Toward Reading & Understanding BIBLICAL HEBREW Frederie Clarke Putnam, PH.D. ardy adds sae adm way mBD wT eye amis wep ney And may the favour of the Lord our God be upon us And the work of our hands, establish for us: And the work of our hands, establish it PS 90.17 Revised & Corrected (OFrederie Clarke Putnam, MMVIPREFACE Ayes SWEK said, and as the flood of grammars since €. 1990 demonstrates, “The writing of jebrew grammars has become « cottage industry”. Why yet another? This grammar exists primarily for two reasons. First, because as my understanding of Hebrew became increasingly discourse and genre-oriented, \with particular emphasis on studying and interpreting biblical narrative in Hebrew,” I needed a discourse- oriented grammar from Which to teach, In order to “correct” and interpret the explanations of whatever grammar Las using, I found myself creating supplementary handouts, whieh eventually overtook the works themselves, until they reached the point Where it was simply easier to fll in the gaps and thus complete a pedagogical grammar Secondly—and no less importunt—as students graduated and some went on for further study, they reported that their background in Hebrew had not merely prepared them for post-graduate studies, but that they were better able to read, study. and interpret the Hebrew text than any of their classmates (and even, in Some cases, as well-prepared as their professors). This unanimous testimony (and they) encouraged me (0 persevere with this project. The positive response of other professionals, both linguists, translators, and professors has likewise encouraged me to bring it to fruition Characteristics 1. Frequency. As much as possible, those aspects of the language which are most frequent, common, oF “usual” are studied first. Verbal conjugations are presented—more or less—in the onler of their frequency, beginning with the two conjugations imperfect and preterite) whose parallel morphology ‘accounts for more than forty percent ofall verbal forms in Biblical Hebrew. Vocabulary is introduced in approximate order of Frequency, allowing, of course, for the order of topics. The combined ‘supplementary” vocabulary lists (Appendix A) and those in the chapters introduce all words used fifty times or more in BH (approximately 650 words in all). Only in the verbal stems is this pattern not followed, since [have found it more helpful pedagogically to link these by form and function ratherthan frequency, and to “interrupt” the cascade of “weak” verbal roots with non-grammatical topics in order to allow students time to assimilate the next verbal characteristics, Simplicity, First-year students need to learn enough grammar and syntax Co get them into the text Beginning to understand a language comes from extensive interaetion with the language as it occutrs, not from memorizing paradigms and vocabulary, necessary and helpful as that is. This text, therefore, presents the basic grammar as quickly as has prov n begin reading the text midway through their first year of stidy. The puttural verbal roots (e.2.) are presented in one brief lesson, rather than a half-dozen lengthy ones, and noun formation is described very simply, and primarily in terms of recognition, After completing this study, I hope that you will continue to develop your Understanding of Hebrew grammar and syntax as you read the text, by referring to the standard reference ‘works on grammar and syntax. By the end of your second semester of study, students should have read ight to ten chapters directly from the Hebrew Bible, in addition to many partial and whole verses in the exercises, In my own classes, students began reading from biblical narrative between chapters 7 and 9, n practical, so that students 3. Continuity. Semiticists traditionally arcange verbal charts (paradigms) from the third to the first persons "21" [eg., sheshe-you-T)), and pronominal paradigms in the opposite order (1"-2"2"), This text, however, uses the latter order for all paradigms, Students who pursue advanced studies in Hebrew or Semities will need to reorient themselves to the academic paradigms ‘Unless otherwise qualified, therefore, the word “Hebrew” refers to the language of the biblical text; “Classical Hebrew” refers to beth biblical an epigraphic material, The swtyof biblical aarative th Hebrew was oot akdessed elsewhere inthe cuticulum atthe seminary where [vas teaching, Wheres the courses in biblical poetry and wisdom (which Laugh) focused cn the stay ofthe Hebrew text4. A linguistic orientation, Explanations in this grammar assume thot language in general is an aspect of human behaviour. BH was a human language, @ form of behaviour that—ike every other langtwaee—ean bbe more or less (and more rather than less) underscood by other human beings. This reflects the further conviction that languages—and the utterantees in Which they are incamate—thus exist and finetion as and within societal systems, and cach part of that system must, as much as possible, be understood in relation to the system of which itis a part, upon which it depends, and to whieh it contributes. Explanations aim to inculcate this understanding of language in general, and of BH as an example of one particular stage of a specific language, Furthermore, since language is an aspect of human behaviour, BH is an example of the linguistic behavior of human beings—authors and spea in a particular time and place, and therefore must be read as an example of normal human communication, regardless of the speaker’s [author's] understanding of his or her mission or purpose in writing, and equally, without regurd for the reader's view of the Bible us a human or divine (or human and divine) Word. BH is not some extraordinary language, chosen for its ability to communicate at oF beyond certain levels of human understanding. It was an everyday human language, and should be read as such, kers— At the same time, however, T have tried to avoid linguistic jargon and trivia, or at least to explain them when they are introduced.The term “function” tends to replace the word “meaning”, and verbal conjugations are explained in terms of their contextual function érather than “defined” by alist of possible translation values). Mos of the exercises are biblical texts taken from Biblia Hebraica Stutigartensia (BHS). In order to allow teachers to assign those particular exercises that best suit the purposes and goals of their courses, there are often more exercises than can be completed. [$5.10 explains the purpose und function of the exervises.] 6. Appendices include supplementary vocabulary lists (above); an alphabetical list of proper nouns (persons and places) that occur fifty times or more in the Hebrew Bible; pronominal and verbal paradigms, including a table of some easily confused verbal forms; reading notes to enable bi read Genesis 11.27-25.12: a glossary of morphosyntactic terms: and an annotated bibliography. inning students to 7. Schedule & Workload. This grammar was designed for wo semesters ((wenty-six Weeks), The lessons ‘assume that an average student who follows a normal schedule of eight to twelve hours of study per week in addition to time in class will achieve an average grade in the course. I normally cover one or two lessons each week, fin for review sessions and exuminations, as well as reading and discussing selected biblical passages. We then read and discuss eight to ten chapters of narrative (hence the reading notes (#6, above)) hing chapters 1-31 in about twenty-three weeks, including tim 8. The lessons introducing the “weak” verbal roots begin in Lesson 24: they are “interrupted” by lessons on reading biblical narrative and the Masora because students have found it helpful to have some time to absorb one set of forms before encountering the next. 9. HBP cefers to the Hebrew Bible Insert: A Student's Guide to the Syntax of Biblical Hebrew (Putnam 1996), a booklet covering nominal, adjectival, pronominal, verbal, and clausal syntax, the “major masoretic accents, and complete verbal paradigms. 10, Further reading notes on Ruth, Jonah, and selected psalms are available from the author (cf. Appendix E). n electronic format at no charge My teaching entails many discussions—which appear ad hoe and ad fib to students, but are inf carefully planned—that T simply cannot inelude in this Work, because they would make it much too long, te att”. An example of this isthe all-too-brief discussion of vocabulary (Lesson 2), which merely hints ata discussion of semantics that resurfaces throughout their first year of study. In order to avoid this tediousness, and to protect other teachers from the need to disavow at least some of my idiosyacracies, |leave to the individual (eacher the (ask of filling in the gaps that are thereby necessarily created. In other words, because schools, teachers, and students are individual, what is effective in one context (a course, its teacher, and the curriculum to which it contributes) may not be in another: am both privileged and honoured to be able to dedicate this work to my wife, Emilie, and our daughters, Lydia and Abigail, who encourage and peay for me without ceasing. She is my crown; they are our delight. 1 am also thankful for the suggestions and corrections of many students, especially Chris Drager, Abigai Sponsler, and Bob Van Arsdale, as well as of my colleague, Rick Houseknecht, who has used these materials his owa teaching. and for the extensive editorial help of Ms, Julie Devall (although not even they all of my errors). My goal in this, as in all things, is that the people of the Book might grow in their ability to read it, and thus to delight in its beauty and truth SDG. ‘an catch Frederic Clarke Putnam Ascension MMVICONTENTS Part I: Reading & Pronouncing Hebrew 1. Alphabet 2 Vowels 3. Syllables ar ‘Verbal Grammar (1): The Qal 4. The Noun (Article, Conjunction waw) 5. The Verb: The Imperfect (Prefix Conjugation), 6. The Preterite 7. 8. Prepositions Commands & Prohibitions 9. ‘The Construct Chain 10. The Perfect (Suffix Conjugation) 11. Adjectives 12, The Partciple (Verbal Adjective) 13. Pronominals (D): Independent 14, Pronominals (ID: Suttixes 15. Stative Verbs (& Haya) 16. The Infinitives 17. Questions, Negation, Numerals Part ITT: Verbal Grammar (1) Reading Hebrew Narrative 18. Other Stems (8 Niful) 19. The D-Stems (Piel, Puat, Hitpael) 20. The H-Stems (Hifil, Hoja!) 21, The Qal Passive 22. Guttural Verbal Roots Basic Tools 4. Other Kinds of Verbal Roots «8 IIT 25. Pre-reading Hebrew Narrative (D) 26. 13(]"2) Verbal Roots 27. Pre-reading Hebrew Narrative (ID) 28. Hollow (I-79 (71"z)) Verbal Roots 29. The Masora 30. V1 ("B)Verbal Roots 31. Geminate (2°2)Verbal Roots 5) Verbal Roots) Appendices (Topical index to be added) Supplementary Vocabulary Hebrew-English Glossary (with a list of Common proper nouns) Glossary of Morphosyntaetic Terms Paradigins| Reading Notes (Abraham) Annotated Bibliography mmooR> 4 m4 31 2 4l 2 7 91 100 105 13. 123 132 40 149 150 159 169 178 185. 