cities the great cities Note that the adjective agrees with the gender of the preceding noun and not with its ending. A juxtaposed noun and articleless adjective usually constitute a predication, the adjective being taken as the predicate and the noun as the subject. In the predicate function the adjective may stand before or after its noun subject. There is agreement in number and gender, but the predicate adjective does not, by definition, have the definite article: tP'Nn aiu lôb ha iš j 3iD trán hä'iš (Ôb j nrán rniB [ôbäh Iďiššält ) nairj nmn hä'iššäh [ôbäh j crtMHri rrait; (ôbim luľänäšťm O'rán niaiD [ôbôt hannašim The man is good. The woman is good. The men are good. The women are good. A series of adjectives may occur in either function: naioni n'ri-nrj -ran ha'ir haggaddlah wahat[dbah the great and good city nail:) rhrri. -ran ha'ir gaddlah wafobah The city is great and good. An adjective may be modified by a prepositional phrase in the predicate usage: nyb -ran naio \6bdh ha'ir la'am The city is good for the people. When a subject noun is indefinite, there is a chance of ambiguity: nrriu narm good wisdom or Wisdom is good. This is uncommon and can usually be resolved from the context. [14] lesson 3] Adjectives may be used as nouns (i.e. in noun functions) in two ways: (I) the adjective, usually with the definite article, may mean "the one who js..," as ci?nn hehakam the wise one, the wise man; (2) both the masc. and fern, singular forms of some adjectives may be used as abstract nouns, •'that which is____" as snn liara' or nyirr hara'ah, evil, wickedness. 24. Vocabulary 3. Nouns: nan in 017 1? Adjectives: aiu PR Adverbs: tka dabdr (pi. -fiij) word, matter, thing, affair rd'ab famine 'eres (pi. -6t) land, earth (f.) liar mountain 'am people, nation gan garden (db good gadoi great, big qafott small, little, unimportant yapeh beautiful, handsome ra' evil, bad, wicked ma'bd much, very (follows the adjective it modifies, as in nko aio lob im'dd, very good) Exercises: (a) Give all four forms (masc, fern.; sing., pi.) of the following adjectives: vnift qados holy pinn ralidq distant aiifj qiirob near (b) Give the Hebrew for the following orally: 123 käb'ed kds same' ttbti šälem heavy thirsty whole, sound 1. the good man, the small man, the evil man 2. the large city, the small city, the evil city 3. the beautiful woman, the small woman, the good woman 4. a good boy, a big city, a small field, a large house 5. in the city, in the large city, near the large city 6. in the great palace, near the large river 7. cities, the cities, in the cities, in the great cities 8. men, the men, the evil men, in the evil men 9. women, the women, concerning the evi! women 10. land, the land, the great land (c) Translate: 1. hä'iššäh rä'äh ms'od. 2. hú' yäpeh. .im nsn nswri i .no1 Nín 2 INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW 3. ha'is waha'issah yapim mo'od. 4. 'ayyeh lia'anasim hattobim? ha'anasim haftobim bii'ir haqqatannah. 5. 'epoh hanna'ar hara"! hu' babbayit haggadol. 6. 'ayyeh hammelek? hu' bahekal haggadol. 7. ml tob? tobah ha'issah hayyapah. 8. haddabar tob ms'od. 9. gadol hara'ab ba'lr. 10. ha'abadim ra'im ma'od. 11. hazzaqenim 'esel habbayit. 12. he'arim haqqatannot 'esel hannahar haggadol. (d) Write in Hebrew: 1. The women are very beautiful. 2. The city is very large. 3. The house is near a small field. The men and the women are on the road. The large houses are in the city. The women are wicked. The matter is unimportant (lit. small). .lká trs; rmsrn i^kh 3 .traien criMsn rrx 4 .naö^fj Tin tpanwij d^jkh .snn -win nš-it 5 .biím rráa wn ."rttan bs-na Kin .ns;n newn naiü .aiu -a 7 .ixa aiu la-rn 8 .TBa asnn "?i-ia 9 .inh d"S"j d'iasn 10 in?n "?sft niau|pn irisn 12 8. The small garden is near the road. [16] LESSON 4 [Read §7 in the section "Sounds and Spelling," pp. xxi-xxiii] 25. Noun Plurals (cont.). Nouns of two syllables whose lirst syllable is either closed or contains an unchangeable long vowel and whose second syllable has either a or e form their plurals in two ways: the first syllable remains unchanged, but in the second e is reduced to a, while a is generally retained. The following nouns illustrate most of the important types: (a) with a closed first syllable: pl aswn nuspat ^h1?» mal'äk nam mizbčfh B'psiffO mišpaíim judgment D'DnSd maCäkim messenger nimm mizbahót altar (b) with an unchangeable long vowel in the first syllable: 3$ 'oyěb ]T\3 köhen 33Í3 kókáb brn hekäl □,aiš 'öyablm tFSJß kähanim □"•aaia kökäbim abvr\ hěkůlim enemy priest star temple A special situation is encountered in a few words such as KD3 ih'itw kissě' niND3 kis'öt blind (adj.) throne [17] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW in which the doubled consonant of the singular is simplified in the plural with the resulting loss of a syllable: not 'imratfm, kissa'dt. Such irregularities will always be noted in the vocabularies. 26. The Active Participle. All verb forms and most nouns in Hebrew can be analyzed into at least two parts: a root and a formative vowel pattern. In the group of words in a. baritk blessed (adj.) Tpaj? mabarek blessing (verb) fT2 borak lie was blessed Tia berek he blessed nana borakah blessing (noun) the sequence of consonants BRK carries the basic notion of "bless." Such a sequence is called the root of the forms given above. Note that the root is a grammatical abstraction from the given words and not vice versa; that is, because a root has no existence apart from its incorporation into words, it leads to misunderstanding the nature of language to say that the words are derived from the root. The pattern of vowels associated with a given word may or may not have a specific meaning of its own. For example, from the words melek (king), malkah (queen), malkfit (kingdom), malak (he ruled), homlak (he was made to rule), etc., we may certainly abstract a root MLK having to do with kings and ruling. Nevertheless, we cannot find any but the most meager support for taking the word melek as the root MLK plus a meaningful formant pattern e-e (as one who does what the root specifies). The vowel pattern e-e is not a norma! one for the formation of agent nouns. But consider the following set of words: ana koteb writing ^bri hoiek walking, going 3?" yo'seb sitting TV yored descending The vowel pattern o-e is a regular one for the formation of the active participle with roots of the triconsonantal type illustrated. Thus, while it is always analytically legitimate to isolate roots and formative patterns, one must exercise caution about assigning specific meaning to the latter. We shall begin our study of the Hebrew verb with the participial form mentioned above. The participle is in nearly