Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Steve Miller wrote:

> > HH: "To cause me to hear a call for help" might be "to cry out to me."
> >
> >    
> SM: Why would the angel, who speaks as God, call desperately for Zechariah's
> help?
>  
HH: We have told you already that the word does not have to mean "cry 
for help." It can mean "summon" or "call out to."

> HH: You are not consistent with the usage of the 
> verb elsehwhere. I have two other lexicons, which 
> also agree with HALOT, BDB and DCH (Dictionary of 
> Classical Hebrew)..
>
> SM: The qal verb Z`Q always means to cry for help. The niphal always means
> to be gathered together for an emergency. The hiphil has 2 meanings: to call
> together for an emergency (exactly the active form of the niphal) or to
> cause to cry out for help. Where is the inconsistency?
>  
HH: The Hiphil and Niphal can be an authoritative "summon" (Josh 8:16; 
Judg 4:10, 13; 6:34-35; Judg 18:22; 1 Sam 14:20; 2 Sam 20:4-5). The verb 
can mean "cry out" without implying a cry for help (1 Sam 28:12; 2 Sam 
13:19; 19:4; Jon 3:7). These are all the Hiphils:

Judg. 4:10 where he summoned Zebulun and Naphtali. Ten thousand men 
followed him, and Deborah also went with him.
Judg. 4:13 Sisera gathered together his nine hundred iron chariots and 
all the men with him, from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River.
2Sam. 20:4 ¶ Then the king said to Amasa, “Summon the men of Judah to 
come to me within three days, and be here yourself.”
2Sam. 20:5 But when Amasa went to summon Judah, he took longer than the 
time the king had set for him.
Jonah 3:7 Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: ¶ “By the decree of 
the king and his nobles: ¶ Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, 
taste anything; do not let them eat or drink.
Zech. 6:8 ¶ Then he called to me, “Look, those going toward the north 
country have given my Spirit rest in the land of the north.”
Job 35:9 “Men cry out under a load of oppression; they plead for relief 
from the arm of the powerful.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard