Biblical Hebrew Forum

[ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk (Ben Crick)]

On Tue 24 Apr 2001 (16:30:14), drcoakley AT yahoo.com wrote:
> A student in class recently asked me why there was a
> feminine pronoun (you)in Jonah 4:4. (It is the last
> word in the verse). I have looked in several sources
> and I cannot find any discussion on why it is in the
> feminine gender. 

 Dear Jim,

 The preposition L: with 2ms suffix is L:Ka, except in the Pausal
 position at the end of the verse with Silluq and Soph Pasuq, or with
 Athnach in the middle of the verse. Then the qamets comes before the
 Kaph instead of after it, giving the result you see in Jonah 4:4.

 It is an impersonal construction with He interrogativa; literally "And YHWH
 said, 'Is it being angry to you [in order] to do well?'". Sc., Are you doing
 well by being angry?

 So LaK is not feminine; it is masculine *in Pause*. Compare the often found
 phrase MaH LiY WaLaK, "what to me and to thee": the phrase invoking a
 Covenant relationship between two people. E.g. 2 Chronicles 35:21.

 Shalom
 Ben
-- 
 Revd Ben Crick, BA CF
 <ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk>
 232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK)
 http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm