Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

On Fri  7 Mar 2003 (08:02:06 +0100), andrew.wergeland AT mf.no wrote:
> I am reading Is 25:4 and have come to the expression "baccar l-" about
> the person in need:  when he is in distress.  HALOT says this baccar is
> a form of the intransitive nuance of the verb crr (tsade resh resh): 
> to be cramped.  Is it thinking inf. cstr.?  

 The phrase in question is Ma`oWZ   La'eB:YoWN   BaCCaR-LoW
 (YHWH has proved Himself) a refuge to the poor  in-his-distress.

 BaCCaR-LoW  can be taken as shorthand for BaCCaR 'a:$eR LoW, "in the distress
 which is his". CaR or CaRaH is a narrow or a tight place, a "scrape", a
 distressing situation, with prefix B: plus the definite article. Instead of a
 pronominal suffix, it has the predicative [a:$eR] LoW.

 The word recurs in Isaiah 26:16  BaCCaR P:QaDuWKa "in this distress they
 missed you", also with the definite article, as a demonstrative.

 Isaiah 63:9 B:KoL-CaRaTaM LoW CaR (qere; kethib Lo') is interesting. Taking
 the qere we have "in all their distress, the distress [was] to Him".
 Compare this LoW CaR with BaCCaR-LoW in 25:4.

 Isaiah 33:2 ends B:`eT CaRaH "in time of trouble".

 Does this help any?

 Shalom
 Ben
-- 
 Revd Ben Crick BA CF, and Mrs Joanna (Goodwin) Crick
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