Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Steve Miller" <smille10 AT sbcglobal.net>]

From: Harold Holmyard Sunday, November 27

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).

SM: Harold, thanks for the word "authoritative". That is correct, and I did
not realize it. However, in all the verses above, the authoritative summons
is for an emergency.


HH: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). 

SM: Thanks again. You are right. The above are not cries for help, but cries
of anguish. So then, Why is the angel crying out for help or in anguish? Or
for what emergency is the angel summoning Zechariah?


HM: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.

SM: In all these hiphils, excluding Zech 6:8, the meaning is either an
authoritative summons for an emergency or a cry out for help or in anguish.
Jonah 3:7 could more literally be translated, He caused them to cry out and
he proclaimed in Nineveh ... . Or, He assembled them and proclaimed in
Nineveh ... . 

The translation "he called to me" for Zech 6:8 is different from all the
other hiphils, and has no relation to the anguish or need for help in the
Qal verb. Thus I think, "He caused me to cry out and he spoke to me" is a
better translation of the beginning of the verse.

Thanks for all your help.
-Steve