192 199) 207 220 226 235 240 247 287 261 277 283 296 340Part I: Lessons 1-3 READING & PRONOUNCING HEBREW This section introduces the writing system of Biblical Hebrew [BH] (alphabet, vowels), and how to pronounce words (accent, syllables). It also addresses the nature of vocabulary (gloss & meaning). By the end of these three chapters, you should be able to look at a Hebrew word, speill and pronounce it, analyze its parts (syllables, dages, Seva), and recognize more than thirty of the most common words in BH. ‘One of the biggest barriers to learning to read Hebrew is moving our eyes from right to left, Indo- European culture assimes a left-to-right orientation for [nearly] everything, to the extent that that is the on way to view or interpret reality, as this true story illustrates Acollege pal, Larry, was telling me about his first ‘company that markets American products in the Middle East My initial project, a soft-drink account, was terrific, but very ast me my job.” he said, “To avoid language problems, I erected a pane! storyboard. The first panel depicted a guy drenched in sweat, standing in the desert. The middle panel showed him gulping down a bottle of our soda, And in the third panel, he’s fully refreshed with a big smile. “Sounds great,” [told him, “What was the problem?” Lanry said, “Idlidn’t know Arabs read right to left!" eae at In the same way, highway signs list the town to the left of (before) the distane assumption that people read left to right (and that “where” to turn is more important than This cultural pattern means that reading right-to-left is a major hurdle for most students—a hurdle that is not merely physical, but mental and emotional—because reading right-to-left feels wrong (especially for those who have learned reading techniques for, eg., quickly returning the eyes to the beginning of the next line ... at the left margin) When we add to thisthe non-alphabetic nature of the vowel symbols, and sounds that are not part of the voeal system of most English speakers, for example, the task becomes daunting. The importance of the ‘material in these opening chapters, and the value of pronouncing Hebrew aloud as much as possible, therefore, can hardly be overestimated. I highly recommend reading the examples in the chapters aloud, and reading the exercises aloud, in order to attune both eye and ear to the patterns of Hebrew. Stim 3, Walsh, Reader's Digest (Newember 1997), 119,INTRODUCTION ‘These reformatted biblical quotations’ illustrate some of the similarities and differences between Hebrew and English, which you will notice as soon as you try to read them, dg m dg ry dns Ipp mb IS Ipp ry 1 sutitinsyry teed 2 . “uf nsx s ht ty: she une nurstvr ht he 4 we Randa teh ek) 3 2 ber vent v b a bait goat 2 . ; gine! 8 3 door ‘ ‘ : daler a 1 hope h h a he Chay") vent y w 2 vavhvan 200 z t zayin Hagh ch (loch) h 7 het tle t tl 8 tet vet y jory : vod keel k k > ew ehiloc) ik 1 > iquid 1 I 5 tamed ‘moon mh m a B mein night a a 1 2 sun sigh 5 = 3 samek silent 2 aie paper 2 fir f . 5 2 eas s 3 r 3 keel k 4 P right (lapped) 7 sigh 5 a sin seen") shall sh & ov Sin (“sheen”) t A tonight 1 : tof1. This "square script” (so-called to distinguish i¢ from the cursive found in manuscripts, and from the “archaic” forms used in inseriptions), was standardized after the invention of the printing press. Adapted from the Aramaic alphabet, this alphabet is found in published Hebrew Bibles and prayerbooks, as well asin academic books and journals. Most of these comments (below) on the shapes of the letters do not apply to, ¢.2., inscriptions or to the original biblical writings (no biblical author would recognize these lewers!) Hebrew is written and read from right 10 left, Practice writing and reading the alphabet in that order 4. Like some other Semitic scripts, this alphabet is “eonsonuntal”—i.e,. none of the letters of the alphubet ‘There is only one alphabet: ic., there are no “capital” or “small” letters. W consonants could be used to indicate directly represent vowels (cf. “a the presence of long vowels, )- although a fe Letters listed with and without a dot (2/2, 32, 7/9, 2/5, B/B, 1VN) are called the b”gad-Aar letters (FE> 7B3), nonsense phrase made up of the letters themselves (the rabbis were fond of stich mnemonic devices). At one time these letters had two pronunciations, distinguished by the presence orabsence of the dages lene, but only 2/2, 2/2, und 8/3 are distinguished in modem Hebrew. When spelling a Hebrew word with English letters (transliterating), the letter without dages is either underlined or followed by “h to show that itis “soft” (c.g, “bybh”, “k/kh”, “p/ph. This difference is sub-phonemie, ie. it does not distinguish one word from another in BH. Tn English, on the other hand, this same difference is phonemic. For example, one’s response to “Come to st__er!” would probably be affected by whether the middle consonant was for p! 6. Four letters are called “gutturals” (8, 71,7, 2), so-called because they represent sounds made in the throat (Latin gutter) 7. Since some pairs of letters sound alike, you will need to leaen to recognize Hebrew words by both sight and sound, and to distinguish them by sight. x v silent > (8 s—asinsigh TS Fok asintock, Back orh — orhew, Hugh 20 vy asin vent > ?P asin keel DOA M+ asinsough 8. Five letters have a special form used only al the end of a word, Four of these final forms have “descenders”; note their length relative to other leiters, InitiavMedial Form | Final Form. a 3 [5 78 qbo op fo oom waa |] pT Na ms 3 [7 pS9. Some pairs of letters ure similar in appearance: ‘To distinguish them, note the . tittle—the small extension of the horizontal stroke—on dalet and bet alu 4 left side—open or closed lower comers—square or round ‘open at top or bottom Shape of bottom—“arehed” or flat shape of left leg—steaight or bent: tittle on right side of ites shape of top aie tiaele al/alu os elu ~jaloloi0 dot on Left o right; this isa later (medieval/Masoretic) distinction FL] Sema + tittle in final kaf (which also has a longer [wider] top stroke) 10. The Dead Sea Scrolls also reveal that Hebrew seribes often inscribed a line onto the parchment, and then suspended the text from the line (rather than setting the letters on the line, as in English). This is why so many letters have a horizontal stroke near the top of the letter, and why Hebrew tends to use descenders rither than ascet Sixteen leiters fit within a “square” and several of these are roughly square in appearance, i.e roughly the same height and width. Listed alphabetically (from right to left), they are: nmvvisayonsonaAtaKN Three non-final forms (°, 9, 7) and the four final forms with descenders (#9, above) differ from the standard in height. The non-final forms are: + yod is only half of the height and width of the other leters (its Soa {op iseven with the others) + lamed extends above the other letters nd + qof land four final forms (#9, above)| extend below the others =r Five lettens a also narrower than the standard wiidtl (2 1 t ¥ 2), Each is roughly one-half as wide as the square. Yod (the “jot” of Mt 5:18), at roughly one-fourth of the square, is the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet 11. The names of the letters are transliterated into English. Disyllubic names are uecented on the first syllable (e.g,,." lef, gi mel), [Transliteration is usually italicized. 1.2 CONCEPTS acrostic ascender —descender medial form tittle alphabet consonant final form square seript transliteration1.3 EXERCISES 1. Explain the significance of Jesus’ statement in Matthew 5.18. 2. Practice reciting the Hebrew alphabet, and writing it from right to left, with the final forms following their medial forms, 3. Esther 3.13 is one of twenty-six verses that contain every letter in the alphabet, Copy it in Hebrew, pructice spelling the words by naming the Hebrew letters from right to left (words linked by a horizontal line (e.g. JPY) are considered separate words (the line is called maggef)), and fin the final forms (there are ten). Which final form does not occur in this verse? qban metnbs-by asin a one. mdz sins ora odin ap prawn sw anmrrbacme Sarda son cpawnd cna abbur wae tarwen wowrowe donb say menus 4. This is un alphabetical list of most of the proper names that occur more than 175 times in Biblical Hebrew ("c", “d”,“h” are titles and generic nouns). Write their English form, and practice spelling them aloud in Hebrew. Use the references—the first time that name occurs—to check your work. Example mel-dalet” Gud” Gn 25.26 m Gn 7.s DATaN Gn 13.10 8 Ex4id yr > Josh 10.1 ° Gn 14.20 be Gin 32.28 P Got ombx 4 Gn 9.18 4 Gn 41.52 DEN. Gn 29.34 Go 10.10 San Gn 19.37 s Gn 35.18 2 Ex 2.10 t Jg2.13 buz h. Gn 10.14 u 1 Sam 16.13 om i Gn 12.15 mney. Gn 29.35 mam i. Gn 36.37 Siew w Bx 413 unum 2Sams.4 maby x Go 30.24 Fer | N.B. When transliterated, some of these will not resemble their English counterparts, for one or more of these reasons. [This grammar uses the “received” transliteration. | a. The “J” that begins many names in English Bibles represents initial *; within names * often appears asi” or merely indicates the presence of a vowel in, e.8., exercises d, ¢,u fabovel), but there are exceptions (below). This is because Latin used the letter “i” to transliterate *(as the corresponding Greek letter fora had been used centuries earlier in the Septuagint), and also because the letter“) ‘was not distinguished orthographically from “i” until the 17" century. The English Bible has inherited the transliteration of biblical names from these two sources, In some ecclesiastical traditions, for example, “Jesu”, representing an older “lest” is pronounced “Yesu” or “Yeru!FY josef Joseph yirm'yaha — Jereniah ATT hada Judah SAN “hayyahd Ahijah may ceaby | “lohim — Elohim aboa harta-yan Halletuian The guuturals (8, 7,7, 2) are either ignored when names are transliterated (D¥PIT > Ezekiel) oF represented by a second vowel (TAN > Aaron), reflecting the transliterations ofthe Septuagint and Vulgate Two forms of waw represent long vowels: WNT Sail Saul ONY josef Joseph The letier Sis often represented by °Z” in (raditional biblical transliteration (but not in academic transliteration, where it is represented by either fs os). B> PPS savor Zion APTS sidavht Zedebiah1.4 ENRICHMENT No one knows why the biblical pocts wrote acrostic [alphabs 119): perhaps they were a type or style of poem, like sonnets in English. Other acrosties are, e.g., Lam 14 (each chapter), Pr 30.10-31, Ps 9-10 and Ps 37, Psalms [1 and 112 are also acrosties. After the opening ‘Halleluiah” (1a), each line (not each verse) begins with the next leter of the alphabet ically organized] poems (the most famous is Ps Psatar 112 PSALM Ut mthn ta mthn TITS A ENTE asbben ny ob ND PET TIMER c TB] Ey Tisg Sonn rym? ppea tia 2a da oh ob psatoe5 b 433 (gery a ue ayytin a say mygy ings) > ry mag IAT ob mn ve yuna mt da wonder ney ost 4a Ips) ST PAT b Sma OT AT b mbm pin gays sa Pyrd RATE sa rpuna TT obey sina sb oer piared obigooe 6a way? ran reye 1D 6a ips mo abi tet b soma nop ogg nny bp sprxd nyo nysada 7a Medi MER IT ye 7a smyea mp 129 2b ipppE >: oyN2 pb apr nb inh yap sa ob qb opiap sa 7952 MATTIE Wb gy nes OND DUPIN? 