Biblical Hebrew Forum

[yochanan bitan <ButhFam AT compuserve.com>]

>however, is it possible to read 2:4a ending with wenahar? against the
>accents? it would actually be nicer from a syntactic/parallel point of
>view.

afraid i like the lines as they are:
vatshlixeni metsula    -- blvav yammim  --  venahar yesoveveni
it's a 2-2-2 off beat of a 3-3, and breaking up the 3-2 of backg\bone of
this very well-done poem..

hebrew poetics like to mix the meter at appropriate points.
notice especially where the meter reverses in jonah 2, i.e. where is goes
to 2-3
at 2.5a and uses 3-4 at 2.7a 
both just before positive statements.
which means that "ax" 'but' 2.5b is correct and the frequent emendation to
"ex" 'how?' can be discarded as misguided, overly pessimistic.

braxot
randall buth