Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Hi Harold, Ben and others,

Thank you for your answers.

'emet is a noun!  Ah, yes, right you are!  ;-)

But it is very common for a noun in the genitive case (the one at the 
end of a construct chain) to be used adjectivally.  har qodshi = my holy 
mountain  The noun qodshi is not best thought of as "my holiness"; it is 
better thought of as an adjective.  See Waltke and O'Connor 9.5.3 if you 
are not familiar with this type of idiom.  'emet is used this way in the 
construction 'anshey 'emet as I mentioned.  I can think of'elohey 'emet 
("true God"), sephat 'emet ("truthful speech"), and others, I imagine.

le'emet is not straightforward.  It is the only case of lamed being 
prefixed to the noun 'emet, which we all know is very often prefixed by 
bet.  In fact, except for Isa 42:3 bet is the *only* clitic preposition 
used with 'emet.  Only two or three other times is the 
independent-standing preposition 'el before 'emet. 

Maybe Isa 42:3 is a "typo."  ;-)

But since lamed is a particle of possession, perhaps it is intended to 
put 'emet in the genitive case so it follows a "ghost" construct, that 
is, an elided construct, something like kol 'ish, ("any man of").

Well, it's probably not worth all this discussion, but at least it is a 
less rancorous discussion than some of the others.

Shalom,
Bryan

Harold Holmyard wrote:
> Hi Bryan,
>   
> > le'emet in Isa 42:3 is a unique word.  Occasionally 'emet is in the 
> > genitive case (in a construct chain) and means "faithful (or sincere)," 
> > such as 'anshey 'emet "men of truth" or "faithful men."  Maybe Isa 42:3 
> > is the BH way to say "one of truth" or "faithful one."
> >
> > What do you think it means?  Do you suppose it might mean "for a 
> > faithful (or sincere) person"?
> >   
> >     
>
> HH: The word "'emet" is not an adjective but a noun. The lamed is 
> adverbial: "in accordance with truth." The prepositional phrase  
> modifies the verb "bring out," or YWCY). Of course, the verbal action is 
> that the man.
>
> Yours,
> Harold Holmyard
>
> _______________________________________________
> b-hebrew mailing list
> b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
>
>   

--
B.M. Rocine
Living Word Church
6101 Court St. Rd.
Syracuse, NY 13206
W:  (315) 437-6744