all respects an adjective so far as its syntax and inflection are concerned: masc. fern. asf'' yoSSb rour yošébet rraiŕ yošabim niasŕ yôšdhôt sitting The first vowel is unchangeably long; the vowel of the second syllable is e [18] lesson 4] and therefore changeable. Note the feminine singular form with -ex and a corresponding change in the vowel of the final stem syllable; the form PPBr vdsabah is also found, but less frequently. The participle may be used attributively, anan uŕnn haiš hakkoiěb the writing man or the man who is writing or predicatively, ana ha'is koteb The man is writing. These differ in no way from the adjectival syntax of the preceding lesson. The participle, both as an attribute and as a predicate, usually indicates a continuing action, one in progress, and is best translated with the English progressive tenses. Tense, as in the adjectival sentences of the preceding lesson, must be gained from the context. The participial sentences in the exercises should be translated in the present tense or in the immediate future (he is going to..., he is about to...): tfr^i. urf? jna urNn ha'is noten lehem laddallah The man is giving (is going to give) bread to the poor woman. 27. The Object Marker -rig >(-. When the direct object of a verb is a definite noun (i.e. has the definite article) or is a proper name, it is usually preceded by the object marker tin 'et-(or, without maqqep, m 'et): rninrrnx inS kNh ha'is sStner 'et-hattdrah The man is observing the Law. TJT" ns arm Dsn ha'am 'oheb 'et-Dawid The people love David. But if the object is indefinite, it is not marked: naT aro w\xr\ ha'is koteb dahar The man is writing a word. nK may be repeated before each member of a compound object: nixarrnKi nninrrnN XT!0i □■'iMNn ha'anasim soimrim 'et-hattorah wa'et-hammiswot The men are observing the Law and the commandments. 28. Vocabulary 4. Nouns : ooii sopet (pi. -im) judge IS1?!? mofak (pi. -im) messenger, angel KD3 kisse' (pi. irreg. rriKDS kis'ol) throne Verbs: ana koteb writing [19] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW Vat? 'dkel eating ini noten giving, setting, placing ijjjfl hdlek going, walking afr yoseb sitting, dwelling, inhabiting Prepositions: m 'et or -ns Vr- direct object marker (see §27) b Is- to, for (in dative sense); as 'el- to, toward (motion or traversing of space usually implied, but often synonymous with b Is-) "rsa bs'ene in the eyes of, in the opinion of, as far as — is concerned Exercises: (a) Form the plurals of the following nouns: "iDD soper (-im) scribe T»m mo'ed {-im) appointed time miskdn (-im) tabernacle 333 gwmdb (-im) thief ]rf?v 'sidhan (-or) table unpa miqdds (-im) sanctuary (b) Give the Hebrew for the following orally: the judge is sitting the king is writing the boy is going the woman is giving 5. the messenger is going 6. the man is giving 7. the slave is eating 8. the woman is going (c) Pluralize each of the items in the preceding exercise. E.g. the judges are sitting, etc. (d) Transform the items of exercise (b) into noun -f- modifier, as "the judge who is sitting," etc. (e) Translate: 1. hassöpe} nölen 'et-hasseper lä'is. 2. hä'iäsäh yösebet wa'ökelet babbdyit. 3. hä'änäsim hötakim 'el-hahekäl haggädöl. 4. hammelek yöseb wsköteb basseper. 5. hammal'äkim hölakim 'el-hahekäl. 6. ra' haddäbär ba'ene hä'äm, 7. hanna'arim hötaktm 'el-hannähär. 8. hammelek yöseb 'al-hakkisse' bahekäl 9. ha'äm yöseb. bä'äres haggadöläh. .rvaa nVaki naiir rnran 2 10. hä'is wahä'issäh yösabim bä'ir härä'äh. 11. hassöpstim höbkim 'el-hannähär. .ipsa anrn ^än a .□rn 'i1»! -i:nn »1 6 .Va-'na Noan-1?» aur TjVän 8 .nVi™ yi&a 3©" am a •ny-iri "rya caur rrram vrxn io .inin-^K D-D^h D'DDtpn ti 120] p haylädim yosabim 'esel hannähär haqqätön. 13. hü'köteb'et-haddabärim 'al-hasseper. 14. 'epöh yösaböt hannäsim? 15. töbim hä'äbädim ba'ene hammelek, LESSON 4] .ftpn -irsari □■aiff' a-iVn 12 .HDÖn-Vs D^airj-nK ana wn n .□■ran maw1 nb'K m (f) Write in Hebrew: 1. The boys are going to the city. 2. The slaves are sitting near the small houses. 3. The boy is giving the book to the man. 4. The man and the woman are living in the garden. 5. The men are giving the small field and the garden to the king. 6. The people are dwelling in a good land. [21] lesson 5] LESSON ^ [Read §§5—P in the section "Sounds and Spelling," pp. xxiii-xxv] 29. The Prepositions 3 ba-, b h-, and 3 ka-. The form of these three prepositions is determined by the first consonant or syllable of the word to which they are prefixed: a. If the noun begins with the syllable J ya, the anticipated forms *baya, *taya, and *kaya are replaced by hi, li, and ki: af&PP yaritsaldim Jerusalem o'rorva birusaldim in Jerusalem abmi-b linisdldim to Jerusalem q'pisn-ps kintsrildim like Jerusalem b. If the noun begins with any other consonant followed by a, the prepositions have the vowel i: bNint? samu'el Samuel Vnih©3 bismuel in Samuel ^Kini?1? lismuel to Samuel ^Ninra kismft'el like Samuel Note that the a of the noun is dropped in pronunciation: bis-mu-'el, not bi-sd-mii-'el. c. If the noun begins with a guttural followed by a reduced vowel (tf, e, or 0), the prepositions have the corresponding full short vowel: [22] ntbn lidlom a dream nsx 'emet truth □iVrn bahdlom in a dream n&n3 be'emet in truth mbnb laltalom to a dream nwb le'emet to truth □iVns kalialom like a dream nnto ke'emet like truth rr}N 'oniydh a ship n;3k3 bo'Oniydh in a ship, etc. d. Before words stressed on the first syllable (thus mainly monosyllabic words) the prepositions arc optionally vocalized with d. Instances of this rather restricted form will be noted as they occur. e. As we have staled previously, these three prepositions combine with the definite article, which loses its initial n h. The vowel of the article remains unchanged. f. Aside from the special circumstances given in the preceding paragraphs, the prepositions occur simply as a ba-, b la-, and 3 ka-\ -ba'ir in a city •j'jns kamelek like a king vrnb la'is to a man. 30. The Preposition ]ti nun. a. Before the definite article this preposition may have either the form D me-, which is joined directly to the following word, or |» inin-, which is usually joined to the following word with maqqep: from the king min-hammelek or mebammelck. irj-jn T?"rTO b. Before nouns beginning with a guttural or r, the preposition takes the form n me-, joined directly: T» 'fr a city iran ro(')s a head T»n me'ir from a city wfriD meroC)s from a head c. Before all other nouns the form is a mi + the doubling of the first consonant: •]b§ melek a king "n^D!? mimmelek from a king. The sequence miyya- is commonly contracted to ml-, as in aiwa mihuddh (for *miyyahuddh) from Judah. 