102 EB 9a janh nog mB 9a seb Asay AES jena chump apg om imp ec ng NTN BIE OPzT TNT DET 10a my ANT MEST PENT 10a ban pum rb oper bs) aie bot b STaNn DYg] MRA c sw) nqgy inonn ¢ 1, Lines in biblical poetry are conventionally referred to by verse number and a leiter, so that, eg., the three lines of v. 10 are referred to as Ps 111.108, 105, 196. a. Which line recurs three times in these two psalms with only the difference of one letter? b. Which lines begin with letters distinguished by only the position of a dot? 2. If you have a Hebrew Bible, look at Ps 119, 161-168. These eight lines are erouped together under one n with sirt und some with Sin. Which vy. begin with which letter? [This incidentally demonstrates that these were originally one letter: the distinguishig dots were added by the Masorctes in the medieval period.yLEssoN2 THE VOWELS Le: Hebrew has ll singe of vowels, Unlike English, Hebrew vowel are nt “eters they are not part of the alphabet—but are small signs placed under, between, or above consonants. The Masoretes—scribes who added the vowel markings—were unwilling to change the consonantal text, and so, apparently following the example of other Semitic Languages, devised a system of “dots” and “dashes” to represent the various vowel sounds, which were added to the consonantal text, The vowel points were intended to eliminate ambiguity in pronunciation—all but three points represent only one Sound. [Contrast the variety of sounds represented by “oa” in English: cough, though, rough, gouge, &e.| The Masoretes used another set of signs (§2.2) to represent the half-vowel (beautiful), whereas English uses the regular vowel signs (a, €, i, 0,u) forthe ime sounds). 2.1 FULL VowELs ‘Tue FULL VoweLs Vowel Nameof Vowel + Vowel Transliter tong) Class Vowel = Point Point Pronunciation ong) or Short) games . D m father L posal . Q ma rot $ sere-yod y 2 me 1 | they E sere a m & | sego! a me bet $ hiregeyoxd > 2 wi mean 1 ! m mean Lor hiveg 8 mi bit s holemwar | 2 6 © | hotem b m man ' & | quimes-haruf Py m s Surey i 7” m0 moon L v m moon Lor aibbus 5 a mo | moat; book s 1. The vowel is read after the consonant that it follows. In other w left oF its consonant (cf. the First column under “pronunciation” eds, the vowel is either below or to the A vowel that includes a letter of the alphabet 3.9) is always long. 3. Apart from the qualitative distinction between long and short hireg ("ee | “length” refers primarily to duration (how long the sound of the vowel is maintained) rather than to vowel quality. For cexumple, the difference between sureg and gibbuy is more like the difference between “boon” and “boot than in “boon” and “bun” (English long and short “u”). Their tonal quality is the same, but their duration differs (in the English words this is due to the nature of the following consonants). 4. Although there are five “classes” of vowels (a, e, i, 0, w), the “o/u”,and “i/e” vowels are so closely related that they often interchange, leaving three functional classes (a, i, uw). 5. Some long vowels do not resemble thei ” sounds like English counterparts in sound: ie., “longronunciation” column carefully. You must learn their Hebrew sounds und as in “way”, so check the names, 6. Qames and qames-hatuf look alike. Qames-hatuf is quite rare, and occurs only in unaccented, closed syllables (Lesson 3, below. 7. Patak-yod and qames-yod at the end of a word are both pronounced as the diphthong ai, as in aisle. 8. When 7, 1, and follow a vowel, but are not themselves followed by another vowel, they are called “vowel letters” or matres lectionis (“mothers [ie., helpers] of reading”). This practice started many centuries before the vowel points were used (c, below). When used as a vowel leer, the 7, 7, and Yare considered vowels, not consonants (e.g. is referred to as a single unit of spelling: sere-yod) Vowel Letter or. tanation Trans. Pronun- Consonant? exp literation ciation WE yed= vowel leer yod isnot followed by a ¥s ves ° comater) vowel TR Fe= vowel leer fe ends the word Gs nat Aha . (mater) allowed by a vowel) i ms bayit bayit ‘onsonant _yod followed by « vowel ye ‘aye ayin ‘onsonant _yod isthe first leter of the word (& followed by a cP waw=vowel — vowel) yom yon letter waw'is not followed by a (mater) vowel a. Whenthey begin a word, orare followed by a vowel point, they are consonants (not matres) b. When fiviemr lacks war, and sere and long hireg lick yod are called “defective” (Hebrew haser lacking": they are “full” (Hebrew male’, Latin plene, “fall”) when written with the vowel letter. Forms with and without matres are pronounced alike, All of these terms are routinely used in commentaries and reference works dealing with Hebrew text Inscriptions show that maires were in use by the tenth century BCE, but they were not used consistently. When the Masoretes began to udd the vowel points (c. CE 800), they incorporated the vowel letters that were already present in the text into their system, but did not add more vowel letters to the consonantal text, since that would have entailed changing the biblical text Many words thus occur both with and without a yowel letter, 4. This lack oF standardization also explains why hire and gibbus have more than one value. If there was no vowel etter in the text, the Masoretes simply used the “defective” form of the vowel, which is why hireg and gibbus can be either long or short. 2.2 HALFVowELS BoTH HEBREW AND ENGLISH have half-vowels, e., “I” in “beautiful” and “win sofa ¢in regular conversation, not exaggeratedly, us “bee-yoo-tee-ful”). English orthography does not distinguish full and half vowels; the Masoretes distinguished them by using different signs‘THE HALP-VOWELS Consonant 5 Ty N Si ath Sound ype Name Sign Cone Length Sound fewa Serva 2 om a hutef patah > oo ee Halt uh © hateFsegot 7 of © hatef-qumes 7 oF 1. The hatef-vowels combine one of the full vowel signs with vocal Seva (_) Haief-vowels mainly occur ulter the gutturals (below) instead of youl Sewa. The hutef-vowels ure most important when discussing guttural verbs (below), 3. The half-vowels all sound alike uh”, as in “Un-huh”) 4. Vocal Sewa, which is also a hali-vowel, is the frst vowel point in the Bible: T'2¥73, “in the beginning” (Go 1.1). Iris also the sound in the first syllable of its own name: sive. It is thus the almost necessary sound between some combinations of consonants—a sound that is usually ignored in English orthography (cf. the slight separation between, e.g. the first to letters of “break” or “pray”) 2.3. A BRIEF HISTORY OF HEBREW ORTHOGRAPHY HEBREW WAS FIRST WRITTEN with consonants and perhaps an occasional vowel etter. This meant that a cluster of consonants was potentially ambiguous. INB: These examples exaggerate the difficulties, since a word's function is largely determined by the context.] igned. they reigned, queen, one who rales [male or ‘or to befeome king shu’ king, he reigned!wastbecume king, she 1 female}, “herthis [act of] rufing, Be king cof As inscriptions show, by the 10" century BCE, matres lectionis were being used to indicate the prest long vowels. This first took place at the end of words, and simplified reading by reducing a word's potential funetion: ashi his king, the one nung him, they reigned hs lac ofl ruling. or Reign! (ase pl. mbes fer king, queen, she reigned, her [act of] ruling, or Reign! (mase. sg.) Although many biblical books were written after the mutres Fectionis had begun to be used, spelling was neverstandardized, and so the matres were inserted haphazardly. Inthe 7 9 centuries CE, the Masoretes began adding “points” (o the consonantal (ext in onder to preserve traditional pronunciation,’ but they did not attempt to standardize the use of matres before adding the vowel points, even though this meant consistencies in spelling (they considered the maires part ofthe “consonantal” text). The vowel points eliminated most of the ambiguity SThe chic Cploo-Hebeew") alphabet didn use il forms they were, however, in use Wythe ime othe Desk Sea Seno. ‘there were several centers sribl tivity, where cemgxting syste of printing Cand thus of pronunciation) developed: his me is called the “Tiberian. Each group of Mascrvtes was therefore atlempking to preserve the pronunciation that it had “reccived”. Nor ‘di the Mascretes consid points to “vd tthe biblical text, perhaps hecatse the points do not fect ts eoasonantal shape,mpbig queen rapbig Be king! (muse. 9.) o She reigned mehr ering mypby ste who reigns This overview helps explain the general scholarly freedom to suggest different pointings—repointing a word is not considered fo be “changing the text”, since the vowel points were not original, It ulso explains why the same word can be spelled with and without a vowel letter, since the Masoretes were unwilling to add imatres (o the consonantal text Biblical texts may “unpointed”, “consonantal” (both without vowel points), or “pointed” (often called “Masoretic”), Pointing is largely restricted to printed (typeset) Bibles and Hebrew prayer-books; Modern Hebrew is largely unpointed. 2.4 VOCABULARY THE VOCABULARY LISTS inelude all the words that occur more than fifty times in the Hebrew Bible, except proper names of persons and places (which are listed in Appendix B). Words are introduced very generally in onder of descending frequency, so that words that occur more frequently in the biblical text are learned first Acomplete Hebrew — English glossary for this grammar is in Appendix B, Learning vocabulary is a process of familiarisation through repetition—some students leam best by repeatedly writing the list until the glosses are learned, others by reviewing them orally or by means of cards (Hebrew on one side, English on the then). It also helpsto lean word by a biblical context in which it occurs. Each list consists of Hebrew words ulongside one or more suggested English glossey for that word. A gloss is merely a word used to translate a word—it is wot a definition or meaning. The gloss(es) listed with cach word are English words that frequently represent that Hebrew word in translations—they are sof the Word's “basic” or “central” or “real” meaning, Words represent referential ranges, 80 that many glosses may be appropriate for a given word (although not every gloss will fit every context in which that Word occurs) In general, words have ranges of reference (also called their “Semantic range”). The only apparent exceptions are highly technical ems, whether medical (pneunococeys), mathematical (cosine), theological (hypostatic anion), &.' The more limited a word's area of reference, the more “Technical” or specialized it is, and the more its content is determined by what it refers to. The less specifi aterm is—the broader its range of reference—the more tts content is determined by its context (linguistic, cultural, &c.). “Dog”, for example car-old female golden retriever", and so can fita