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b-hebrew - Re: hoy and 'oy in prophets

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  • From: c stirling bartholomew <cc.constantine AT worldnet.att.net>
  • To: hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: hoy and 'oy in prophets
  • Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2001 10:56:52 -0700


The one off list response I received from a scholar in Germany suggested
that these words are words of lament. I suspect that this is often the case
but I wonder about the hoy l+substantive pattern when it is used in the
prophets and the referent of the substantive is a city or a community of
people.

Lets illustrate the question from 20th century history. It is the second
week of February 1945 and we are listening in (espionage) on a phone
conversation between Churchill and one of top brass of the RAF. During this
conversation Churchill uses the phrase "Woe to Dresden." Is this a lament?
Is this the same sort of expression used by the OT prophets?

In the OT prophets the formula: hoy l+substantive is often used to
pronounce judgment and destruction on the referent of the substantive. This
would not qualify as a "curse" in the narrow sense of that word, the sort of
thing that is performed by practitioners of magic. However it is not simply
a "lament" when the prophet is either threatening or announcing destruction
of a city.

Clay Bartholomew


on 4/3/01 11:09 AM, c stirling bartholomew wrote:

> In Isa., Jer. and Ezk. hoy and 'oy seem to be used in what might be
> construed
> as curse formulas. What does not seem clear to me is the significance of hoy
> or 'oy in these texts. Take for example the pattern:
>
> hoy l+substantive
>
> Does this pattern signify a curse being invoked against the referent of the
> substantive?
>
> The standard lexical reference books speak of hoy and 'oy being used by the
> prophets in threats but say nothing about curses. Just exactly what is the
> difference?








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