Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Lisbeth S. Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu>]

Dear Isaac, et. al.
The sign in Isaiah 7 has nothing to do with her becoming pregnant. The sign
is that before the child with whom she is now pregnant is able to choose
between the bad and the good (i.e., foods, what is edible and what is not
edible), i.e., by the time the kid is 2 or 3, the two kings of Aram and
Ephraim will be dead, and their lands deserted (that is, the people exiled
by the Assyrians).

The grammar is ordinary Hebrew: hayeled hatov, the good boy (attributive
adjective)
hayeled tov, the boy is good (predicate adjective)
It's the first thing to learn when studying Hebrew.
Liz Fried

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Isaac Fried [mailto:if AT math.bu.edu]
> Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2007 7:49 AM
> To: Isaac Fried
> Cc: Lisbeth S. Fried; b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Isaiah 7:14
>
> All,
>
> I am sorry, but as I pasted my post of March 6, 2007 7:35:10 AM EST
> onto Mail, the line endings got mixed-up and my name was left out.
>
> Isaac Fried, Boston University
> On Mar 6, 2007, at 7:35 AM, Isaac Fried wrote:
>
> > Lisbeth,
> >
> > You are right in saying that HARAH is a predicate adjective. I only
> > wonder
> > if it would not be simpler and clearer to use plain English and say
> > that
> > HARAH is a state the ALMAH is presently in. You are further right in
> > saying
> > that ha'alma hehara = the pregnant young woman. The prefixed HE (or
> > HA) in
> > HE-HARAH is the personal pronoun HI, English 'she', and it makes HE-
> > HARAH a
> > certainty. One does not add the definite article preposition and say
> > HE-HARAH =
> > she-pregnant, unless there is a consensus on the woman's pregnancy.
> > But the
> > prophet is not saying this; he is not saying HINEH HA-ALMA HA-HARAH,
> > only
> > HINEH HA-ALMA HARAH. Why not? Because, in my humble opinion, the
> > ALMAH was
> > not yet pregnant at the time Isaiah uttered these words. Otherwise,
> > what is
> > the significance of all this being an OT, 'a sign'? The prophet is
> > using
> > the present state HARAH to impart his conviction on the certainty and
> > imminence (not
> > immanence) of the pregnancy destined to presently happen, as further
> > indicated by HINEH.
> >
> > Surely what we now surmise was crystal clear (or possibly merely
> > gossip) to the inhabitants of Jerusalem at the time of good king AXAZ.
> >
> > On Mar 3, 2007, at 11:22 PM, Lisbeth S. Fried wrote:
> >
> >> LF: Harold is correct, it's an adjective, in this case a predicate
> >> adjective.
> >> When the noun has an article the adjective may or may not also have
> >> the
> >> article, and the sense changes accordingly.
> >> ha'alma hara == the young woman is pregnant.
> >> ha'alma hehara == the pregnant young woman.
> >>
> >> Best,
> >> Liz Fried