larger Variety of contexts. The latter expression is limited to contexts that refer to a two-year-old female golden retriever (again, unless itis being used metaphorically). In addition to semantic range, words also have what might be called a loaded word”. “Semantic load” refers to the combination of their denotation (“dictionary meaning”) and connotation (associated emotive function), In English, for example, “beefy”, “chunky ‘big-boned”, and “fat” could all be used to refer to a person’s build, but many people Would consider “solid” ‘compliment (or at least « polite cuphemistn) and “Tat” a deliberate insult, even though “insulting” is not part of the dictionary’s definition, This point probably refers more to issues of translation than to the Hebrew ‘we know the semantic load of words that we use in our own languazes, know those in another language no longer spoken. Furthermore, when comparing the vocabularies (lexicons) of different languages, the greater the extent to which words’ ranges overlap, the more they appear to “mean the same thing”. Since BH is a textual language—ie., there are no longer any native speakers of BH—we are left to make educated guesses about the semantic range of some words, and the corresponding semantic range in English. These are “educated + based on its biblical use and evidence from cognate Semitic langu: Akkudiun, Ugaritic, and Aramaic, and from medieval rabbinic commentators and grammatians. conveys less information than [is less specific than] “wo- load”, as in the expression “a lexicon, sin than we far more instinctively 1. Terms of relationship. The following Hebrew terms are usually glossed by the first English term, aany-of these, however, can alse he ase metaphowicallyalthough their range of application is often much broader, as the second gloss suggests: ancestor tent, home By fe may brother, male relative house, household HIny sister, female relative iribe BA mother, ancesiress clan, [extended] family 13 son, descendant, younger [unrelated] male (e.g, 1 Sam 3.16) PZ daughter, female descendant younger lunrelated| female (e-g., Ruth 28) sont of a brother (nephew) son ofa son (grandson) These are the usual glosses because these Hebrew and English words usually re of reality. In each case, however, the Hebrew terms may also refer to relationships outside the nuclear family. Because parents and their children (the nuclear Family) are the usual referents of the E erms, itis tempting (o think of the first gloss listed for each term as its “real meaning” and the other gloss as an “extended” or “metaphorical” meaning, perhaps even concluding that every related male, for example, was considered a “brother”, We do not know whether or not this was how they thought about these words, since we cannot ask them, and they left no dictionaries. The brie genealogical table of Gn 46.8-27, which describes Jacob’s family at their journey to Egypt, illustrates this point. Note the use of the words “son” and “bore” in thes to the same aspect Now the sons of Dan were Hushim, “and the sons of Naphrali were Jazeel, Gur, Jezer, and Shillem. “These are the sons of Bilhah, hom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter: and she Bore these to Jacob, all seven lives (Gn 4623-25). jcrational spread described by Bilhah—-Tacob 1 Dus Naphtati | Hushim — Jazeel Guni Sezer Shillem Since Hushim, Jazeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem were Bilhah’s [and Jacob's] grandsons, not her sons, the word }2 cannot have the same reference as “son” in everyday English, Furthermore, the verb alossed “bear/give birth to” cannot have the usial English function of “give birth”, but has an “extended function that is revealed only by the context. [The same pattern identifies the descendants of Jacob's other three wives (Gn 46.8-27).] Since the range of reference of the usual English glosses is much more restricted than that of the Hebrew terms, the word “son” may be misleading if it suggests a closer genealogical or chronological relationship than the context allows. [On the other hand, English also uses some of these terms and “davehter” can refer to a younger unrelated male or female, | [vocabulary] base of BH (c. $400 words) means that we have only a very incomplete record of the Israelite lexicon, so that it is difficult to see how Abraham could have used the vocabulary of the OT to ask Sarah, “I'd prefer my steak less well done than last night, but the cakes could be a litte softer than yesterday; maybe an oak fire woul be better than sycamore, Oh, and could you also mend my favorite robes that same seam is unraveling. Don’t fors n thread—the blue showed Lup too much last time. And we need to remind the servant girls that they can only wash their hair ever new moon due to the drought.” OF course he must have been able to say this (or Something very mu ct to use the grlike it), but it’s not entirely clear how he Would have done so. Many common glosses siggested by Hebrew-English reference tools may be traditional, but changes in either our understanding of Hebrew or English usage may mean that that gloss no longer functions, accurately. It may even misrepresent the Hebrew. These glosses are some vocabulary lists with “trad.” traditionally”). For example: mes included in the ‘Traditional Poetenttal Discussion Gloss Gloss(es) P lest so that .. not Lest isa perfectly good, if uncommon, English word ° that indicates negative purpose Dap lid (wash by waske The archaic verb fo full (From Latin, via Old French) treading) ‘means to “wash”, and is the origin of expression like “whiter than fuller’s cloth” (ie., recently washed), PE oe Fewtain eve Fountain normally refers toa stream of water that is * Fount mechanically shot into the air or poured out, whereas PE refers to a natural source of water (as opposed (0 awell orcistern).. aBD book Text Codives (*proto-bool “y were notin use until the seroll third century AD, so that the rendering “book” for document 72s culturally misleading, We know that many record {ron Age documents, apparently including even legal texts, were written on pieces of broken pottery (shards: called ostraca when written on). [There is spocific tem for scroll (793% From the verb 953,10 rofl).| so bear The same This refers to both immediate bith and to physical sive Dinh aancesiry, or eventual” bith (of. on Gn 36, above) APTS rWhteousness innocence Terms built onthe root PAS re trdtonaly glosed rightness with “righteous”, “righteousness”, 8. bat this can jusiness be misleading if we ussume « New Testament rightenusness function (a natural result of reading the Hebrew Bible [Christian OT] in light of the NT), since in a number of places the thrust of the term is forensic innocence relative to a particular situation or accusation, not to tun absolute or universal morul state. It is even possible that “innocence” is the primary reference sand that the idea of “righteousness” is the global innocence. Each passage needs to be studied in order to see which glossis ‘most appropriate, but not even careful study will guarantee certainty or consensus in every case. extension of particul 3. Its often easier to explain what u Word signifies than itis to give an appropriate gloss in another language, as the discussion of “give birth” shows. If you have studied another language, you may have thought, “There's no way to say that in English”, which is, of course, not true. So faras is known, whatever one language can express others can express as well. The difference may be that what one language says in a single word, another can say only with a phrase, sentence (oreven a paragraph) For example, Lot is called “[Abraham’s] brother's son” and David referred to his nephews as “sons of [his sister] Zeruiah”, which suggests that BH lacked a simple lexeme that meant what English means by “nephew”, Both BH and English can refer unambiguously to a sibling's immediate offspring, but BH lacks a single word that has this functionN.B. This discussion sy ests that the re ents of words are not to be confused with the words that we use to express them, English “son” is wssally the most appropriate contextual gloss for Hebrew 73, but this does nor imply, and must not be misunderstood to imply, that “basically” or “fundamentally” means “son”. or even that i€ means “the sume thing as “son”, but rather that two language groups have chosen these particular words to refer [usually] to what turns ‘out (o be the same entity somehow “literally 2.5 CONCEPTS full vowel lexeme meaning semantic range function lexicon penult Sewa loss male’ (plese) spellin range [of re ultima half (hatef) vowel matres lectionis sg., mater) reference vowel letter hhaser spelling 2.6 VOCABULARY hand; power, authority sp 9 | father; male ancestor 2 8 athers® Re mise day By 10 | man (not Monkind/humanity), husband yyy 2 when (preceding the infinitive ¢ach (as subject of a plural verb) consinuct [$16.2]) men, husbands i priest YD _TT | mew of husbands oF all, each, every (NB: Thisisa noun, Sp god, God (used of a pagan god and 3 not an adjective, even though it bp [BsnersGod) a ‘sounds” like an adjective when > ‘gods, God (used of more than one ESO rendered into English.| pagan god and the God of Israel) Theart the center ofthe person, ofen gah 13 | woman, wife a used where English uses “mind”) 6 Heo Tings monarch Sod [women wines 7 wonendwives of life, self trad, soul Wp) 13 |) land, cominy Toa geo-political 3 * region}, cath (as in “heaven and earth”) servant, slave; someone bound in 33.16 | house, home, household 6 some way to another person, for Fusex Ee whom he or she works houses, ) eity Spy 17 | son, mate descendant (ef. PERE. T Benjamin, *son of [my] right hand”) cies oy word, thing, event, affair, matter a7 8 1. Most words in BH are accented on the last syllable (272 a rim), known technically asthe ultima, 2. Some are accented om the next-to-last syllable (FF de -rek), the pent. 3. The terms “ultima”, “penult”, and “antepenult” (the syllable before the penult) are commonly used in "Sea plats ce. 9% fer) see nel: they wl nore repeater woeabulay issscholurly literature—including some commentaries—that discusses the spelling (pointing) or pronunciation of words: you need to know what they refer to. 4. When the penult is accented, you will see a Masoretic accent over the consonant that begins that syllable, either rebia’ (for full-width letters: eg., 793 5 note that itis larger than fem, and centered over the consonant), or saqef (for narrow letters; &.2., ). Words without these marks are usually aecented on the ultima, 2.7 EXERCISES Lok rn the names and sounds of the full and half vowels. Practice writing them with different consonants. 