31. The Comparative. The adjective is not altered in form to express the comparative. Instead, the preposition ]n min is used before the noun which is the basis of comparison. [23] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW -irana con BftCT ha'is hakdm melutnnd'ar The man is wiser than the boy. Other sentence orders are possible and not unusual: rnyana nwRn rtB; ra/ia/i huissah melumna'urah The woman is more beautiful than the girl. The same construction may be translated "too... for:" ei'xnn niiasjn rwpr qasah luTabodah meha'is The work is too hard for the man. The choice between the comparative and "too" translations depends on which makes the better sense. 32. The Relative Word Tm '{tier. Unlike English, the prepositional phrase in Hebrew does not commonly stand next to a noun as a modifier. Thus, while we may speak of the book on the table or the fountain in the park, where on the table and in the park modify book and fountain respectively, in Hebrew such modification is more frequently introduced by the word ~rox 'aser, which is usually the equivalent of the English relative pronouns who, which, and that. TV3 niffN i^xn ha'is 'aser ba'ir the man in the city, or the man who is in the city 1H&3 ~i^"k aan hd'am 'aser ba'ares the people in the land, or the people which is in the land. The word -iu>n 'aser is not affected by the gender or number of the antecedent: Vrrrn lira n»Kri ha'issah 't'iser bahekal the woman in the temple. -\m 'aser is not commonly employed before adjectives or participles. Thus, English the man who is wise is simply Dsnn wnh ha'is hehdkam, or □snri hehakam alone. The man who is sitting is 3W'rr i^xn ha'is hayyoseb. The participle may be used alone, even without the definite article, as an equivalent of English one who, anyone who, whoever, he who: naN3 "]Vn holek be'emet he who (or whoever) walks in truth. 33. Vocabulary 5. Nouns: 3rn zahab gold naDrt hokmah wisdom ^p? kesep silver, money rnias? Labddah work, task, servitude (cf. 'ebed) ilSS 'esah counsel, advice [24] Adjectives: Proper Names: nan bKlMli* Other: 1" LESSON 5] yaqar precious yasar just, upright saddiq righteous qaseli difficult, hard, harsh rasa' evil, bad, criminal Dawid David samit'el Samuel Yarusaldim Jerusalem [Note that in the Hebrew spelling the second , is missing. This spelling may point to an early dialectal variant pronunciation Yarusalem] min- (prep.) from; also used partitively: D^Kna mehaanasim, some of the men. 'aser (rcl. pronoun) who, which, that Exercises: (a) Prefix the preposition a ha- to the following words, first without the article, then with it. Example: kesep, bakesep, bakkesep. D^n malakim trfr yaladim DTI3S 'abadinx nonn darakim crns 'arim rr"i»3 na'arim o'-nn hadarim rtKnx 'adamah mx 'dniyah (rooms) (ground) (ship) (b) Give the Hebrew for the following orally. Use the adjective in the masculine singular form. 5. worse than the men 6. more precious than gold 7. more just than the king 1. better than the boy 2. larger than the house 3. larger than the river 4. smaller than a field (c) Give the Hebrew for the following orally. Then transform them into phrases using 'aser. Example: The city is in the land ha'ir ba'ares 1. The boy is in the large field. 2. The words are in the book. 3. The woman is on the road. 4. The gold is in the temple. 5. The silver is in the house. (d) Translate: 1. ysqarah hokmah mizzahab- 2. qasah ha'abodah meha'anastm. the city which is in the land ha'ir 'aser ba'ares .nrvja nnan rnp; l .iritijxrin rnisvn rrap t [25] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW 3. yasarim ha'abadim mehammalakim. 4. Dawld yasar ma'od. 5. hiV noten hokmah lammelek hayyoseb 'al-hakkisse'. 6. ra'im haddabarim 'aser basseper. 7. (obah hokmah mikkesep. 8. yasarim ha'anasim. 9. Dawld waha'anasim yosabim birusalaim. 10. mi saddiq missamu'cl? 11. ha'esah ra'ah ma'od. 12. 'ayyeh haysarim wahassaddiqim? (c) Write in Hebrew: 1. The king is giving the gold and the silver to the men who are in the palace. 2. Wisdom is more precious than silver. 3. The messengers in Jerusalem are very bad. 4. Samuel and David are just and righteous. 5. The task is too difficult for the boy. 6. The field is larger than the garden near the house. 7. The judges are more evil than the kings. .crabarja trigsn D*iiŕ 3 .im -us; in i atrn -phb nnan |pi mn 3 .nsôa n«?K o-mn o-»n < •ipáa naan naitJ 7 .BtřJitn cnir b .a'pem-a D'asr ctógni th n .bwacn p'7s 'a 111 .180 ns-j nsart 11 LESSON ^ [Read §10 in the section "Sounds and Spelling," pp. xxv-x.xvii] 34. Noun Plurals (cont.). There are, in general, two types of monosyllabic nouns in terms of changes in the plural stem: (a) those with no change, and (b) those having a doubling of the final consonant: (a) šíV širim song DID sús súsim horse V)f niniR 'ôtôt sign tn darn dämim blood r» 'us □■'sb 'esim tree (b) as 'am o-as 'aminim people To lies marl hissim arrow pn hóq hiiqqim statute Note the following particulars: (1) Nouns with the stem vowels a, f, 0, and usually a do not alter the stem before the plural ending. (2) Nouns with stem vowel e behave in one of two ways: (a) the stem is unchanged, as in 'es - 'esim (b) the final stem consonant is doubled and e is replaced by /, as in lies - hissim. (3) Nouns with a are similar to the above: [26] [27] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW (a) When the final stem consonant is a guttural or r, the stem vowel is "lengthened" to a, as in har-hdrim. (b) Otherwise the final stem consonant is doubled and the stem vowel remains the same, as in 'am - 'ammim. (4) Nouns with the stem vowel o usually follow the pattern of hdq -huqqim. Often, however, o is a defective writing for o, so that care must be taken not to confuse the type hdq with that of 'dt in group (a). Because of irregularities and minor unpredictable deviations, the plurals will be given with the singulars in the vocabularies. The following nouns are irregular in that the plural stems do not conform to the types just enumerated: lesson 6] □V rd(')s ydm hen 'fr 7s head day son city man plural: trca EH? ra{')sim yamim banim 'drim 'cindMni 35. Participles (cont.). When the second or third consonant of a verbal root is a guttural (x', y' , n n h) the forms of the participle are slightly modified. When the second consonant is a guttural, we find d for a in the plural stem: pas sd'eq q*p5?3 sd'aqim crying out npjte so'eqet nipya sd'aqot When the third consonant is an v ' or n the feminine singular has a instead of e in the last two syllables: rna bore"/! d'rna bdrshim fleeing rrna bordhat nirna bdrahdt When the third consonant is N ', which is not pronounced when it would close a syllable, the fern. sing, has e: Nip qdre' 0"K1p qdrs'im calling m->p qdre(')t roNip qdra'dt 36. Vocabulary 6. Nouns: ^ip qdl (pi. -6t) voice, sound; baqdlgddol: aloud, in a loud voice Y¥ 'es (pi. 