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  • From: peter_kirk AT SIL.ORG
  • To: b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Second person jussive
  • Date: Sat, 08 May 1999 15:14:21 -0400


Someone pointed out to me off-list that I was wrong to state "there is
no second person jussive, the imperative is used instead". Despite
Lambdin, there does seem to be a 2nd person jussive, which is at least
used after the negative )AL- (where it cannot be replaced by an
imperative). There are also in poetry second person apocopated yiqtols
which are jussive in form but imperfect in meaning (see GKC 109k). But
are clear cases of second person jussive (in form and meaning) which
are not negative?

In an attempt to answer my question, I searched the latest WTS
database. WTS recognises just a few 2nd person jussives which do not
follow a negative - usually )AL, occasionally )AL-NF) or LO), I take
)EL in EXO 10:28 and DEU 2:9 (L and BHS text) as a copyist's error for
)AL (BHS mg). All of these 2nd person jussives are listed below.

1. The following 2nd person jussives are labelled by WTS as "jussive
in form only" i.e. presumably they are considered not volitive
although apocopated in form. These are all in poetry and so may have
been apocopated for the sake of the metre.

(a) the following WEYIQTOL forms:

JOB 10:16 W:TF$OB
JOB 10:17 W:TEREB
JOB 13:27 W:TF&"M
DAN 9:25 W:TA$:K."L
MIC 6:14 W:TAS."G

(b) the following other forms:

DEU 32:18 T.E$IY
JOB 40:9 TAR:("M
NAM 3:11 T.:HIY

2. The following are labelled by WTS as "jussive in form and meaning",
i.e. they are considered volitive:

(a) the following WEYIQTOL form:

2KI 19:25 W.T:HIY

(The same form in the parallel ISA 37:26 is marked as 3rd person in
the latest WTS database, though as 2nd person in an older version.
This verse is rather obscure.)

(b) the following other forms:

1SA 10:8 T.OWX"L
PSA 71:21 T.EREB
PSA 104:20 T.F$ET-XO$EK:
EZK 3:3 TA):AK"L

Of all these 2nd person jussives which are not negative, only 1 Samuel
10:8 and Ezekiel 3:3 are not in poetry. Of the forms considered
jussive in meaning, I would consider Psalm 104:20 as non-volitive,
probably also Psalm 71:21 unless the whole string of 2nd person YIQTOL
forms in vv.20-21 is considered jussive. 1 Samuel 10:8 looks rather
like a fragment of instructional discourse which usually uses
non-jussive verb forms, perhaps a defective T.OWXIL should be read
instead of T.OWX"L. It seems that the late Ezekiel 3:3 is in fact the
only clearly non-negative 2nd person jussive in the Hebrew Bible.

Peter Kirk




  • Second person jussive, peter_kirk, 05/08/1999

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