Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yitzhak Sapir" <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>]

On Nov 17, 2007 8:01 PM, Bryant J. Williams III wrote:
> Dear Yitzhak,
>
> Reference Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, page 483, Para. 152y, #2. It states the
> following:

I am not sure what Gesenius you are quoting, but I think it would be
nice to also
reference the version that is online.  The statement about the
negatives is here:
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=genpub;idno=ahy1993.1853.001;seq=00000276
That about ?$r is here:
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=genpub;idno=ahy1993.1853.001;seq=00000097
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=genpub;idno=ahy1993.1853.001;seq=00000234

I think the entry in HALOT on ?$r is also good.

On ?$r we can also refer to research that Holmstedt has publicized online:
http://individual.utoronto.ca/holmstedt/HolmstedtHabakkuk.pdf
http://individual.utoronto.ca/holmstedt/HolmstedtDissertation.pdf (393 pages)

I didn't read his dissertation yet.  However, I doubt that his conclusions
differ from what I suggested -- In normative Biblical Hebrew, ?$r
always introduces
a clause, and separates between complete clauses.  "mbly" is not the
end of a complete clause.  It can't be divided this way.  However, "mbly" is
very similar to "without" and ?$r to "which", so that we could argue that the
reading "without which" is justified if we adopt some non-normative syntax.
But we still have to explain the non-normative syntax.  Greek influence
may provide the solution to this, but I don't know Greek to know if it would
have provided such influence.

Yitzhak Sapir