'esim) tree, wood cn.3 kerem (pi. -im) vineyard Verbs: pas sd'eq crying out (in distress) nbvi sdle'h sending sua note"' planting NIT yds? going forth, leaving [28] Other: nnri tdhat (prep.) under; instead of 13 Id (conj.) because, since, for; that 2~i rab (adj.) much, many, numerous (forms in §22) Exercises: (a) Give the Hebrew for the following orally: 1. The old man is going forth. 2. The woman is planting. 3. The judge is sending. 4. The people is crying out. 5. The servant is going forth. (b) Pluralize each of the sentences in (a). (c) Translate: 1. ha'anasim nots'im 'esim rabblm 'al-hahar. 2. hanna'ar yoseb tahal ha"es *aser baggan. 3. gadolim ha'esim "aser beharim meha'esim 'aser 'esel hannahar. 4. 'ammim rabbim yosabim ba'ares ki ha'ares tobah ma'od. 5. ha'am so'aqim bsqol gadol ki qasah ms'od hii'abodah. 6. mi yose' min-ha'ir hara'ah? 7. ra'im haddsbarim ba'ene hammelek hayyasar. 8. ha'issah yose(')t mehabbayit. 9. ha'abadim no^'im kerem qajon 'esel hassadeh. .nrin-Vu crin tnx? a^a'i a~ymn i .]aa itt's ysn nnn ai?1 ninn 2 □"srria anna lira crsiin d-'1?™ :i y-iSn -p a-ivr B"sn aw 1 .-iNa nan; im nwp "3 Vipa nyyz nun j .niiasn .nsnn "i-yrria us* -a n ,~va>n -^an -rsa d'-iam a-si 1 .niffln Vstt pp oi3 ersoi n1!3?? !l (d) Write in Hebrew: 1. The king is sending the messengers to the judge who is in the city. 2. The people are going out of Jerusalem because the famine is very great. 3. Who is crying out in the house? 4. The vineyard and the garden are near the house. 5. He is sitting under a large tree, 6. The men are good, but the servants are bad. 7. The servants are better than the messengers. [29] lesson 7] LESSON [Read § 11 of the section "Sounds and Spelling," pp. xxvii-xxviii] 37. Predication of Existence. In order to state that something exists, Hebrew employs the word up yes, commonly translated "there is (are)." hps ep yes is nwK itp yes 'issäh crMN tr yes 'tinäsiin There is a man. There is a woman. There are men. There is no change in the word for number or gender of the object predicated. The negative expression, for non-existence, is yn 'en: upn ]'« 'en 'is nyit 'en 'issäh There is no man. There is no woman. This sentence type figures largely in expressing possession: r|p|i hps'? rtj 'in la'is kesep The man has no silver. rtvixb u?*js o.i yes 'is la'issah The woman has a husband. In the preceding lessons we dealt with sentences having an adverbial predicate. All of the examples used, both in the lesson and in the exercises, had definite nouns as subjects. When one constructs a similar sentence with an indefinite subject, such as "A man is in the house," we find that this is virtually equivalent to the existential sentence "There is a man in the house." [30] Thus, the sentences expressing existence and those having adverbial predicates are sometimes identical: subj. definite rraa upttn ha'is babbdyit sUbj. indef. rraa <£pn ep yes 'is babbdyit rvaa etn f s 'en 'is babbdyit The man is .., A man is ... There is a man .. No man is... There is no man 38. The Prepositions a b b-, and ~m 'et- with Pronominal Suffixes. When a personal pronoun is the object of a preposition, it is appended as a suffix directly to the preposition: "■V // to me T\b bket to you (m. s.) T? Idk to you (f. s.) id to him 7\b läh to her tib lata) to us a^b Ictkem to you (m. pi.) [pb taken to you (f. pi.)] arib lähem to them (m. pi.) ]7ib lahen to them (f. pi.) Here, as elsewhere in the language, a distinction between genders is made in the second person as well as in the third. There are thus four Hebrew pronouns corresponding to English "you." The preposition a bs with suffixes is exactly like the above. An alternate form oa bam for ana bahem is also used. The pronouns as objects oT the verb may occur as suffixes on the object marker, as follows: 'nit 'oil me ^nk 'ötskä you (m. s.) ■qnK 'ötäk you (f. s.) ins 'ötö him nnk 'ötäh her unit 'öiänfi us Q?nK 'etkem you (m. pi.) [T?n£ 'etken you (f. pi.)] ontt 'ötäm them (m. pi.) jnN 'otdn them (f. pi.) The 3rd pers. pi. forms also occur as onnK 'ethem and jnnH 'ethen. Some examples of usage: SH1? M$ ]JO TP-Kri hd'is noien ianu lehem The man is giving (to) us bread. ICO "b f% 'en li kesep I have no silver. ^b& anb yes Idhem melek They have a king. fm-bs nm nbw r\bhn hammelek sole"h 'Slam 'cl-hd'ir The king is sending them to the city. [31] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW 39. Vocabulary 7 Nouns: ]n2 Verbs: Adjectives: Particles: Exercises: so(')n (no p!.) a collective term for small cattle (sheep and goats) n|73 baqar (no pi.) a collective term for large cattle (bulls, steers, cows, etc.) gonial (pi. irreg. o,lpaa gamallim) camel arfp lehein (no pi.) bread, food descending, going down rich poor w yes there is. there are |"S 'en there is not, there are not mrěd T TPS 'asii bl dal (a) Give the Hebrew for the following orally: 1. I have a_ 2. She has no_ 3. We have no. 4. The man has no wife. 5. They (m. pf.) have_ (house, garden, field, vineyard) _. (husband, slaves, money, books) __(king, judge, city, camels) (small-cattle, camels, gold, silver) 6. There are no trees on the mountain. 7. There are many houses in the city. 8. There are many messengers here. 9. He is sending us. 10. He is writing to us. 11. He is giving us bread. 12. He is dwelling in it. 13. She is sending them. 14. She is planting it for them. (b) Translate: 1. 'ěn 'iš yošeb 'al-hakkissě'. 2. yěš séper šíim. 3. 'én šópěl yášar ba'ir. 4. hammal'akim ydradim měhahar ki 'én láhem lehem šam. .dip 1dď bť 2 .am on1? ha'asirim notanim lehem ,otf q'aiii'rj an1? a^ni D'Tttfsn laddallim hayyošabím šám. 6. ha'anasim yosD'im min-ha'ir wsholakím 'el-háhar. 7. hannáším yosa'ot meha'Tr wayóradót 'el-hannáhár. Tsn-ja D-'iffwr; .-nrr^K □,a'?m .nnarr^K niTVi Tsrta niKS' cnitf'nri [32] (c) g. yěš lánů báyit gadól wagan qa(on. 9. mi ha'anasim hahóbkim 'el-ha'ir? 10. hayládim yošabím wa'okalim bakkérem. ] |. hú' 'ašir mo'od; yěš lo kěsep wazáháb. lesson 7] .|Uj? |» *ma rra iSfi & a .Tsn-'jK ffoVhrj d-'msn ■'a 9 .did? □"•Vaki craw'' □"■"i^n ki .arm f]p5 bt; .-ma tip's Km n Write in Hebrew: 1. The king has no city and he has no land. 2. Where are the young men sitting and eating? 3. The rich have bread but the poor have no bread. 4. The poor are crying out because they have no food. 5. The judges are sending the books to the king, for there are many good things in them. 6. The king is sending me to the judge because he has a difficult problem ( = thing). 7. There are many camels here. [33] LESSON 8 40. The Demonstrative Adjectives and Pronouns. Singular masc. nt zeh fern. masc. Tern. this nut Sfi'CU tnis Kin mi nti lit that that Plural rľ?