Biblical Hebrew Forum

[peter_kirk AT SIL.ORG]

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