Biblical Hebrew Forum

["George Athas" <gathas AT hotkey.net.au>]

Actually Andrew, it is in the construct state. The only reason I see that you 
might think it is not
in the construct state is by analogy with Gen 1.1 which always gets 
translated as an absolute, "In
the beginning". This, however, is a troublesome translation of Gen 1.1. I 
refer you to B-Hebrew
archives to access previous discussions on that issue.

Rest assured, however, that Jer 26.1 does start with a construct expression: 
The construct chain
involves the first three words -- ie, up to "Jehoiakim". And since 
"Jehoiakim" is a personal noun
(a name), it is automatically definite, thereby rendering the entire 
construct chain definite. "At
the beginning of the kingship of Jehoiakim ben-Josiah..."

If the first word were not definite, it would have a qamets vowel beneath the 
initial
beth-preposition. However, it has a shewa, making a construct reading the 
only real reading
possible.


Best regards,

Dr GEORGE ATHAS
Lecturer of Biblical Languages
Southern Cross College
Sydney, Australia