Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Jonathan Bailey <jonathan.bailey AT gmx.de>]

Can anybody tell me (with perhaps a verse reference) which preposition would 
be 
used in BH for "by" with the word berakh in a phrase such as "I bless you by 
YHWH". I 
am looking at a paleo-Hebrew inscription here which has "brktk lyhwh" but I 
would 
have expected something like "brktk byhwh" because I would think the 
preposition 
would be "be-", such as in the phrase "diber YHWH behoshe'a" (Hos 1,2) 
"Adonai 
spoke through/by Hosea"

Am I detecting a difference in the language of my inscription and that of 
classic BH? 
Or is "le-" used for "by" in BH too? If not with berakh, then perhaps with 
other verbs?

While we're at it, I am interested in differences between BH and paleo-Hebrew 
in 
general, or similarities between paleo-Hebrew and the archaic biblical poetry 
for that 
matter. Anybody have any interesting insights here?


Jon