2. This list includes all but one of the proper names of people and places that occur between 174 and 77 times in BH. Pronounce and spell each name aloud, and write them in their English forms, and identify cach yaw of yod as a consonant or vowel letter (and be able to explain your identification), Use the references (the name’s first canonical occurrence) to check your work. Unlike the [alphabetical] list in Lesson I, these are listed in descending order of Frequency Example: pyz>_Jebusite _yad, Sewn, et, Sureg, samek, hiveg-you . ‘onsonant (followed by vowel) Go 17.19 prs om Gn 9.18 a 1 Kgs 13.32 yore + Gn 10.22 b Nu 26.29 ay 2Sam 57 © 28am 3.3 oibuay Gn 2.14 a 1 Kgs 11.26 cya; 4 Gods © 2Ke 211 SNPTDIND 2 Kys 23.31 f Gn 29.32 JEN) 1 Sam 26.6 2 Gn 10.16 vot Nu 34.20 h 2 Sam 8.16 veyim 2Kes 16200 Tp A 30.11 y Jo 18.30 pum i Gn M14 w Gn 19.38, ying k in IRIS x Gn 25.30 chy | a, Hatef-vowels are usually transliterated in English Bibles asthe corresponding full vowel (e.2., BTS “Edom” “dom” )) but not in academic transliteration (e.g. b. Seuna usually appears in Es ish names as ¢, although it can also be transliterated asi ¢. As with the firs list of names (81.3), the transliterated form may not resemble their form in English. This is because their form in English is based on their transliteration in Greek (in the Septuagint), Latin (in the Vulgate), or both 3. Trunsliterate the first four verses of I Chronicles (on the next page) into their English equivalents, and practice reading them aloud. Two notes: (1) the 1 that begins the last word in v, 4 is a conjunction, andcan be glossed here as “and”; and (2) the sign + (sof pasug, “end of pasug”) marks the end of the verse, but does not correspond to any particular mark of punctuation in English. WN NY CIN 1 my NDOT We syed noyana han MENON OY mM 14 Congratulations! You have now read four verses of Hebrew! 2.8 ENRICHMENT Notice that the author of Chronicles does not tell us that these are personal names, how they ed (or even shart they are related), and that he also expects his readers to know that the first nine Werds outline a si nt, but that v. 4 branches from a father to his three sons. In faet, to a reader who knows nothing of Genesis 5 and 6, these verses ure gibberish. They demonstrate the principle of assumed information—information that a speaker or author does not mention, because he or she assumes that the reuders or hearers already know it (both speaker and audience thus “share” the information). Assumed, information typities all communication, but is especially noticeable when the author lived (oF lives) in another culture or time In mach of Western culture, for example, if someone arrived at an early-afternoon meeting and said “Sorry I'm late—the service was slow”, most hearers would probably assume a scenario of lunch at a restaurant, including being seated, waiting to order, ordering, eating, paying, &c., none of which need be expressed, since we assume this as part of our own cultural setting. In the same way, the biblical authors never tell us Why men tended fo meet women at Wells (e.g., Gn 24; Ex 2), but assume that their readers know that women drew and hauled water, and—in a culture without plumbing or public water—that an efficient way for u traveler to meet someone from the area was merely {o Wait at a well, since Sooner oF later someone would show up. In the same way, many middle-and upper-class North Americans would probably assume that a husband and wife of about the same age met in college, since, in fact, many do meet in college. Reading | Chronicles 1.1-4 shows us that the “Chronicler” (as the author of Chronicles is often called) expected his readers to be familiar with the genealogies of Genesis. He did not expect his work to be read as an independent account of God's dealings with Israel, but as a supplement or parallel to Genesis — Kings. This also explains that when he “ignored” the sins of David and Solomon, or the history of the Northern Kinedom—he was not trying to mislead hiis readers, but assuming that they knew the rest of the story cline of desLESSON3 SYLLABLES ize combinations of consonants and vowels as T FINAL ASPECT of pronouncing BH is to reco, syllables. This primarily entails distinguishing silent from vocal Sewa, and dages lene from dages forte, which will enable you in turn to recognize a syllable as either open or closed. Although the ability to recognize syllables and identity theirtype will help you recognize some verbal forms, its main value is enabling you to pronounce Hebrew. 3.1 SEWA’ ‘THE SIGN FOR SEWA (_) has at least Qo functions. It can represent a half-vowel (above) or mark the absence of a vowel. This section describes how to distinguish these functions. a, Vocal Sew (_) is a half-vowel (above), like the “i” in beautiful, or the “a” in sofa b. Silent Seva. When two consonants occur with no vowel between them, the Masoretes insemted Sewa asa “place-holder”. In English, consonanis can be placed side by side, as in placed, but in Hebrew, every consonant—except the last letter of the word—must be Followed by a vowel point. [This Sewa is also called Sewa quiescens.] N.B. The three htie/-vowels _, ) are always vocal There are three baste rules for distinguishing voeal and silent Sewa. 1. Ifthe preceding vowel is short, the Sewa is silent; ifthe preceding vowel is long, Sewa is vocal after a short vowel adn yamine WY eva after a long vowel 2. Seww afier a letter writen with dageS (“dot”) is always vocal; Sewa before a letter with dages is always silent after dages WR? vine" before dages BRS) vino, 3. When there are two Sewas in a row, the first is always silent and the second always vo under the last two letters of a Word, Where they’ are both silent) al (unless they are 1* silent, 2" vocal TW yisnrra both silent (end of word) FB wapyebk These three basic rules will allow you to distinguish most Sewas; the following guidelines" merely amplify them (despite all the rules, there are exceptions and ambiguities). This aiseussion refers only to ewe itself fteFowes ae lays pronounced. stost oft eloped by Rab has Levitas (1519 C¥, "hog more information, see foie & Muraoka (191, $§50, ¥, 10, 18, 19).Sewa Is vocal when it a, follows the first letter in « word monn b. follows another Sewa (except atthe end of the word) snk ¢. Follows any consonant with dages (ef. *7") SABES ykepprit 4. follows the first of two identical consonants sasngi im . follows any syllable with a long vowel rau yea £. precedes a beged-kefer letter without dagesi (u tendency, not a yaw yea rule) Sewa is silent when it ... ‘precedes another Sew (cf. “b",“K") ses vist h. follows a guttural consonant mim vilive i follows the las etter of a word (ef. “K") sha falas j. precedes dage¥ (ef. “c”) amp ike , follows borh of the fast nvo leters in w word (both Sewas wre silent, gD. kdlabt and the consonants are pronounced as a cluster: cf. “8”, "g") = vwuyyebk Most of these “rules” merely invert another rule (ef. and Sewa from more than one vantage point, as this able demonstrates: |. but allow you to examine a given ming vocal under first letter of word (a) [and thus does not follow a short vowel, ° (#I)], follows dages (¢) some PS sile follows short vowel (#1), precedes another Seww (g) FF) 21 vocal follows another Sewa (b) Snpn silent follows short vowel (#1), precedes dages (j) OMA vocal between two identical consonants (d); follows long vowel (e) ane vocal Tollows long vowel (¢); precedes beged-kefer leer without a dages . (fy 3.2 DAGESs 1. Dages lene. When the Masoretes pointed the text, they distinguished the pronunciation of six letters (2 3 72.5 D)asceither “hard” or “soit”, Although we explain this as the difference between “6” (3) and “Vv” (2), or “p” (B) and “F* (B), it may have been more like the difference between, e.g., the “p” in “pit” and “tip” (bold your hand in front of your mouth), This is a difference in sound (p"%p), but not in function fie, if you say “pit” with a big put of air it sill refers 10 a hole in the ground, a seed, &e.), The same is true of dages fene—whether 1 consonant is hard or soft, the word is the same, 2. Dages forte. Instead of writing a doubled letter twice (¢.2., supper), BH writes it once, with dages forte (“strong dages”) to show that it is doubled." A letter with dages forte is therefore a doubled letter although this rarely affects our pronunciation apart from the beged-kefet letters) "ages forte boul deules sed “arcens” he heged heft ltrsTEN isa Sey vipat “he will fall” (*... falls”) YEN ‘woman, wife” ‘immi “my mother” a. Like a doubled consonant in English, the first of the doubled consonants indicated by dages forte closes one syllable and the second opens the nest sylluble: supper sup» (contrast “se per”) per TPS NF Swoman, wile” Spe vip-pb “he will fall” b, Also like a doubled consonant in English (and unlike dages lene), dages forie affects the word"s function:"” supper super dinner diner spb fam great opbsa I made |someone of something] great c. Dagesin a non-beged-kefet letter can be only forte. In a beged-kefet letter, however, dages can be cither jorte, showing that the letter is doubled, or dages lene (*weak dot”), which means that the let ly “hard” (but not doubled). [Since they cannot double, the gutturals and 7 rarely 0 with dages.] 2. There are four basic rules for distinguishing dages forte Dages is always forte when it... 1. isin a non-beged-kefet letter DUST his sim arrows 2, follows a full vowel (long or short) TY at now Dages is always lene when it. 3. follows Sewa MAD miv-te feast 4, begins a word! ABT desman word, hing N.B. Dages‘is problematic only when it occurs in a b*gad-K ut leer. Dages in a letter following Seva is always lene (the Sewa is always silent): dages after any full vowel is always forte, Neither dave follows a hatef-vowel. 3.3. IDENTIFYING SYLLABLE BOUNDARIES 1, Every syllable in BH begins with a consonant, except the conjunction when it has the form - 4 (below). 2. Every syllable in BH contains one—and only one—vowel, which may be either a full ora half vowel: "Tike Henrew examples are part of de veshal system (belo). ethers is one exception to this thal we nee ot WorEy aoe "SGeammurians disagree on the mature of Few Some (eg. Blau, Lambain, Seow) agree with this statement. Others e.. Kelley GKC [$26m]) explain the consonant with a hal-vevel asthe fest at ofthe syllable of the Following fll wwe, since, inthethe number of vowels in a word determines the number of syllables. ond ma. yim water mea i rit covenant, treaty, agreement TINNY pita tt-ve he bows down There are two types of syllables in BH. Oper syllables consist of a consonant + vowel (CV); closed syllables consist of consonant + vowel + consonant (CVC}.!