Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Dear Luke,

> Over the weekend I went to a Bible study day, and the talks were on Esther.
>
> One of my favorite points from the talk was based on the grammar of
> some sentences in Esther, but I'd like to verify what was suggested.
>
> One of the verses mentioned was Est. 2:22. In context (from the ESV) 
> it says: -
>
> [21] In those days, as Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate,
> Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs, who guarded the
> threshold, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.
> [22] And this came to the knowledge of Mordecai, and he told it to
> Queen Esther, and Esther told the king in the name of Mordecai. [23]
> When the affair was investigated and found to be so, the men were both
> hanged on the gallows. And it was recorded in the book of the
> chronicles in the presence of the king.
>
> The part of the passage picked on was at the of v22, where it says
> 'And this came to the knowledge of Mordecai ... '.
>
> Here, in English in the ESV (and in other versions like ASV, KJV, YLT,
> NASB) the sentence is passive: Mordecai didn't find the information
> out himself, but the information was made known to Mordecai (like 'The
> ball was kicked to John', which is passive; as opposed to 'Billy
> kicked the ball', which isn't).
>
> However, is this the case in the Hebrew (or whatever language Esther
> was originally written in)? Is the sentence a passive one (in some
> English versions/paraphrases - like the CEV, GN, NIV - the sentence
> isn't passive)?

HH: The verb is passive in a passive phrasing.This is the translation 
of the verb in the Hebrew lexicon: "be known, become known."

                                Yours,
                                Harold Holmyard