Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peter.r.kirk AT ntlworld.com>]

On 12/08/2003 16:32, John D Robinett wrote:

> Peter,
>
> Let me see if I am getting your point.  I am still young in Hebrew.  Since
> the common practice is to use a petach or Kametz with a first H vowels in
> the Qal Imperfect 3ms (Yiqtol), that explains the pronounciation dif?
> Therefore, Yahweh (as a verb) would be Qal IMpf 3ms instead of Hifil impf
> 3ms correct? ...
Yes, basically. As I see it, according to the regular paradigms the Qal 
"imperfect"  3ms of HWH would be either YAH:WEH or YEH:WEH, and the 
Hiphil, if it existed, would also be YAH:WEH (where : indicates a silent 
sheva which might be replaced by a hataf patah or hataf segol). So the 
form YAH:WEH could be from either conjugation.

> ... And 'ehyeh would follow suit? being Qal impf 1cs. ...
)EH:YEH is the Qal "imperfect" 1cs of HYH, the more common form of the 
same verb. But actually it would also be the Hiphil "imperfect" 1cs of 
HYH. So the only argument against this being a Hiphil, in a case like 
Exodus 3:14 which I presume you are referring to, is that this would be 
unique, or at least that there are no definitely attested cases of this 
Hiphil.

> ... I guess
> another question (one which if it can be answered I will be shocked) is how
> do we know that the Maseorites pointed it right.  Is it possible that it
> should be attested in Hifil?  And how certain is it that HyH and YHWH can
> not be in hifil form?  The later I presume is a basic question.
>  
Pointed what right? They pointed nothing as YAH:WEH, that is a scholarly 
reconstruction based on evidence which has been discussed at length on 
this list in the past. Or are you suggesting that there might have been 
in the original text Hiphil forms of HYH or HWH which have been wrongly 
pointed as Qal? That is possible, I suppose. Or there might be other 
examples of )EH:YEH, where the pointing would be identical, which were 
intended by the author to be understood as Hiphil, not Qal. The best 
argument against this is again that there are no definitely attested 
examples of  this Hiphil, in the Hebrew Bible or if I understand 
correctly in any other Hebrew, although this would be clearly distinct 
in the "perfect" etc.


--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/