Ŕ 'elleh these ari hern those nan hPnnuh those These words have a usage parallel to that of the adjective. niri Erxri /ic'/s hazzeh this man nsin nti'Nri ha'issah hazzd(')t this woman n^n □"'ic'iHri ha'anaUm ha'elleh these men n^ftri criitfri hannasim ha'elleh these women mnri fvm hats hahiT that man irnri ntyMn ha'issah hahf that woman onn QTOKn ha'anasim hahem those men ninn D'li'jri hannasim hahennah those women The demonstrative stands last in a series of adjectives: np 3i»n ursn ha'is hat lob hazzeh this good man nKtn nnien riBKn ha'issah handball hazzd(')t this good woman The form without the article has the status of a pronoun (compare the use of the predicate adjective): lesson 8] tiŕsn n! zeh hä'iš nrán nsi z0(')t hä'iššäh onmn rv^Ň 'élleh haddabärim This is the man. This is the woman. These are the words. Note that agreement in number and gender is present, as with the adjective. 41. Participles (cont.). masc. fern. mi bôneh enn honím rua bônah ni32 bônôt (rt';a boniyäh) The final n /; of the form rua boneh is a mater lectionis for the final vowel and is not a third root consonant. The root in this class of verbs must be considered as variable in form, sometimes BN-, sometimes BNY. Note that the feminine lias two forms in the singular; either may be used, but boniyah is quite rare. 42. Vocabulary 8. Nouns: na,3 binah understanding, perceptiveness p~[% secjeq righteousness (cf. saddtq) wx *f| (no. pi.) fire (f.) !r:n nabf (pi. -im) prophet Verbs: rua boneh building n^ii 'oleh ascending, going up Vsa nope! falling Exercises: (a) Give the Hebrew for the following orally: 1. this famine 2. these houses 3. that city 4. this money 5. that task 6. this advice 7. these cities 8. these mountains 9. those peoples (b) Transform the phrases of (a) into sentences according to the model: this famine This is the famine. (c) Translate: 1. dal hannabi' hazzeh wa'en ló lehem. 2. ha'anasim ha'elleh 'olim 'el-hehárim. 3. hannabi'im hayšárim hóbkim basedeq. .p7ja rrzhrx tpyfa} ONi'San a [34] [35] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW 4. bináh wahokmah (óbót mizzahab. 5. ha'es nopélet 'ai-habbáyit 'ašer 'ésel hahékál. 6. ha'anasim boním báyit gadól ba'ir hahi'. 7. ra'Im ha'am kí 'ěn lahem binah. 8. hú' šólěah lánů nabi' saddiq. 9. 'ěn mélek birúšaláim. (d) Write in Hebrew: .arijn rvnit) nnarn nra .| .STjn rva "rní n?á o^a triMNn n .nra on1: rs "a osn D"in 7 t tt i *• tt - t .p-n^ iraj tí| n^Eř Nin a 1. These camels are mine (lit. to me) and those camels are yours. 2. You have no understanding. 3. He is going up to the cattle which are in the mountains. 4. She is falling. 5. The boys are building a small house near the garden. 6. The people are dwelling in this land because it is great and beautiful. 7. He is placing (lit. giving) fire upon that wicked city. [36] LESSON 43. The Perfect of ana katab. There are two full verbal inflections for person, number, and gender for each Hebrew verb. The first, called the perfect, is formed by adding subject suffixes to a relatively fixed stem, as illustrated by ana kätab -nana kátábti he wrote I wrote. The second, called the imperfect, uses a different stem and has person, number, and gender marked by both prefixes and suffixes, as in any yiktoh he will write ruafian tiktbbnah they (lent, pi.) will write. We shall begin our study of the verb with the perfect, the full inflection of which is as follows: ana kätab nana ká&bah nana kmábtd nana kätabt 'nana kčuábti he wrote she wrote you (m. s.) wrote you (f. s.) wrote I wrote lana kätobü they wrote you (m. pi.) wrote you (f. pi.) wrote we wrote □nana kautbtem inana katabien nana katabmt The following particulars should be noted: (1) The traditional arrangement of a verbal paradigm in Hebrew begins with the third person and proceeds to the first. [37] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW (2) In the perfect, there is a distinction in form for gender in the second and third persons of the singular and the second person plural. The others, including the first person singular and plural and the third person plural, do not reflect the gender of the subject. (3) The endings given in the paradigm above are standard for nearly all the verbs in the language. Many variations will be seen to occur in the stems of various verb types, but the endings themselves remain fairly constant. The 2nd pers. masc. sing, also appears with a final mater lectionis:r\Wih^ kdtdbtdh, (4) The stem of the verb kcitab changes in accordance with the shape of the suffix added: (a) Before the unstressed endings -id, -t, -li, and -im the stem remains the same as in the third person masculine singular. (b) The addition of the endings -ah and -it, both stressed and consisting of a vowel, opens the final syllable of the stem. Before these endings the second stem vowel is regularly replaced by (reduced to) a. (c) The endings -tern and -ten are always stressed. Because they begin with a consonant the second stem syllabic remains closed and unchanged. The first stem vowel, if in an open syllable as in the paradigm under study, is reduced to a. (5) When the final root consonant is the same as that which begins the suffix, only one letter is written, but with daghesh forte; thus, from m_3 (he cut) we have "B^a kdidtti (I cut), and from ]3tf ( he settled), tiiv; sdkdnnu (we settled). Verbs whose roots contain a guttural consonant, or whose roots have other phonological peculiarities, such as that of bbneh, deviate from the paradigm given above and will be dealt with in the following lessons. Verbs whose roots have no phonological peculiarities are sometimes referred to as "sound" or "regular" triliteral verbs. 44. The Meaning of the Perfect. We shall see in the course of this book that the translation value of Hebrew tenses is very largly dependent on the kind of sentence or clause in which the verb is used. In the isolated sentences of the following exercises there are only two or three values possible for the translation of the perfect: (1) With all verbs, regardless of their meanings, the Hebrew perfect may be translated as the English simple past (! wrote) or the present perfect (I have written). (2) With verbs signifying perception, or the attitude or disposition of the subject toward an object, rather than a direct action performed on the object, the perfect may be translated by the general present tense: [38] LESSON 9] inarm 'ahdbti I love (or, as above, I loved, have loved) viST yadd'ti I know (or, I knew, have known). (3) With verbs signifying the mental or physical state of the subject, and which consequently do not occur with a direct object, the perfect may be translated by the English present of the verb "to be" + an adjective: ,rojj>T zdqanti I am old (or I have become old, I grew old) (4) Rarely in prose, but rather frequently in poetry and proverbial expressions, the perfect is used to denote habitual activity with no specific tense value. Such uses are translated by the English general present (I write). 