Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Paul Zellmer <zellmer AT cag.pworld.net.ph>]

I was momentarily confused when we started working on the first
clause of Is 2:6:

KiY Nf+a$:TTfH (aMM:Kf B"YT Ya(:aQoB

But I held the question for a few days to let it mull over in my
mind.

We recognized the verb as qatal in a dependent clause with a
second person masculine subject.  We also noted the feminine
singular pronominal suffix.  It was this suffix that led to the
confusion.

We understand that the subject to be the same person as is
indicated by the possessive suffix of (aM.  However, it took a
bit of thinking to jump over the masculine (aM to the feminine
BaYiT to find the agreement with the objective feminine suffix.
This caused a bit of difficulty, because we understood (I still
think, correctly) that that objective suffix, (aM, and BaYiT all
refer to the same "person".  Why would the objective suffix be
feminine rather than agree in gender with the closest referent,
which is masculine?  Is it putting more focus on the "person" as
being "the house of Jacob" than it is on "him/her" being "your
people"?

It's just a question.  We're not having a real problem
translating it.

What's your thoughts,

Paul
--
Paul and Dee Zellmer, Jimmy Guingab, Geoffrey Beltran
Ibanag Translation Project
Cabagan, Philippines

zellmer AT faith.edu.ph