Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Michael,

> In Psa. 33:12 we read:
>
> WYHL)  HWHY ñ R$)  YWGH  YR$)
> WL  HLXNL  RXB  M(H
>
> It is usually translated something like:
>
> ìHappy is the nation whose God is YHWH,
> The people whom He has chosen as His inheritance.î
>
> Now, whatís to prevent me from here understanding YHWH
> as ìaffected patientî (i.e. the chosen) and Ha-AM as
> ìagentî (i.e. the one doing the choosing)?  This would
> produce a translation something like:
>
> ìHappy is the nation whose God is YHWH,
> The people that has chosen Him to be its inheritance.î

HH: The word order seems wrong. You would expect 
LW to follow the verb and then LNXLH to follow 
LW. And BXR with L and the direct object is 
extremely rare (1 Sam 20:30), perhaps even a 
mistake.

                                Yours,
                                Harold Holmyard