* The nature of the syllable, and whether or not it is accented, then determine the length of its vowel Whena syllable ends in... itis: _ and Its vowel is a vowel, vowel letier, 8, or] open long (rarely short) ‘Short (if the syllable is unaceented) or consonant (including F) closed ¥ (if the syllable is accented) 3. Therefore 4. any consonant except (and 7 without mappig) may close a syllable b, in the middle of a word « consonant mist be either doubled by a dage¥ forte, or followed by silent Sewa in order to close a syllable €. Trean close a syllable only when written with mappig (7-), which occurs only at the end of a word 4. Asin English, « double letter (with dages forte) closes one syllable and opens the next (above), supper sup: per TUN GS woman, wife SAB bin amy daughter Say yip-p de hewill fall SOB yip-pat? — ivis marvelous Ape hip-pr heatoned —pyysy vay-y "mer lana) he said 5. Some syllables seem to be both open and closed. A short vowel precedes Serva (like a closed sylluble) but is followed by a beged-kefer letter without dages lene (as though the Sewa were vocal). Some grimmarians call this Sewa media (.e., “middle”), others say that this apparent anomaly reflects the history of the language, rather than a particular pronunciation, See footnote 6 (above), For example: spbig paral is sho ESPN seco! is show DU? Hacks lage lene 3.4 FURTIVE PATAH WHEN A WORD ENDS in a strong guttural (7, 7,2) that is of preceded by an w-class vowel (pata or games) the Masoretes wrote patah between the final vowel and the final guttural, This patah fertivum (“furtive”) was wwritten slightly to the right to show that itis pronunced after the non-a-vowel and before the guttural [This is all much easier to illustrate than explain | These words thus appear to have two consecutive vowels, but the furtive vowel was used only as a signal to listeners that the word ended in a guttural, not with the long vowel. cory, every ssllable must have a fll vowel, On the other and, ilen-Murka ($27 a finds single fewa with thee fanetions, [No expanvuon yor seeounts for every fev (nord the Maseretes exphin their use of fen) "tosh has various st types, which We lee tothe ference grammars (sce biography)vith mm yore 3.5 Concerts Adonai ($38) closed syllable dages forte generic noun dages lene furtive parah 3.6 VOCABULARY long vowel mappiq open syllable wind, breath; spirit 13 misbeth altar friend, neighbour, companion shot vowel silent fewa Tetrugrammuton ($38) vocal Sew YHWH(§3.8) ‘mountain; mountain range, hill 326 | humanity, humankind, mar Adam gaye AS country, high country (especially in - (contrast 28) ” contrast to valleys: ef. Jz 1.19) dwell, live, seitle; Stay, remain; sit ayjv_27 | brother, male relative me DD eyes el, atersource eh. Biegedl— qx§j 28 | eat devour, conse box 0 [22 p21 “the well of the kid”) * face, presence (always plural) Dap 29 | say. speaks think Spx 2 siretcht out, reach Tet go, send roy 30 | daughter, female descendant ef. m2 [away] Bathsheha [2287] “daughter of an ~ 22 ath”, or “seventh daughter”) rae, fame, reputation DY SL | daughters ms. Tear, listen; obey paw 22 | people [groupl, nation, folk 23 year (F, ABET ERT, Rosh hashanah, YY SF |) road, way, path, journeys custom — Gat 24 “the head of the year” [New Year) 77 oe 0, walk, trave 25 3.7. EXERCISES 1. Please identify each dages as either forte or lene, and euch Sewa as silent or vocal, Be prepared (0 explain how you determined your answer. 733 wwe 3 785 term for non-specified movement ‘a general k Duy 1 nN m onda a P 727 4 " a = m7 1 TRL 2. Please divide each word into syllables, and idemtify (the chart format is optional) ‘ach syllable as open or closed b. each vowel as long, short, oF ballfcc. cuch dage’ as forte or lene 4, each Sewa as silent or vocal Example: E>" 32ND Syllables [35] B > [sf] [on OpenClosed| Of O | Cc |O;o; oO | ¢ Vowellengih| L | H | Ss [H/L | H |S Dagesot forte Tene | Tene Sewas || vocal | vocal vocal | silent manda f rogue 8 6 apy . on | 4 oy m i. ©. Alter you have done this, practice pronounci hese und the rest of your vocabulary. 3.8 ENRICHMENT: THE DIVINE NAME Most ENGLISH BIBLES distinguish “the LoD” (small capital letters) from “the Lord” (capitalized first letter). This distinguishes the personal name of God (“the LORD”) from the generic noun or ttle that means “lord” or“master”, referring to both humans (“my master”) and God (“the/my Lord”) Hebrew Pronunelation Int ‘The Tetragrammaton (sesra “four” + gramma “leter”) isthe personal name of mm God, For unknown reasons (although we might speculate that it was in order to avoid mins breaking the commandment of Ex 20.7), the yowels of Adonai sLont” vine name (TAY) was read as though i (usually) divine name (97>) was read as though it oN were pointed with the vowels of "PK. This yielded a form (TIM ) that came to be misread as “Jehovah” (whieh is not a biblical word or name). [The initial hatef-patah was m7 written as See under the >] “the Lord” Some read the form as 83% (Le, “the Name “Adonai “my Lond in Aramaic), although many read the ‘Tetragrammaton as though it were £87, “the Name” in Hebrew myn ‘The original pronun ° name was thus lost my Master ation of the divine Dreged forte tchuically represcets wooo the same leter sepurated by [an invisible] sik fewse. This mathed of analyzing daget forte is extremely avtfcial and for pedagogical purposes cay. The frst of the doublad leer closes a syllable, and second opens the rex syllable. Dont sippy the “Insite” sikn fever that netween” the dele eters,Hebrew Pronunciation _ Interpretation ‘Some clues to its pronunciation + In not a few psalms, the first syllable of the divine name is used asa shortened form of the whole: M2 "3997 (e.g. Ps 150.1), which stiggests the prontineiation of the first syllable Yah + Greek texts occasionally transliterate [and abbreviate] the divine name as, which stiggests a pronunciation like Yafweh -W- to approximate the sound of 7), The orthography is thus ofien restored as a 2m hil imperfect (using Masoretie pointing) oe " or Yali-veh of TS: *he causes mn tobecomeshapps Regardless of the exact history ofits pronunciation (which is areely conjectural, the main point i that the Tetragrammaton, YEH, is @ personal or proper nanme (ota title), whereas "718 (Lord, Master) and 27% (God) are common nouns that were used as titles forthe true God. When we realize that the term glossed as “the LORD” isa proper name we ean better understand the constant reference to “the LORD your God” (auhich often seems tautologous—who ese would be God), which would have remind Isuel that YHWH was the God to whom hs alt), not Molech, Dagon, Baul, or any other pagan deity (all of whom could be called 98 or E78, “God, oF 87R, “our God!” by thei worshippers spat mite Yiwe your God (Dr 6.1) monday am mame Yawir is God [ic., not Baal] (1 Kgs 18.39); probably " better rendered as VAWH is the [true] God! STATS IND GATT and that you may know that Lam YAW. gies + i So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, ros meee nyse by py mY Noe OS TERN AINE IN) TE Rare dwt the ga ofthe Hebrews "(EX Deas TSS MP ETE 1935.34)" Sp9ND mom oxy Yawa's declaration to my masterflond: ... (Ps 110.1) Thus says your master, YHWH, even your gods"... (Is 51.22) 1 follows or precedes the term 77§ (Lond, Master), THis pointed with the vowels that correspond (o E°T98 G77 TAN) so that it would be read as ‘Elohim rather than “Adonai(thus: avoiding “Adonai ‘Adonai). This oceurs about three hundred times in BEL 2. Since the potential abuse of the name of God is a grave concer 10 many, some journals and books do not spell it out (e.., as “Yahweh”), even when citing a biblical text in which it occurs (the journal or book might be thrown in the trash or otherwise treated callously, thus dishonouring “vhe Name”). Instead, they may follow the sceibal practive of abbreviuting it as "> or transiterate it without vowels (*Yhwh” oF “YHWH"), orboth "Te point of Ex 10.2-1 i tht bod Isaclites ad Egyptians [horas wil realize that the plagucs that are oflcting Egypt a the work of YAHWEH, the Gre ofthe Hebrews, ot the work of some other goa ff, Ex 20.2),Although the reasoning that led Israel to avoid or stop pronouncing the divine Name may have been (or a least sound) superstitious, is origin was positive—the desire to obey the commandment and avoid the curse. This was a “hedge” about the law: something that is never pronounced cannot be abused or mis- used. Some scholars suggest that the pronunciation of the Name was never known to any but the priests, nd perhaps even passed from one high priest to the next, but there is no biblical evid theory. \ce to support this 4. The frequent use of these two terms to referto the same God occasioned a great deal of di thre {sted that 117 refers to God in his covenant, relational re ‘whereas C°758 points to his godhood and power, and thatthe compound form ER 77 (one half oF es are in Gn 2-3) deliberately identifed the creator God of Genesis I (only E°75N) ws the covenanal and relational God (717) ofthe ex of the book of Genesis, the ages. Some rabbis st its occurrent 5. These ure not, of course, the only divine names or ttl common, in Scripture, but they are by fur the mostPart Il: LESsons 4— 17 NomINAL GRAMMAR VERBAL GRAMMAR (I) HHIS SECTION INTRODUCES the forms of the noun and basic [strong] verb, and how they function in phrases, clauses, and sentences (morphosyntax), so that when you finish of these lessons, you should be able fo read nominal phrases and verbal and non-verbal clauses. You should be able to recognize und interpret the forms of the noun, adjective, pronouns (independent and suffixed), and basic verb, and in the exercises you will have read a number of clauses and phrases of Biblical Hebrew, so that the basic aspects of phrasal and clausal syntax should have become relatively familiar. More specifically. you should be able to identify nouns as definite oF indefinite; to identity whieh noun an adjective is modifying, whether or not that adjective is attributive, predicate (or substantive, if no noun is present): to recognize and identify constnuct chains as primatily subjective, objective, or adjectival: to identify (parse) verbal forms of the gal stem of the basic verb and to identity the constituent elements of compound forms (e.g.. a “Wword” made up of conjunction + preposition article noun). Some of these concepts—e.g.. notins and verbs themselves, singular, plural, conjunctions, the imperative—will be familiar from English and other languages, even though their forms are quite different in Hebrew. Other aspects of these chapters—e.g., person, gender, number of vexbal forms—will be familiar to students of languages which mark verbal forms to show agreement with theirsubjects. The construct — Hebrew's way of showing the “of” relationship between substantives—will be largely unknown to most in English (along with sone other common English students, although its function is the same as “oi syntagms) These lessons also introduce the concept of “discourse”—that words function (have “meaning”) primarily in context, and that their context is not primarily the individual clause or sentence, but the entire Story, sermon, poem, &e. in which they occur.” In fact, we will see that arammar (the combination of words and their forms to ereate meaningful texts) normally functions at the level of the paragraph (story, &e.) as well as within clauses and sentences, Finally, because all language the non-semantic signals of clausal function (ie., the distinction between conjunctive and disjunctive clauses, and the significance of that difference) wil be entirely new ground for nearly all students. The “enrichment” paragraphs in these lessons are extremely important, as they illustrate and apply the exegetical significance of the lessons. They are integral to the grammar, not merely cs are individual, some aspects of Hebrew, such as word order, as well as extras”. "The term “escourse” refers tothe entre eps, whither that is story (nami ve), set of instructions, a declaaicn abou fare events (prophecy), povm, conversation, &, “Discourse” ean als refer to described (the “Universe of discourse) he entire world within which the episode ceccurs arisLEsSSON4 THE NOUN DVRS eck Beatin depend on cadines word aes, or bat to show a words aston i tional relationships between words. English adjectives, for example, usually come between the article and the noun that they modily (e.g. “the red book”, "a wise old prophet”). A word's function or role in English is normally indicated by its position in the sentence: the sentence (or clause), and to show the fu a, The hungry man ate an apple. b. A hungry apple ate the man, Since word order in English is usually subject-verb-object (SVO), these sentences differ in function, even though all six words are identical (counting “fan” as two Forms of one lexical item) ‘Another way of showing both function and association is inflection” —sets of endings that indicate both the word's réle in the sentence, and the functional relationships between words in a clause. In the previous sentences, for example, we know that “hungey” describes “man” in a, but that it describes “apple” in b, since adjectives in English precede the word that they modify, Many languages, however, use fairly sophisticated inflectional systems to show agreement, or concord between words. Greek, Latin, and German for example, use sets of endings called “cases” to indicate the role that different words play in the sentence (e.g., the nominative and accusative indicate the subject and object, respectively) Endings may also indi \der” to show which words modify (or are modified by) other words. In French, for example, many adjectives add the letter “e” to the end of the lexical form when they modify feminine nouns. “Inflected” langu: in which endings show the function of and relationship between words (the case and pender + number, respectively) —often do not depend on word order to show syntax as heavily as does English. English, for example, uses gender only with third person pronouns (“his", “she”. and only nouns are inflected for number (by the addition of the suffix “-s"), which means that word order is crucial to function in English (as the above sentence illustrates). Although Hebrew nouns, adjectives, and verbs are inflected, sentences in Hebrew prose have a fairly restricted word order (although not nearly as rigid as word order in English). Inflection in Hebrew shows, how words are related, but not syntactical function (as, e.g., subject or object), Nominal endings indicate gender (masculine, feminine) and number (singular, plural) in order to show concord between words, revealing which words “belong together”. 4.1 GENDER EVERY CONTENT WORD (noun, finite verb, pronoun, adjective, participle)" in BH belongs to one of two classes, called “masculine” und “feminine”. Grammarians assign gender based on the gender of any verbs and adjectives that modify the word, and of pronouns that refer to it: Le., feminine nouns are only modified by feminine adjectives and referred (o by feminine pronouns, and vice versa for masculine nouns, Pairs of words that refer to animate objects reflect so-called nacre! gender: Masculine Nouns main, husband yyy Feminine Nouns Tg woman, wile dull. 9B (male) lamb a5 king 519 | n358 ewe (female) lamb queen Fo “inlet” isto “bond the term selects the view thatthe endings are “bert” forms ofthe Kesar “regulates” fxr, 14 language's lexiecn tthe lst of all the woeds in tat language) can be ceudely divided between content wands (verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs) and function words (everything ele)(cont'd.) Masculine Nouns | Feminine Nouns son yg] mg. daughter brother, (male| relative py DAM siver, [emalel relative father, ancesor aye) DEY mother, ancestress ‘A noun’s endings often correlate with its gender, so that feminine nouns in BH tend to end in either or. Masculine nouns can end in any letter of the alphabet, but tend sro? fo end in Tor FF. Although are clues to a noun’s ge tof gender only if it occurs as the subject of a verb, if it is modified by an adjective, orf itis referred to by a pronoun, The gender of words that are never modified in these ways cannot be identified with certainty; their apparent gender is assigned based on their ending. Adjectives und participles, on the other hand, always have the ending that matches the gender [and number, below! of the word that they refer to or modify 4.2 NUMBER sting Pith te ener shoes which NUMBER IS THE OTHER PART of the concord system of BH. In addition to su, ending indicates whether the noun refers to one or more than one, and, togethe words modify it. Again, as with gender (above), the number of an adjective or participle is determined by the ‘word that it modifies o refers t, so that the reader or hearer can track how words in the clause or phrase relate to each other. der, every noun’s 4.3 THE FORMS OF THE NOUN —____Singutar__Plural__ rseor EXC horses paps fiarseor EYED horses horse of SRA horses of noi mare . Feminine oe ET es mares or mares of kinguom or ma kine kingdom of 1, Masculine singular nouns are considered unmarked —ie., they have no special ending (although they rely end in 7- or 7). Feminine si lar nouns are considered marked, since they usually end in either 7_-, or F although oy, city) nstruct singular endi some are unmarked (e.3. a Thee 12 (7) and the plural ending (M4) replace the fina b. Ifthe lexical formends in Fy, the singular has only one form (e.s., FAD): the plural ending (Pie ) follows the M- (AMY, sister: MANA, sisters). Masculine plural nouns usually end in either 2° - or ¥ - (occasionally in AY). The plural endings are added directly tothe end of the singular form. [The function; see Lesson 9).] 4. Feminine plural nouns usually end in MF- (occasionally in &° -or +) - signals the construct plural (the “of” a knough O and mpi ae clearly eelatel, they are consi lr uses form called the “constr” Wo indicate the “af” selatienship (Lesson 9) separate xa in the lesa5. Although most nouns follow the paradigm above, the plural of some cannot be predicted from their singular. [ r° plurals are listed with their singulars in the vocabulary lists.) father.) BEARS fathers sacs (10.) DN OS nen woman (6) FRR BN. women howse(m) AB DAD howes daughter (f) DB PAID daughters city 0) TD DUD cities Endings therefore merely suggest a noun’s gender—they do not determine it, Some masculine nouns. Use “feminine” endings (e.g., 28, fasher, PDR, fasers), some Feminine singular nouns do not end in 7 OF Pe (6-84.73. and), and some feminine nouns use “masculine plural” endings (e.g.. TEN, woman, D2 women). Nouns in the vocabulary lists that end in 71- or D- are feminine, and other nouns are masculine, Unless marked with “f.” orm.” There are, however, endencies in the gender of nouns. For example, parts of the body (&.8.. 72. hand: 935 , footlleg: 37 arm/shoulder) are feminine (although “WZ, breast is masculine!). Tools or objects that people use (€-2., 274. sword) also tend to be feminine 4.4 Duar BH ALSO USES A DUAL ENDING (BY: accented on the penuilt) to refer to things that occur in pairs (e.. parts of the body). or with units of measure to indicate two of that unit (e.g., “two hundred”, “owo thousand”) It shows that such things were thought of primarily in pairs, even though they are usually glossed as simple plurals (“feet”, “wings”, not “two feet”, “two wings”). [chart on next page] Singular | Dual cor S| DI ews SH cans of n hand ands OT hands of nose nostrils foot feet 9520 feet of palm palms SBD palms of sandal sandals BB} sandals of wing wings MELD wings of year vo years hundred 1x0 hundred shousand hwo thousand Miga aoa never occurs a the subject ofa verb, ands never meebo bya adjective or pain, levi hed onitsenvkngsN.B. A few other words have dual form, but lack any obviously dual quality or function: Dow Jerusalem BY water ON982 Leypr — OMY sty, heaven 4.5 NOMINAL MODIFICATION (I): THE ARTICLE To serciry or modify something is to identify it more closely in order to narrow the referents, For instance, the main difference between “Please get a book” and “Please iz ison the table” is that the second is more specific—the [a particular book, not just any book] big [not small or medium] tan [not red, yellow, blue, &c.] book that is on the table [not on the shelf, floor, &c.|. The adjectives “big” and “tan”, and the relative clause “that is on the the table” all modify the word “book (1) Please get abook. Q the book 3) iy book 4 amy tan book 6) my small tan book (6) any smatl tan book that is on the table a +. my small tan book—my copy of The Princess and Curdie—shat is on the table Thus, to modify nouns and other substantives, English uses the definite article (2), possession (3: either pronominal ["my", “her"I or nominal [“Susan’s”, “the prophet’s"D, adjectives (4-5), relative clauses (6), apposition (7), and other means. In this example the phrases grow increasingly specific. so that (7) iMually assures us of getting the right book. Like many languages, English uses these means of modification in virtually any combination, book that is on the table” (relative clause), or “my copy of The Princess and Curie” (possession and idemification). The complesity or fulness of @ description is determined by the redundancy factor of language. That is, speakers and authors tend to include as much information as necessary for effective communication.» This is not an absolute value, and may apply more to castal conversation than to formal communication. On the other hand, authors who overestimate readers’ knowledge may write what they think isclear, but their readers may not understand (or may misinterpret) what they are trying to say Hebrew can also modify nouns by ataching. eg, the article, some prepositions, and possessive pronominal forms directly to the noun (rather like the - plural in English)! This fis: seetion deseribes the article, followed by a description of the most common conjunction 4.5.1 THE ARTICLE: FUNCTION The article in BH corresponds roughly to English “the”; BH has no indefinite article.” Words with the article are articular: words lacking the article are anarthrous, Aricular nouns are grammatically “definite” and anarthrous nouns are often “indefinite”, but BH also has several ether common ways to show a word's cness or indefiniteness (c.g., the “construct”, below). Since English and BH use their articles ly, articular words in the biblical text are not necessarily glossed using an English definite article egypt was divided inte “Upper” and “Lovver” Egypt. a this des not seem tobe the reason for the Form of isan The linguistic tendency toward efliciency explains why we rely speak like sentence (7), [there were no ober book nearby, we ight say only, “Please et my [or even "the" ] book, since that would! communicate enough inkxmation, BH also moxktics acwial funstioa hy micans of separ wor, sch as prepositions adjectives, rebive clases, the coarse hain (he “OT” relationship). nominal apposition, and beni. 74 conjunction links lexcines, phrses, or clauses it does act “med fy" a noun, It isincladed here for padgoie rasons The actual station ie slightly more complicated. Generic English nouns (6g. "SoW", hse", “Som™—.6., No proper ames) must be miied by citer an article (the, wan") possessive (6x. “et “OU, “thei: singe they ake not Used "absolutely", the sentence "Shepherd sawadeg is Il formed” cboth nouns rite ce aie), BH, however, ls no Word) whose Funston is mice roth of “ta, slthough the word “one” (PR) cxcssiomaly His dat reThat « Word is indefinite does no mean that itis non-specific. For example. the phrase “a dog” in the sentence “She saw a dog” refers to a specific dog (the dog that she saw), even though the word “dog” is grammatically indefinite, Because BH and English differ in their use of the article, words that are anarthrous. in Hebrew often end up being definite in English. This is especially common in biblical poetry. where the auticle is relatively infrequent, but also occurs in prose 4.5.2 THE ARTICLE: FORM The antcle consists of a syllable prefixed to a word: #7 (he-patah plus dage® forte inthe first letter of the word: the size of the dages forte is deliberately exaggerated). This combination of patah + dages forte is Sometimes called the “pointing of the article” when it occurs at the beginning of a word. The artic Hebrew hus only one form (ie., it is not inflected for gender or number): apart from doubling the radical, it rarely affeets the form of its word (#3, below). 1. This chart lists words with and without the article (the transliteration” shows the doubling) Talking mele RS ADE hammetek the king ini OT DI lal name sem OS years the years haem the name 2. When a word begins with a D'gad-X fas letter, dages lene “becomes” the dages forte of the article: [alhouse — bayit, = MDD habbayit the house words barim BDZ QMIDWT hadebarim the words 3. The article affects the form of a few words (in addition to doubling the first letter) in which a short vowel in the lexical form “lengthens” to games when the article is added: box (ark) PS PART the box (ark) land, earth PPS PIR the land, cass garden JX YAY the garden mountain, hill country 99 the mountata, hill country festival people, nation DY bull 7B the festival the people, nation the bull “The eppositeis aso tue, For example, the subject of Genesis Hf. 130 (es cn eaherwise unknown figtive, whois identified with theanicle |9aN> Ay SET RED The te came an teportad to Abe. (Gn 1.13) “oid him, however ase fe couk! mse cast rexkrsor herr. who wuld conlse-hasedon thee experience of Englisch arisie means tht he was one Pore ths pa in testy *Tyansliterations se illustrotive fpedagogical rtlaer than technically precise4. In two situations the first letter of the word does not double, so that the pointing of the article is not * 2 the-patah followed by dages forte) a. Words that begin with yod or mera followed by vo Judahites hidim BT OMA hayhidim the Judahites kings uttakim evar. avant} ha‘lakin the kines bb, Words that begin with a guttural (8 77 2) or re¥ (7). hill comery har ATE haar the hill eounary cities ‘anim BY DWT hearin he cities ‘These are all of the possible forms [pointings] of the anicle: before wonls beginning with all letters except 87.7, 2.7) she house she king before 7.7 the sword before - (sometimes) and -y she spies a she Jews before -3 (vocal Sew) the youths the man J] before +8, 7, and Casually) 2 she city ° the head before the wise man 77 before unaecented she mountains before unaecented the cities NB. You do not ced to memorize this list, or the table in #5: the main point is to recognize a word as anarthrous or articular 4.6 THE CONJUNCTION WAW( 1) CONIUNCTIONS ARE PARTICLES or Function words that join words, phrases, or clauses (ef. “juncta “junction”). English has a multitude of conjunctions, many of which also specify the relationship between the clauses oF phrases as contrast (“but”), alternatives (“or”), concession (“although”), &e. Hebrew has a number of conjunctions, but the most common by far is the letter 1, which is prefixed to the first word in the clause or phrase. 4.6.1 FUNCTION The conjunction waw (also pronounced yur) shows, for exumple, thar cluuses ure related, but it does not imply anything about how they are related. The fivection of the waw depends entirely on the relationship between the two clauses which it joins. Ittherefore can represent the function of nearly any Eng conjunction, such as “and”, “but”, “or”, “because”, “so that”, “although”, None of these represent its “real” on guituras se $22.1 ther lack of doubling is their only chore sti that affects the article (for doubling, see 93.26)or “literal” function. On the other hand, these glosses are not equally’ permissible—or even possible—in a given context. The first step in interpreting any waw is to understand the content of the clauses that it joins so that we can determine their relationship, 1. Vocal Sewa usually links the conjunction to its word: adding the wawr to a word does not affect the word itself (apart from the usual loss of initial dages lene due to the vocal Sewa under the conjunction) aman BN PR and a man aday OP DIM buta day camel py aa anda camet 2. The vowel under the conjunction may be affected by the frst leter of the word, When prefixed to 4 word beginning with a bilabial (two lips”) consonant (2% 3), orto a word that has Sewa as the firs vowel the conjunction becomes Sureq (9). This is the only time that a Hebrew syllable begins with a vowel a house ma and a house transgression oes ora transgression a proverb ben evena proverb from the king URISTHD and from the king their names DAPHNE ut sheir names 4.6.2 FORM These are all of the possible forms (pointings) of the conjunetion waw Conjunction _Prefiyedto . Examples 1 all words except the following STO and israel ‘words beginning with Sewer PWR or maidens 5 UT anda garment words beginning with 2 238 media ora queen words beginning with hate path Bim pura dream 3 certain verbal forms BAY [andl he wrote nm TMD and Yew 1 words beginning with faref-segol PIBNY end truth oO DYN and God 1 words beginning with TV and Judah ‘words beginning with hatef-qames spy ed alilction PONT and earsh 1 ord begining wih an ected ye at a verbal form (all Les preterites) SAPN] [and] J wrore N.B. You need not memorize this chart. The point is that any form beginning with -1(or -4) begins withthe conjunetion, 0 mater how the waw is pointed.” 4.7 ComPouNn Forms (“Worps”) ASINGLE FORM (WORD) can thus be comprised of several elements, such as the conjunction, article, and ‘noun (always in that order), The goal is to be able to identify the components of the compound form on the right: noun | article + noun | conjunction + article + noun, m min m ahouse| the house and the house oS aban oon, aking she king or the king ou: od z the women or the women 4.8 CONCEPTS flix bilabial form modification/modify preposition anarthrous conjunction function noun qal article context’ gender number separable articular dual inseparable plural singular aspect feminine masculine [nominal] prefix 4.9 VOCABULARY altar mam 42 | lord, master wy (on) [aivine] Lord, Master (note 33588 the ending with games) * water, "B waters of Bry 48 | test: dwellingdiome 35 judgment, justice: justly; custom Berg AA | fire (not related to ABN) 36 cross over, pass througl/by Say 45 | the (ior other forms, see $42.15) 37 Touglremore fine (ie., without gay AG | and, bur, or, even, ® Visible or imaginable end): agels] —Tbelore words tha begin with 39 (Grad. “forever”) \ . 3, Bor have initial vocal Sew Stand: stop: stay (in place) say AT | sword, dagger, knife a 40 “army, Tosh, military dy Nas 48 | Yaw (proper name) mm 4! Yi (proper name: shomtened form) qs yy Tread, top, peak (of mountain): GR 49 | take, ger, acquires buys marry (a mp begining (ef. #16) wite) 4.10 EXERCISES GRAMMATICAL EXERCISES ARE NOT generally designed with the goal of assigning precise or exact functions to words, phrases, &c., but to enable you to see contextual examples of patterns so that you can begin to recognize them as they occur in the biblical text. The point of these particular exercises is to help you lear to About ton nouns in BH begin with wae; none occurs more than 9 mes most ogeur oe, No eves item begins with 3recognize some nominal affixes—the plural nominal endings, article, and conjunction wew—and to identify the vocabulary form of nouns with these affixes. 1. Please provide a gloss for each noun, identify its gender and number, and write out its lexical [vocabulary list] form. (2Ke 213) MATS" ob (EX347) TIAN a (Kes 184) NBD (Nuss) WH v2.2) BD j 2Sa7M4) BM (Kes 11) BND k (Ezk 14.16) MB d (569.36) Pd (Hos 11.10) BB Ps i044) PIN om (x12) DAB sa) RG on 2ks923) OI es Please provide English glosses for these phrases. Be prepared to anulyze and explain their elements (e.g. the spelling of the article or conjunction). Write out the lexical form of any plural words. 79, neh apy or STON. TS @ 75 noble onem yan i Tae cg > we. prophet pin way mh © nissyy any | mam on om: bi m man ova onzm oud" a IT} wy f mage war manda aby o £ DUDE . heaven(s) pwn oda Pp h 4.11 ENRICHMENT: HENDIADYS Henbiapys (Greek for “one through two") is the name given to two words that can be linked to refer to a c entity. A common hendiadys, PT] £°3Z—heaven and earth, refers to the entire created order (perhaps what we eall the “universe”, for whieh th lexeme in BH. Jonah used a unique hendiadys to tell the suilors that he feared [served] “YHWH, the god of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land” “F] CATT on 1.9). Si sea onto dry land (1.13), Jonah’s way of identifying the creator was crafted to catch their attention! And it worked, as their response shows: a great fear (1.10), duplicated after they throw Jonah into the sea (1.16). The satan [accuser] tells YHWH to afflict Job himself (rather than merely destroy his property and family), by saying “Only put forth your hand and strike his bowe eind his flesh [BS-N) ws-y] ...” Ub 2.5), not a reference to internal and external physical affliction, but to Job's entire body Hendiadys is also a verbal function, when two verbs describing the same event or when one verb modifies the following verb. In | Kg 17.20, the ovo verbs (... TENA... NDZ") refer to the sume event: since calling and speaking are not discrete acts (ie, (ocall is to speak) the sailors wanted to get from thehe called to YuWH, and said “Yuwn my God, (Ke 17.20) sg>y min oe mids gop Occasionally as many as three verbs describe one event; the combination in Je 9.7 suggests that Jotham was probably shouting so that the rulers of Shechem could hear him from atop Mount Gerizim: soy wy om TaN gpa Sp And te ited his voice and called and said to them EES Seay “Viste t0-m2, «." 29.7)