45. Word Order in the Verbal Sentence. The verb usually stands first, then the subject, object, and various adverbial elements in- that order. nnrnrrntj is-nii -pi zakar Wis 'et-haddabdrim The man remembered the words, npoa -n-rrrns KTNn ana katab hd'is 'et-hadddbdr basseper. The man wrote the word in the book. It is by no means unusual to find the subject or some other element before the verb, but such sentence order is often conditioned by interclause relationships (taken up below) or by emphasis on the element which is placed first. The verb agrees in person, number, and gender with its subject. Pronominal subjects are inherent in the verb form itself. °""!3,7n-n« lat zakar 'et-haddabdrim He remembered the words. D'lain-nN rnat zdkardh 'ei-hadchbartm She remembered the words. □nnirrnN rnai zdkardh ha'iskah 'et-haddabdrim The woman remembered the words. The particle -ns 'et- is used before definite objects, as previously explained. The perfect is negated with «V Id', which is always placed immediately before the verb: -lanrrns 'nnit N? Id' zdkdrti 'et-hadddbdr I did not remember the word. The indirect object, always marked by the preposition la-, tends to precede the direct object when the former is pronominal and the latter nominal: [39] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW TOKn-nx ft jra ndtan 16 %et-haissah He gave him the woman. Otherwise, direct object + indirect object may be considered the normal order: fltivh ft nnk |pa ndtan 'otah 16 blssah He gave her to him as a wife. vrnb nmn~m jru nfifan 'et-ha'i5$6h la'ti He gave the woman to the man. 46. The Forms of the Conjunction i ira-. Like the prepositions ba-, la-, and ks, the conjunction 111,7- (and) differs in form before various word beginnings: (a) Before a labial consonant a b, s p, or d m, its form is i 1/-: wj &h>/_r a house nb pö/; here ort mdyim water rp§3 ubdyit and a house nsi üpöli and here itmdyim and water (b) Before a word beginning with ; p., the conjunction and the first syllable of the word contract to *i wl-l rrtw yalmddh Judah DnVT; vada'tem you knew n-firri iw/hk/ö/! and Judah Drii>-ri u-ida'tem and you knew (0 Before a word beginning with any consonant (except - v) + 3 the form is 1 • tllc *?mV mm Samuel wpatf us(a)mu'el and Samuel (d) Before a guttural + a, e, or d, the conjunction is respectively 1 wa-1 ive-, or 1 u'o-: K * J niin« 'äräsöt lands QiK *eVöm Edom 'jk r<5«/ a fleet rm-w wa'ärä$öt and lands Di«i we'edöm and Edom ■ggj iro'ö«/ and a fleet 47. Vocabulary 9. Nouns: m- to/h (pi. irreg. any yamim) day; note oi'n hayyom, today. rftft /dy/a/i (pi. rare) night [Note position of stress; masculine.] oipa maqom (pi. -61) place, locale D'lilff samdyim (pi.) heaven(s), sky Verbs: -ft; jr?/ac/ to bear, give birth to , or a m, its form is 1 »-: rrä fiflv/l a house hb pöh here mävim water rräi übäyit and a house nbi u/ra/i and here D'öi wnavim and water (b) Before a word beginning with i ya-, the conjunction and the first syllable of the word contract to 'i rnirr yahudah Judah rnirri wthudBh and Judah onsT yada'tem you knew ansn/n wida'tem and you knew (c) Before a word beginning with any consonant (except ' y) + a, the form is 1 «-: bsrau? samtVel Samuel ^XTOiih us(s)miTel and Samuel (d) Before a guttural + a, e, or o, the conjunction is respectively l wa-, 1 we-, or 1 wo-: riiS'iN 'äräsöt lands DiN '«töw Edom -3N '<5«f a fleet rmns] wa'äräsöt and lands Di«} we'edöm and Edom ^Hi wo'öni and a fleet 47. Vocabulary 9. Nouns: DV row (pi. irreg. o^a; yamim) day; note ovn hayyom, today. n1?'1? /o.Wa/; (pi. rare) night [Note position of stress; masculine.] oipa maqom (pi. -6t) place, locale why sumayim (pi.) heaven(s), sky Verbs : tV jtf/arf to bear, give birth to VaR rria tfx nVsa xwn oi'3 3 »•prr xVi oairrr'jx um »Vn 4 .min x'arrVx .-ryrr1™ D''31?nri criraari "a 5 .cr-inna wwmn mi- xinn rMa c [40] [41] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW 7. yasabnu batok ha'ir walo' halaknu min-hammaqom hahu'. 8. yaladah ha'iiisah yaladim rabbim wayapim. 9. lami qabasta 'el-hakkesep wa'el-hazzahab? 10. 16' napal 'ehad mehanna'arim. (d) Write in Hebrew: Dipan-ja up1?;! xVi Tyn nina viaj&> \ .wnn ,d-,d;i d'fj □,t1?!' nw«n riT> 8 .antn-nm ^oarrnx nsaj> -a1? g 1. He gave wisdom and understanding to the prophets. 2. They sent the gold and the silver to the men in the temple. 3. This work is very hard because we have no understanding. 4. Today the men arc building a house in the city. 5. Where did they write those words? 6. I remember that he gave me the book. 7. There is evil in this place. 8. One of the women is leaving the city. [42] LESSON 48. The Perfect of Verbs with Guttural Root Consonants. The presence of guttural consonants in the root of a verb occasions slight modifications in the inflection of the perfect. All of these are simple and predictable variations, with the exception of roots whose third consonant is n (hereafter designated simply as verbs Ul-Aleph)whose inflection will be considered separately from those given here. 3 m. s. 'dmad ina bdhar J7B1T/ sama' 3 f.s. nTrr>j? 'amadah rnna baharah rtsaH senna'ah 2 m. s. rnas 'dmad la rnrja bahdrta nsSu> samd'td 2 f. s. 'amadt rnna bdhart {sama't) 1 s. 'dmddtt THna balidrii sdmd'ti 3 pi. nay 'atnadu 'ina baharu isnw sama'u 2 m. pi. nniai! 'amadtem Drnrja bahartem Dnyaip sama' (em 2 r. pi. 'amadten baharten jris/aip sama ten 1 pi. 'ainddmi irma hdhdrmi us6b? samd'nu In verbs I-gutt. (i.e. whose first root consonant is a guttural) the only variation from the standard paradigm is the replacement of a for a in the 2nd pers. pi. forms. This replacement should by now be familiar to the reader " Most Hebrew grammars employ the letierss.s, and H to designate the first, second, and third root consonants respectively, Thus, our IIl-.