Biblical Hebrew Forum

["B. M. Rocine" <brocine AT twcny.rr.com>]

Dear Yonah,

Below are some "late" examples of HYH clearly meaning "became" *without* 
lamed.  A couple cases have lamed in the sentence but not on the 
predicate nominative.

Actually, most cases where lamed is used throughout the Tanakh refer to 
the special case of the transfer of a thing from the possession of one 
party to another.

2 Chr 17:12 vayhiy yehoshaphat holek vegadel `ad lema`elah
And Yehoshaphat continued to grow great...

Eze 19:3 kephiyr hayah
like a lion he became...

Eze 23:10 vattehiy shem lannashiym
she became famous...

Eze 35:15 shemamah tihyeh
desolate you will become...

Lam 3:14 hayiytiy sexoq lecol `ammiy
I became a joke to all my people...

Shalom,
Bryan



Yonah Mishael wrote:
> Dear Bryan:
>
> I would really like evidence from outside of the Torah. I think there
> was a large span of time between the penning of the Torah narratives
> and that of Judges, and it would account for differences in language.
> I do not have time right now to look anything up, but I have assumed
> (I know this is risky business) that by the time of the writing of the
> Judges narrative, the use of HYH with a lamed prefix had become more
> standard. In the language of the Torah, the lamed prefix was not yet
> used as the standard mark of change with the HYH verb.
>
> I hope to be able to look into this later, but this is an assumption I
> have worked from for a little while. Do you have any information about
> HYH plus L-prefix as it may appear either in the Torah or in later
> texts?
>
> Todah,
> Yonah
>
> On 10/4/06, B. M. Rocine <brocine AT twcny.rr.com> wrote:
> > Dear Yonah:
> >
> > Certainly, the root HYH does not require the complement le- to mean
> > "become."  See Gen 3:22:
> >
> > hen ha'adam hayah ke'axad mimmennu
> > "Look the man has become like one of us..."
> >
> > Gen 19:26:
> > vattehiy netsiyb melax
> > "And she became a pillar of salt."
> >
> > Gen 21:20
> > vayhiy robeh qashshat
> > "And he became an archer."
> >
> > On the matter of a wayyiqtol of HYH specifically:  We can't have it two
> > ways at once.  If HYH is a copula, it would rarely if ever move the
> > story time of a narrative forward. If that's the case, the idea that
> > wayyiqtol is a storyline verb is weakened.  On the other hand, if we
> > accept wayyiqtol as the storyline verb form, the idea that wayyiqtol of
> > HYH must refer to a happening or an occurrence of some sort is
> > strengthened.  Wayyiqtol of HYH would refer to a situation that
> > "completed" or "became complete."
> >
> > Shalom,
> > Bryan
> >
> >
> > Yonah Mishael wrote:
> > > I would assume that the form WYHYW ויהיו in Judges 16:30 functions as
> > > most wa-cons forms do in a narrative—that is, it establishes this as a
> > > part of the main story line, by which the author is providing primary
> > > information. The point is the culmination of Samson's life as a fight
> > > against the Philistines, the loss of which caused the destruction of
> > > even more of his enemies than the entire period of his life had
> > > realized. This is what I get from it anyway. I don't think it
> > > necessarily has any "becoming" associated with it.
> > >
> > > Wouldn't it be most common by the time that the Judges was penned to
> > > express "become" with the HYH plus the L-prefix?
> > >
> > > Yours,
> > > Yonah

--
B. M. Rocine
Living Word Church
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