-(/e/)/i corresponds to the more usual designation Lamedh-Aleph. [43] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW from previous examples. The same is true for verbs II-gutt., where we find a for a in the forms baharah and baharu. The only form in the paradigm of.soma' (III-gutt.) that requires comment is nsfitf, which, as it stands, is anomalous. It is likely that such spellings were meant by the punctators to show an option: we should read either nsfttj santd'at, ignoring the daghesh, or riydffl sama't, ignoring the second a. 49. The Perfect of |ru natan. This verb has a peculiarity in its inflection: the second n of the stem is always assimilated to the initial consonant of the subject suffixes. Note carefully the following forms; the daghesh is forte, indicating doubling. lesson 10] jn: natan he gave nam ndtandh she gave nfn natatta you (m. s.) gave nru natatt you (f. s.) gave 'nra ndtdtti I gave 1303 imtamt they gave DFim natattem you (m. pi.) gave ]nru natatien you (f. pi.) gave laŕij nôlánnú we gave 50. Noun Plurals (continued). (a) Dissyllabic nouns with the sequence -dyi- show a regular contraction in the plural stem: zdyit olive tree 'áyil ram pi. DTP! zetim 'élím The noun n;3 bdyit (house) is irregular: eraa bdttim. Note the a in a closed unaccented syllable; this is virtually unique with this word. (b) There are many nouns of two syllables whose singular and plural stems are identical. These include nouns both of whose syllables are not susceptible to the changes presented in the preceding sections dealing with the noun. Examples are JVIK 'ebyon poor "rial gibbor warrior P'lS saddlq righteous man tibb 'ammud column pi. d-irrw 'ebyônitn Dniaa gibbôrím O'fHX saddtqlm tnw» 'ammCtdim Note that both syllables of such nouns are either closed or contain an unchangeable long vowel. (c) A small group of nouns ends in -eh in the singular. Although this is not a suffix, but an integral part of the root word, it does not occur on the plural stem: pi. rnlfe šädôl ni3na mahánôt nn.tt1 sddeh field nana mahdneh camp Nouns originally participles of verbs \\\-He (i.e. whose third root consonant jS given as n) also belong to this class: nan ro'eh, pi. B"»i rd'im, shepherd. 51. Vocabulary 10. Nouns: niaa gibbor (pi. -im) warrior, hero, valiant man nsa? gib'ah hill ttjb mdyim water [Like dt&ip, a plural without a singular] rana mahdneh (pi. -ol) camp nanVa milhdmdh battle, war ns pari fruit Verbs: nna bdhar to choose [May take object with ■'Fits 'et-, but more commonly with a ba: "anna bdhar hi he chose me.] inn hdrag to kill, slay ST yddd to know upb laqah to take IDS 'dmad to stand Preposition: 'JO1? lipne before, in front of, in the presence of Exercises: (a) Inflect in the perfect: f?n bziX pas (b) Give the Hebrew for the following orally: 1. They planted many trees. 2. She stood near the houses. 3. You chose me. 4. They did not choose you. 5. I look the money. 6. They killed the young man. 7. You (f. s.) took the water. 8. You (m. pi.) have eaten the bread. 9. We sent the messengers to the judge. (c) Translate: 1. nata'u ha'anasim kercm gadol .ns3$rr*?S 0-jf 1MB3 i 'al-haggib'ah. 2. 16' yada'ti ki hu' harag .frarrnx inn KM *| ^T, vib i 'et-hannabi'. 3. 'amadu ha'abadim haresa'im .T??? "??'? a'VW 3 lipne hammelek. [44] [45] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW 4. baharti baka lamelek 'al-ha'am haggadol hazzeh. 5. napalu gibborim rabbim bammilhamah hahi*. 6. yes mahaneh ben-hannahar uben-heharim. 7. mi salah 'otaka 'el-hammaqom hazzeh? 8. ml harag 'et-ha'anasim ha'elleh? 9. laqahah ha'issah mehappsri wanatanah 'oto la'is. 10. baharu ha'am 'et-Dawid lahem lamelek. ,n;n Vharr oyn-Vs pth ?ra -wrta 4 .irnn nan^aa d'st aniaa ib-sa 5 .a-"inri-T3i T/jan-pa nana # g .njn Diparj-b's nhtf 'a 7 .nWtri a^axn-ns a->rr -a 8 tfytt ins rranai nana nwNn nnpb 9 (d) Write in Hebrew: 1. He planted a tree in the midst of this garden. 2. They cried out in a loud voice because of this hard work. 3. They chose for them(selves) a land and dwelt there. 4. The men took the gold and silver from the temple. They also slew the prophets who (were) there. 5. She knew that those words (were) very bad, 6. One of the young men fell in that battle, 7. They gave me bread and water, but I did not give them the money. [46] LESSON 1 52. The Perfect of Verbs III-AIeph: KSB masa'. k3b masaO he found iiKSa masa ah she found nK^a masa(')ta you (m. s.) found on«sa ntda >nasa(')t you (f. s.) found jriKsa vmSa masa('' jti 1 found lanSa INSB masa'u they found masaC)tem you (m. pi.) found masa{')ten you (f. pi.) found masa(')nu we found In verbs Ul-Aleph the second syllable of the stem in the perfect has a instead of a in those forms to which a suffix beginning with a consonant is added. In other words, whenever k originally closed a syllable, it was lost and the lengthening of the vowel took place as a consequence. The * is preserved when it begins the syllable, as in masd'ah and musSu. Remember, however, that the s is always found in the spelling, even when not pronounced. Note too that there is no daghesh lene in the n of the suffixes, since they are now preceded in pronunciation by a vowel instead of a consonant. 53. Noun Plurals (continued). The majority of feminine nouns in -ah show no change in the stem before the plural ending: nau? sanab year pi. wvb sanim Tffpi. tor ah law ni-rin torot rtas 'ammah cubit niaK 'ammot nana barakah blessing niana barakot [47] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW lesson 11] nana bahemdh beast nman tabu'dh product n^sn lapilldh prayer nriDipp mispdhdh family niana bahemöt niwan tabuöt ni^on lapillöi ninoum mispdhöt But nouns of the general pattern CvCCdh.' like na^a malkah (queen), where the two contiguous consonants are different (thus not 'ammdh above), have a different plural stem: roVa malkah queen nina gib'ah hill nsnn herpdh reproach But note mSB miswdh, pi. nixa miswot, where the a is a prefix and not part of the root. pi. niaVa maläköt [Note the a.] nijraa gabd'ot rrisnn häräpöt 54. Interrogative n hä-. Any sentence may be converted into a question by prefixing a form of the particle q hä- to the first word: Iran rfrm häsälah hä'is... Did the man send ... ? yn.ftn naiori hälöbäh ha ores Is the land good? Before gutturals the form is normally n ha-: vrxri lasrt ha'dmed hä'is Is the man standing? But if the guttural is followed by ä or o, the form used is n he-: ^^Kn he'dkdltd Have you eaten? Before non-guttural consonants followed by a the form is also n ha-: nnaron hak(a)tabtem Did you write? Rarely one encounters the same doubling of the following consonant that we met in the definite article: Dnarian hakkatabtem Did you write? 55. More on -ton 'aser. We saw above (§32) thanks 'aser indicates that a following phrase modifies as a unit the preceding word. This is true also for clauses, as the following examples show: * C = consonant; v = a, i, e, o. [48] -lairrnN ana *im inan hakkdhen 'aser katab 'et-haddabdr the priest who wrote the word ■^art nba* new ^n1??? hammal'dk 'aser salah hammelek the messenger whom the king sent 56. Vocabulary 11 Nouns : Verbs: way aaia 'm nana nair rrjw nsb ana snp -ia« Conjunction: nan1? Exercises: semes sun yare"h moon ^otaA (pi. -i/n) star 'a/um cloud barakdh (pi. -or) blessing ia«a/( (pi. -im) year rora/r (pi. -or) law, The Law /Hasa' to find bar a to create qara to call, name; to summon; to declare, read aloud l+'el: to call unto (someone); + la: to summon (someone)] 'dinar to say, speak le(')mdr introduces a direct quotation after verbs of saying; it has no translation value in English) (a) Form the plurals of the following nouns, as described in §53: rm sarah (-or) distress rfrii; 'olah (-or) burnt-offering npn hmn minhah (-of) gift, offering r\bmi n^is 'egtah (-or) heifer nans nVpp qaldldh (-or) curse nVina nVDa masilldh (-or) highway nVia nabaa mamldkdh (-or) kingdom 'esa/r (-or) counsel huqqdh (-or) statute simldh (-6t) cloak 'drdbah (-or) desert, steppe batuldh (-or) virgin magilldh (-6t) scroll (b) Give the Hebrew for the following orally. Then convert each into a question by prefixing the appropriate form of n ha-: 1. He stood before the king. 2. They slew the warriors in the battle. 3. You (m. pi.) knew that the city (was) on a hill. 4. I took the fruit. 5. You chose us. 6. We have no water. 7. The rich man has large cattle and camels. [49] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW 8. You went down to the river. 9. You (m. sing.) ate the bread. (c) Translate: .wnn -isóa tfa|rj ana Tg$ Dnrnn n^pSt i .rrVr-a trvni ora eta#n .otí rrvrj-oai q^Swa i/n*n 3 .d-qi d':n D'aaia si; nWroi 4 .a-an nnias iVm icnn 5 .am -as1? nay tj?k Vi-n ]:» 5 .inn-VK iiŕHn-riK nn^n nan1? -ľjVón iV ihk 7 .m&z?rrn§ una 'a, pŔn-ruj una ^ 8 .na yiiK onagri D-aiui nninn naio 9 •liarj ■qina ^ip ks; 10 .nynn T»na artK^rj 11 •QÍHatt cia^rj -rkjp rrin "ión1? Vítj Mpg Din-1™ lesräjn ssqp r (d) Write in Hebrew: 1. He created the sun, the moon, and the stars. 2. Did you find the book in the house? 3. Did he say to them that (kl) the law is just? 4. This blessing is for us and for those who dwell in the midst of this people. 5. The cloud stood over the earth. 6. Where did he find the small cattie? 7. The king summoned the prophet, but the prophet did not go to the palace. 8. Have you (m. pi.) remembered this law and the words which 1 have written in it for you? [50] LESSON 57. The Perfect of Verbs Ill-He: rna bänah. rna bánäh he built rtnia bänatäh she built jvia banitä you (m. s.) built jT-3 bäiiit you (f. s.) built •rvSa bäniú I built wa bämt they built IS"?? «■«S3 banhem you (m. pi.) built ban'tten you (f. pi.) built bärimú we built Note that the stem vowel in the first syllable behaves quite normally. The stem itself is variable (bancih, beam-, ban!-, ban!-, ban-), and we must again point out that the n of the 3rd masc. sing, is not a real root consonant but a mater lectionis for the final vowel. It is convenient, however, to follow traditional grammar and to speak of this class of verbs as Ill-He. When a verb Ill-He is also I-gutt., the regular substitution of a for a is found in the 2nd pers. pi. forms: ary^s 'alitem you (m. pi.) went up livVy 'aliten you (f. pi.) went up The verb n;n liayah (to be) is inflected regularly as a member of this class'; only the 2nd pers. pi. shows a slight peculiarity, with e for a: nrrn heyitem you (m. pi.) were 58. Directive n - -ah. The suffix -ah added to a noun indicates motion toward. It occurs on both proper nouns and common nouns, the latter with or without the article. [51] INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW This ending is never stressed and may thus be distinguished from the feminine ending -alt. Because directive -ah cannot be added to all nouns, each form is best learned individually, without a lengthy analysis of the minor changes that take place in the stem. The following list contains the most important of the words using this suffix: pft 'eres land, earth 'drsah to the earth, to the land, mil onto the ground bäyit house nmarj habbaytah i to the house, home nmi bdytah 1 ■Kl har mountain rnftn hahdrah } to the mountain, n-jn herah 1 mountainward tain midbär wilderness midbarah toward the wilderness T» "ir city liT&n huhah toward the city sämäyim heaven hassamdymah heavenward misräyim Egypt misrdymah toward Egypt yariisäld(y)im Jerusalem na^T. yarusald{j')nmh toward Jerusalem asjj negeb Negev (the southern part of Palestine; the south in general) naai negbah toward the Negev, southward ^kt? "sa'ol Sheol (residence vhvxi sa'olah to Sheol of the dead) Note especially its use on the directional adverbs: rnft 'dnah whither? to what place (contrast mx ) nai£ sammah thither, to that place (contrast no) nan heimah hither, to this place (contrast ns) Similarly on the terms for the directions: sdpon north °lp. qedem east ]&r\ tetnan south D' yam sea, west niias sapottah northward riDlp, qedmah eastward rui^n temandh southward no; yammah seaward, westward 59. Vocabulary 12. Special Note: The two most frequent designations of God in the OT are □TiVx 'elohim and mm Yhwh. (1) □,n1?x is a plural word, generally construed as a singular. It may mean "gods" when used as a plural and "God" when used as a singular or a plural, with or without the article. (2) mrr is the name of God. For pious or superstitious reasons mil" was [52] LESSON 12] ead as '118 'adonay (lit. my lords, my Lord). Just when this practice began is not certain, but it may predate the Christian Era. The Masoretes indicated this substitution by applying the vowel points of 'adonay, slightly modified, nl;r, hence mm. The literal interpretation of this latter form as Yahdwah = Jehovah dates from modern times. Both of these words behave erratically after the prefixed prepositions: the initial K is lost in pronunciation: q-nVsa be(')lohim mma ba(')donay mrr?*?1? le(')lohim mrr1? la(')donay □TtbND ke(')lohim mrra kaOdonay Those who wish to read mrr' as Yahweh, the most likely original pronunciation, must remember to repoint these prepositions as ba Yahweh, la Yahweh, etc. When the name mrr occurs in conjunction with yfo, the former is read as rrnVx and pointed nim... This is to avoid the repetition in reading 'adonay 'adonay. bark covenant, treaty (f.) hen grace, favor yasttah (pi. -6t) salvation, deliverance, victory simhah (pi. -or) joy 'asah to do, make, act, perform, bring about raah to see karat to cut; m"ia rna to make a treaty nasa' to set out, travel, journey 'im with, together with ka like, as, according to :*i en Nouns: Verbs: Prepositions: iv-ia t : nnat? n?¥ ma a with, together with Note the idiom -rs?a |n nsb as in Tjb6n 'rsa in ifi xsa David found favor with the king. (or, The king became fond of David.) Exercises: (a) Give the Hebrew for the following orally: 1. On that day he made a treaty with the king. 2. The prophet grew fond of the boy. 3. A great sound ascended heavenward. 4. They went up toward-the-city with the people. 5. They built a house in that place. 6. Who did this evil thing? 7. Did you act according to the words which are there? [S3]